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<p>Understood. Perhaps I should have phrased it as, “the only obvious hook was his race.” Of course it is possible that there was something else that made his profile unique, but it was not obvious from the story.</p>
<p>It seems my one and only post in this thread didn’t help. Sorry. Let me try again. I wanted to say what’s extraordinary and why it made the headline was the fact that in this day and age, someone got in ALL 8 of the Ivies. What’s obvious - I believe - is that these colleges certainly turned down many students with similar profiles (in terms of grades, class ranking, test scores, and even socioeconomic status), and I believe the fact that these colleges are actively looking for top performing AA boys helped. <em>Obviously</em>, we cannot poll the AO’s who made the decision whether racial background was ever a factor in their decisions in this case, so I’ll rest my case. At least we all agree this is a holistic review process we are working with. Cheers. </p>
<p>His numbers don’t look special, but he probably is. His parents probably never wrote a letter to an administrator to advocate for his best interests, nor scrutinized the high school offerings for the schedule that would best suit him. It is unlikely that he spent much time interacting with middle-aged, upper-middle class white folks, who make up the majority of Ivy League interviewers. In my opinion, he stands head and shoulders above students with similar stats and greater social capital. Do people really fail to see that?</p>
<p>^^ How could you say that when you have not a clue anything about the other students’ characters, personalities etc.? Maybe they are great people too. What a leap! </p>
<p>"Sounds similar to the profiles I’ve seen in my relatives’ well-off NNJ suburban public HS in years when they had academically strong graduating classes* "</p>
<p>Cobrat, just please stop pretending you know academic details of your relatives’ classmates. </p>
<p>This young man is obviously very brilliant, hardworking, and talented. He has a really fascinating background and his peers at any college would benefit by learning from him as well as with him.</p>
<p>The statistically normal result for brilliant, hardworking, talented students who apply to Ivy League schools is to get a rejection letter. To get into all of them is almost unheard of. </p>
<p>^^ And to apply to all of them is just about unheard of too. The question is if many kids applied to all Ivys on a regular basis, we might be surprised how many pull it off too. </p>
<p>I find it fascinating that we’re talking about a kid who had an average of a 750 on each section and was in the top 2 % of his graduating class as someone with “low stats” for any of these schools. </p>
<p>First of all, let me say this young man deserves it. But what I dont’ understand is after getting accepted EA to Princeton, let me apply to other 7 ? That seems a bit excessive, when people do EA, they should sort of stick with EA and not see how many more badges they can collect. Or maybe just apply to couple more. He definitely adds to the diversity of the campus and that does play into it. A musician+URM+strong academics + first in family to go to college. But all the same, kudos to his accomplishments.</p>
<p>@apprenticeprof - I am not sure anyone said low stats, if they did, that is inaccurate. What they are is normal / standard stats for those schools. </p>
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<p>Not first in family to go to college. Both of his parents are Nurses. </p>
<p>^ok…it says first-generation american from immigrant parents from Ghana. Depending on where and what kind of nurse degree, it may not have been a traditional college degree…Who knows? Again, while he is certainly deserving, it does play into the diversity that colleges seek. Anyone see the “admission” movie :)</p>
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<p>His parents are both nurses. What gives you the impression that they would not be sophisticated enough to do this?</p>
<p>Of course, one doesn’t know what the author meant by “nurse.” When someone says “nurse” I hear RN. The child of two RNs would hardly be underprivileged. But perhaps his parents are both LPNs or aides at a nursing home or something. That would be different. But the article doesn’t imply that. It implies that his parents are educated, successful immigrant strivers. As we have noted, the article is deficient in many ways, especially in giving any idea of what actually might make this kid special enough to stand out amongst the thousands of peers with equal or better qualifications who were rejected by the same schools. The article points only to his race.</p>
<p>So don’t blame us, beachlover et al.</p>
<p>You can’t work as a nurse in the U.S. without the appropriate U.S.-level training/re-training, testing, etc. Nurses in general are highly educated these days, many have master’s degrees, and work their way up (competitive) professional ladders. Let’s not assume that a nurse from Africa = low skilled.</p>
<p>This young man’s academic accomplishments, and his background, make him unique. I’m not surprised all the Ivies accepted him. Best of luck to him (though he’s clearly a winner already.) </p>
<p>The author clearly doesn’t spend hours on CC, and doesn’t have a high school junior or senior applying to competitive colleges. To the vast majority of the world out there, this kid – his stats, his activities – are exceptional and worthy of admission. We live in a bubble here. To most of the world, a 2250 SAT is considered near-perfect. </p>
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<p>Agree with this. I think this kid sounds great. </p>
<p>No one said they were low stats. They said they were <em>typical</em> stats. It is not necessary to overstate the case.</p>
<p>Of course he is a decent smart kid with great parents. But of course he got into all the Ivys because he is black. If he was first generation from Chinese immigrant parents with the same profile he’d be lucky to get a Cornell out of it.</p>
<p>I’m reacting to statements like this: </p>
<p>usually 11th in the class is not good enough for HPY.
Let’s share this article with those who were QUALIFIED
It’s like I am being forced to praise a lower standard than many kids I know who did not get into the Ivys. </p>
<p>His HS has only 31% of graduates going to 4-year colleges. It is also a 33% minority school.
<a href=“http://www.wfsd.k12.ny.us/rc/files/WFHS.pdf”>http://www.wfsd.k12.ny.us/rc/files/WFHS.pdf</a>
Good chance most of these Ivies never ever accepted a student from this school.</p>
<p>@fireandrain stated, “We live in a bubble here. To most of the world, a 2250 SAT is considered near-perfect.”</p>
<p>True, but the issue is he did not apply to most of the world; he applied to the Ivys, where those stats and ECs are darn near average. </p>
<p>Like I said, he probably is an awesome person and deserves to be there. But to act like he felled a forest with a pickaxe is frankly disingenuous. He simply did what at least half of the other students did to get into the Ivys. </p>