First generation, URM male, First plan messed up needs your helP!

<p>fromthesouth, please read everything about the OP before making rude remarks. He has overcome obstacles you could never imagine. Some students on CC come from very adverse conditions and have overcome them. The parents on this board admire and applaud Mr.Tubbz for his accomplishments!</p>

<p>fromthesouth,</p>

<p>Clearly, you didn't notice much about the OP except for his race.</p>

<p>First gen college, excellent gpa, lots of leadership positions, full IB, won a metropolitan area's essay contest that was judged by Alice Walker, good SAT II scores despite coming from a very disadvantaged background.</p>

<p>His winning essay:
"The first time I saw my father, he was chained. Gone was the mirage of the invincible man, the man who would protect me once I found him. At the age of twelve, I finally saw my father- in an orange jumpsuit, looking weak and vulnerable. The conversation with this stranger was cordial albeit distant. "How have you been?" "Good." "What's your favorite basketball team?" "The Lakers." Suddenly, the seemingly pleasant conversation took an abrupt turn as I could not resist the urge to ask, "Why are you in here?"</p>

<p>My grandmother's face flushed, but my father remained cool and collected. He looked me in my eyes and explained how the system was designed for him to go to prison. "Michael, the oppressor designs the world in a way so that prison is your destiny. From birth you are set up to fail. I decided to comply and give 'the man' what he wants." As I contemplated what he said he continued, "You're a black man in America, and it's either prison or death."</p>

<p>Leaving Kern County Prison, I resolved that I would not be another statistic. I decided that I would defy expectations, be it those put on me by society, race, socio-economic status, or my father....."</p>

<p>If fromthesouth, you are white or Asian and have similar stats and a similar background --including being first gen college, having exemplary writing skills and a father who is in prison and gave you bad advice about life, you'd also have a good chance to get into the colleges that Mr. Tubbz got into.</p>

<p>Mr. Tubbz,
I encourage you to make room in your schedule to do some volunteer work that would allow you to work with underprivileged kids. Anything that you do with them -- including simply participating in an event with them for a couple of hours -- could make a big difference in their lives.</p>

<p>You also could offer to speak to high school and middle school classes during your spring break. Some churches also may welcome your speaking to their youth groups. </p>

<p>Your doing so could make a big difference in the lives of young people who come from neighborhoods in which a successful male is considered to be one who deals drugs, and where few males graduate from h.s. </p>

<p>Doing these things also could lead to your eventually getting paid as an inspirational speaker (check out what Les Brown has done) and writing a best seller memoir. I hope you are keeping a journal. I also suggest that you drop Alice Walker a line -- saying thank-you again for her choosing you as the winner of the contest, and updating her on your life. She could become an ongoing mentor for you. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear from you.</p>

<p>If you don't have her address, write her via her book publisher or c/o the contest that you won.</p>

<p>yeah he had a nice essay but i mean</p>

<p>wit those scores stanford and columbia?</p>

<p>dont act like him being black didnt help A TON</p>

<p>i mean im poor too lol..i cant even afford to apply to stanford</p>

<p>fromthesouth,</p>

<p>If you really are poor, you could get fee waivers to apply to Stanford.</p>

<p>The scores are good enough for Stanford and Columbia. The colleges look at scores in the context of a student's environment and resources. His scores and achievements also reflect considerable verbal talent. His 35 reading score on the ACT especially is impressive. He also has very impressive leadership particularly with his motivational speaking and being an officer in a statewide organization.</p>

<p>I also assume that there's a good chance that he took his tests without getting tutoring or coming from a school in which the students are taught how to do well on the college board tests.</p>

<p>"GPA- 4.4 top 4%
Courseload- Full IB
6 Psycology SL
Black Male</p>

<p>28 ACT ( 11 essay, 30 english, 35 Reading, 24 science, 25 math)
720 Lit, 740 US History"</p>

<p>An impoverished first gen college student may have genius level intelligence to be able to have scored as high as he did despite presumably not being surrounded by adults with the verbal skills and knowledge that adults have who are highly educated.</p>

<p>It's also very likely that he attended inferior schools as typically the quality of schools is linked to the income level of the community that surrounds them.</p>

