And here’s exactly why it would have been better for this kid to decline the PR coverage. Why feed this troglodytic attitude?
@emmabeanie13 @Hunt Maybe the Asian kids denied the press…
How many people actually apply to all of the Ivy League schools? There may not be that many–and perhaps there is a disproportionate number of this type of URM applicant among them, who may be encouraged to do so by guidance counselors who have read this kind of story before.
@katliamom it took much character, bravery, strength, and humiliation for many Aisan, Jewish, and other immigrant students to do well too. But because those groups do well, it doesn’t matter.
@emmabeanie13, it sounds like you are still bitter from your recent admission decisions. Perhaps it would be healthier to get off CC, go lick your wounds, and get some fresh perspective.
@emmabeanie13,
First, my daughters are white middle class students. Yes, it takes hard work for these students to do well. However, I don’t begrudge ANY URMs who are accepted at very selective colleges. I am very grateful that my girls went to colleges (NYU, Brown, MIT, Berkeley) that had diverse student bodies. In some cases, such as the young man in the original article, he overcame more difficult odds than my girls did, given his background compared to my girls’ background, as well .
I read another post of yours on CC where you wrote:
I am sorry for your disappointments. But the schools that denied you are HIGHLY competitive and turn away many hard working high achievers like yourself. Their acceptance rates are very low. It is not unusual to get an outcome like you received and hopefully you were realistic when applying to an array of very difficult odds schools. Not getting in is NOT a commentary on your abilities or excellent “stats”. I am sad to read that you feel your hard work did not pay off. In fact, you got into NYU, which is quite selective. Perhaps your outcome would have been different if your list was not mostly made up of schools considered REACH odds for ANYONE (due to the very low acceptance rates). Had you had more schools in the 30% admit rate range, which is still very selective, you may have had more options. Most would consider getting into schools in that range as excellent and where so many very hard working students land. By applying to mostly highly selective schools, you narrowed your odds of having a selection of excellent colleges in the end. It sounds like you really wanted “Ivy.” Your hard work did pay off and if you work hard at a school like NYU, you can achieve great things. You will be among many other hard working students who were high achievers in HS and who had stats in your range if you attend NYU.
^ This! There is a high degree of predictability in the reactions from the camps with well established views. It does not take much from condensing the entire “package” to a mere SAT (when it is perfect or close) and the mere racial attributes, and especially so when there are quick parallels between Somalia and Nigeria.
The French have a nice say “La parole est d’argent, mais le silence est d’or.” that can be loosely translated into “The spoken word is silver, but the silence is golden.”
On a jocular note, we really need to go back to disagreeing, Hunt!
Katliamom, #97, thank you!
Is everyone missing that this kid is an Intel semifinalist?? That, in itself, goes a long way toward admission to any college.
@NYMomof2, I agree. This kid seems to be well qualified compared to any other applicant. Just because he is a black immigrant doesn’t mean that aa is the reason he got in. It always annoys me when I see comments that reveal that the poster can’t imagine that an AA/foreign black student could be every bit as qualified as an Asian or affluent white candidate. There is always the assumption that the AA student had an unfair “hook.”
^^^Completely agree with you, @Nrdsb4.
@NYMomof2
sad to say I have an example of an Eastern European immigrant with 2250/Intel-Semi and a 96 from one of the 3 original NYC exam-schools who was not accepted to any of the 6 six ivies applied. This is my best friend from HS in the late 2000’s, and of course time healed all wounds, but this story brought me back to that time in March…lots of tears. I think it is safe to say that a black male with a 2200 is RARE. His stats are screaming “I can handle the curriculum” and “I will not drop out” and the ivies are saying “we need him.” Of course, it’s hard to compare people, and we don’t have everyone’s apps on the table to even attempt at doing so, but I can understand that the institution needs were such that he may as well have handed in a blank essay.
Fwiw, while the Intel was hard to miss, it would have been skating on thin ice to comment on it in this thread, and especially when facing the potential indictment of sour grapes. I did not think that there was any reason to question the success of this applicant (the publicity is a different subject altogether)
However, with the HUGE caveat that this absolutely NOTHING to do with this young man, I will restate a position I have often shared, and this without any mention of the AA parts. Here we go: the Intel semi-finalists is NOT a shoo-in element at any of the top schools unless it is BACKED up by evidence of “greatness” in the subject. Without looking up the details of Harold (why should I or anyone) it remains that the Intel is a cronyist affair that should NOT have the smallest impact on admission. It is a testament to cronyism because it rewards the work (often cynical) of Intel specialists who produce paint by the numbers project that often have all the ingredients that the insider group of judges select at the semi level. The only semblance of integrity appears only at the selection of the finalists.
It is also a cronyist affair for its over centricity to the New York. Long Island, and New Jersey area. The train to the SUNY Intel factory is hardly a secret as well as the near 1/3 of all semis from the region.
Spend enough time looking at the description of the projects and you will find the repetitive footprints of a number of scientists who have found a niche and developing the scientific interest of the young but often for ulterior motives.
Like it or not, if there are more than a few people who will question the success and chalk it up to the sole URM attribute, there are people who will give little credence to the Intel recognition and discount it based on plenty of evidence of manipulation by those who have access to connections and facilities in the region.
Fwiw, it does NOT appear that Harold was a commuter on that train and that he used the lab that has been presented as quite messy. On the other hand, if his research was directed by that SUNY group … well, it is what it is. To me, the Intel stuff is more like the essay that “wowed” the adcoms. I really do not think that his filed required that much of a granularity.
I fully expect my post on the issue of the Intel to be misunderstood! But c’est la vie!
The Intel fact does add quite a bit. It was not mentioned in the press I saw.
In my view, Harold Ekeh and Munira Khalif (the Minnesota teen I posted links about today who also got into all the Ivies) appear to have been very strong candidates (by what has been shared publicly…we haven’t seen their entire apps) without their immigrant and minority statuses (actually Munira is not an immigrant and is a child of immigrants from Somalia) and in Harold’s case, his humble beginnings socio-economically. The fact that they are URM is a hook in terms of admissions when all else is equal in terms of their overall achievements. But they surely both seem to be very high achievers and beyond merely “stats” that would have made them highly considered for admissions despite being URM.
Actually, Ekeh and Khalif are not URM. They are not African-Americans because for college admissions and other considerations, AA means descendants of enslaved persons in the U.S. and other folks whom were historically subject to Jim Crow discrimination in the U.S. Of course, anyone can call themselves anything they want. But it is common for recent immigrants from Africa to assertively reject the designation “African-American” and do not wish to be confused with African-Americans.
LakeWashington, I understand and appreciate your point, but these two students are students of color, and not Caucasian. When a school strives for racial diversity, students such as these two add to the diversity, and are still in the minority. My post didn’t use the term “African-American” in any case.
My understanding of URM with respect to college admissions includes the following:
American Indian or Alaskan Native; Black or African-American; Mexican-American or Chicano; Puerto Rican; Other Hispanic-American or Latin American; Asian American or Pacific Islander; or multiracial
Another black immigrant (this time she’s a female) was accepted to all Ivies:
I am just happy that Ekeh attended my high school, Elmont Memorial High School, though almost 3 decades later. I can assure that the high school was not the reason for his acceptance to all of the Ivies!
@2018dad…see post #99 
The troubling question here is why is it alway a 1st/2nd gen IMMIGRANT black kid rather than an AA black kid?