<p>To Mombot: My dad was born a few years after Ghana (the country he is from) became independant. His relatives urged him not to come back after he went to the U.S. when he was 18, because things were going bad there, due to Rawling's dictatorship. My grandparents divorced when my dad was young. He was their only child in their marriage, but when both of my grandparents remarried and had other children, he became the child that was cast aside, and ended up spending his childhood being sent from relative to relative rather than living with either of his parents. My dad had to make his own opportunities when it came to education and other various opportunites.</p>
<p>He is definitely the exception to the rule when it comes to academics. In his culture there is a very strong double standard, even up to this day (example, my mom blatantly favoring my brother over me, just because he is a boy). Woman are to be seen not heard, and they focus more on home-making skills than education, even though they are allowed to go to college, a good majority of them focus on finding a husband while in college. My dad is the exception to the rule in his culture; he always took a more stronger interest in what I did than in my brother (not to say my dad totally blows off my brother, because he does take some interest, but just not as much interest as he did when I was his age). He wants me to become independant, making my own money, rather than being dependant on a man. I know I probably get my drive from my dad, because I hate hand-holding when it comes to education and I like to seek out my own opportunities, and be able to fall on my own and pick myself up and continue on.</p>
<p>To DianeR: Yeah, I wish that they would have atleast talked to the colleges that he were rejected from and find out why he was rejected, so that other people can learn from his mistakes or lack of mistakes. I'm sure your daughter is very qualified; I believe that ACT doesn't measure one's intelligence and should not be made into the ultimate determining factor of whether or not a student should be goin to a certain school. There will always be people who think that other people shouldn't have gotten into certain colleges. They think that person wasn't as "qualified" as they are or as qualified as their rejected friend, and use the excuse to AA, legacy, or athlete status to justify it. They don't truly know what's going on behind the scenes, even though they can take a good guess. Colleges do not accept people who have stats that show that they are going to fail out within the year or people who have "hooks"/"tip factors" combined with an awful/boring personality. Your daughter probably had amazing essays along with outstanding qualities that made her stand out more than the high ACT scorers who were rejected.</p>