<p>First generation and low income students are highly sought by virtually all top colleges, which want to have student bodies that are diverse in all ways including in terms of economics. The schools also seek students who have done well despite adversity and who have exceptional talent.</p>

<p>Being a first gen, low income student who has overcome diversity and has exceptional talent (The essay, reading score, working at the Stockton paper, and Alice Walker's comments attest to his talents) are all far bigger admission factors than is his race. </p>

<p>Incidentally, my perspective comes from having graduated from Harvard and being a Harvard alum interviewer. I also attended Stanford's grad school and know admissions committee members at places like Harvard and Stanford.</p>

<p>What stands out about your perspective is how you keep focusing on the fact that he's African American, while you totally miss how impressive his achievements are. His essay was far more than "nice."</p>

<p>A person with a broader perspective also would be gaining inspiration from Mr. Tubbz' accomplishments, not minimizing them.</p>

<p>Mr. Tubbz, in looking at your original post, I see you're already a motivational speaker. Keep up the good work, and get started on that memoir! It could be very popular, even assigned reading in college and high school classes. There's a big need for more memoirs by black males, particularly by black males who have avoided prison, addiction and the other things that plague African Americans. Unfortunately, the few memoirs about young African American males usually tell tales of woe about gang life, etc.</p>

<p>im not. im happy for the guy..</p>

<p>im low income..and altho my mom went to the local college for 1 semester she dropped out to get a job.</p>

<p>yeah my school is over half black and very poor </p>

<p>thing is its just unfair how much being an URM excels ur status.</p>

<p>"thing is its just unfair how much being an URM excels ur status."</p>

<p>I don't understand why you keep focusing on his URM status when he has far more than that going for him. Being a URM also is a detriment in most aspects of society. Would you yourself really want to be a URM?</p>

<p>Your focusing on his URM status and even seeming envious of any admissions tip he'd get for that would be like an affluent students' saying they wish they could be poor so as to get an admission tip (something that I have seen students posting on CC). Meanwhile, I bet that you don't view the admissions advantages of poverty to be so great that you'd prefer to be poor if you had a choice. I'd also bet that your coming from a low income home and not having a college graduate mom prevented your from getting many educational and enrichment opportunities.</p>

<p>fromthesouth,</p>

<p>fwiw, my son, white, low-income, also from the south, received acceptance and a full ride from pomona....he was Qbridge and a match and pomona was his first choice, so we'll never know about any other acceptances he might have received, but it's possible for you too....are u a jr or a sr?</p>

<p>mr tubbz,</p>

<p>i've seen you around, but never knew your story before tonight - really incredible - esp to take in in one sitting. Know that your Mom is enjoying this as much as you...</p>

<p>yeah it does. </p>

<p>and i couldnt get fee waivers because apparently combined 50k (with 3 kids) is too much</p>

<p>add my moms attempt at suicide while she was drunk (a hefty bill considering what she had to do to get better) and my close family members recent stint in a mental health institution for suicide issues..we have bills that a 50k combined family cant cover, yet the freaking system doesnt seem to work out just right for us..because they dont say on your app "are you someone that has had their mother try to commit suicide by driving drunk into trees, and are you someone that had to spend a lot of your time trying to figure things out on your own because your mother was drunk EVERY single day she came home while you lived in a camper trailer with your mother and your brother??"..no, they just ask "race-" and putting anything other than white (and possibly asian) = automatic boost</p>

<p>yeah you could say im a bit angry about AA</p>

<p>^^^ tell that story in an essay and put a positive spin on the end on how it's inspired you to reach higher, and the adcoms will love it. r u a Jr or a Sr? Once again, my son is white low income and now accepted to the 2nd most selective LAC in the country...it's not about only racial diversity anymore...they want socio-economic and geographic diversity - you have both.</p>

<p>I am genuinely sorry to hear of your situation, fromthesouth. In a previous career, I worked with alcoholics and their families, so I have some understanding of how difficult your situation must be, and how hard you've been working to overcome the challenges in your life.</p>

<p>If you are having difficulty getting fee waivers or with other aspects of your application process, if you post your concerns here in a separate thread in Parents Forum, you'll probably get informed help from other parents.</p>

<p>From what I've seen, colleges like Stanford and many other top private colleges, can be very responsive when students express the kind of financial concerns that you're expressing. Have you tried directly calling or e-mailing Stanford's financial aid or admissions office, explaining your family's financial situation, and requesting a fee waiver? This kind of personal approach may make a difference. Obviously, your family's financial situation differs from that of families of similar income who don't have high medical bills, and if you inform the colleges of this, some are likely to give you fee waivers.</p>

<p>If you wrote your essay about how you've been overcoming the challenges of your background, that also could be a big boost to your admission chances.Understandably, you're probably angry and hurt about your situation, but for your essay to help you, its main focus would need to be how you've achieved despite the adversity in your life, something you've obviously done. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, your saying, "man i wish i was black so i could get into those schools with stats like that lol" is as insensitive as if someone saw your post and stats and said, "I wish I were dirt poor and had a suicidal, alcoholic mother so I could get a $20 k scholarship from Tulane (or admission to Cornell, your reach school, which I think you have a decent shot at) with those stats."</p>

<p>You have a big advantage that Mr. Tubbz doesn't have: When you are out in the world by yourself, no one will look at you and assume bad things about you because you came from a poor background and had an alcoholic, suicidal mother. All people will see is a young white male.</p>

<p>When Mr. Tubbz goes into the world, people see a young African American male, and many people will assume that he is lazy, criminal or stupid. Yes, that's what research has indicated people think when they see a black male, and I doubt that this is new information for you. Consequently, I doubt you were serious about wishing you were black so you could have any tip factor that Mr. Tubbz got.</p>

<p>Hey Mr. Tubbz,
Thanks for updating us! I'm a parent of a college freshman who was in your application pool, and watched you work hard to get to Stanford last year.
I'm glad these schools admit a bunch of kids with different skills, gifts and histories. My daughter isn't at Stanford, but she's also surrounded by a group of diverse, motivated and curious kids. You are bringing a fresh perspective and set of experiences to your school. The things you can add to a discussion, either in class or at dinner, are the priceless part of my child's education.<br>
Thanks.</p>

<p>fromthesouth, I am going to address your issue in a separate thread which I am going to start.</p>

<p>Mr tubbz,</p>

<p>Happy New Years and congratulations on your success and Stanford. Thank you for coming back and informing us of your progress. Much continued success!</p>

<p>Well to be fair NorthStarMom, I would say people only think "lazy, criminal" when they see black kids walking with oversized shirts and their pants to their knees. Since Mr. Tubbz obviously doesn't do that I would assume he is a very good student. I'm sorry to say that a lot of the black kids at my school fit that stereotype, but our rank 2. and 3. are black and surely don't, and no one thinks that they do. In fact they do catch flack about being "oreos" which is sad. They are great fun people though :)</p>

<p>And I wasn't able to apply to Stanford. The due date was yesterday and I just wasn't able to come up with the money. It's okay though I'll be happy with everything else I've gotten.</p>

<p>MR. Tubbz, thanks so much for posting! It's great to hear you're so happy. (We knew you were going to be successful.) Please continue to keep us updated. It really is a joy to read your updates, and I know the future holds many wonderful things for you. God's blessings to you!</p>

<p>So glad to hear you're happy! Yes, this place is wonderful and I'm so glad the guidance pointed you in the right direction. Big hug to your mom too. She must be soooo proud!</p>

<p>Fromthesouth, </p>

<p>If you look at Mr Tubbz's stats, you'll see that not only was he a straight A student with the hardest course load, he had an almost perfect score in reading on the ACT. The only weakness I saw in his application was lower science and math scores on the ACT. It is not unusual for ivy schools and similar to accept students with skewed scores, especially if those scores are skewed in favor of verbal/ reading. There are kids who 'average' 2100 on the SATs, but may have 600 Math, 800 CR and 700 writing. College is a LOT of reading and it's hard to coach a reading score that high so those kinds of scores tell colleges that a student can really succeed there.</p>

<p>Mr Tubbz,
Thanks for the updates. Glad you are doing well at Stanford.</p>

<p>Hey all,
it’s been a while and it’s crazy to think that I’m already a junior.
College has been an amazing time and I’m still thankful for all your help, kind words, and encouragement.</p>