<p>"Planning on attending Princeton in the fall, Cheek identifies with the college audience and thinks that they are great activists capable of changing the situation."</p>
<p>source is a virginia tech student paper, reporting after cheek's recent talk there. not that i doubt the source, but cheek's destination seems to be the subject of close care, probably so as not to spoil his upcoming college choice reality show for MTV.</p>
<p>Has it been reported anywhere else?
I googled it but didn't find anything immediately.</p>
<p>There's an interview with Cheek in usa today in which he says he's going to attend Princeton. The link is at <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/torino/2006-05-15-joey-cheek_x.htm?POE=SPOISVA%5B/url%5D">http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/torino/2006-05-15-joey-cheek_x.htm?POE=SPOISVA</a></p>
<p>Yay!</p>
<p>And what about that reality show? Will there be an MTV tv crew trailing him around campus all year, or just a few weeks?</p>
<p>w00t.
Class 2010 rules.</p>
<p>A Harvard reject! Does Princeton plan to put him on the hockey team?</p>
<p>In all fairness, Harvard rejected him beore the gold medal, I believe.</p>
<p>At the time Harvard rejected him, he had won a bronze medal in the 2002 Olympics, had placed 3rd in the 2005 World Sprint Championships and had, I believe, qualified for the 2006 Olympics--that's an amazing extracurricular resume. I'm pretty sure that the Harvard admissions office wishes it could take back its rejection of Cheeks.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>I'm pretty sure that the Harvard admissions office wishes it could take back its rejection of Cheeks<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>I'm pretty sure they don't wish that. Because they had another chance and didn't take it. He was deferred in the EA round, after which he won the gold medal and garnered all the feel-good publicity. Then came the RD round and Harvard passed on him again despite direct on-air lobbying by Bob Costas and other public pressure. So for better or for worse, Harvard said no twice. He seems like a great guy, but I guess some things just aren't meant to be.</p>
<p>Who knows why? Some of Cheek's own public statements suggested that his high school academic record wasn't all that distinguished, and perhaps Havard was less willing to take a chance on that point. I sometimes wonder whether Harvard rejected him in RD so as not to be seen to be second-guessing themselves and/or caving in to public pressure.</p>
<p>Princeton is better than Harvard, so it doesn't really matter.</p>
<p>A Cosmo poll revealed people would much rather attend Princeton, and there parents would be happy, more than anywhere else. I think Harvard was #4</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some of Cheek's own public statements suggested that his high school academic record wasn't all that distinguished, and perhaps Havard was less willing to take a chance on that point.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I've heard he had a 1500, but not sure if that's reliable.</p>
<p>Coureur--Why do you think Cheek was deferred early action? I believe that he was rejected EA and that is why Harvard could not reconsider its decision. See this story in Sports Illustrated <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/olympics/2006/writers/02/18/olympic.blog.8/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/olympics/2006/writers/02/18/olympic.blog.8/index.html</a> which states that he was rejected early.</p>
<p>"At 26, he is finally ready to go to college, and he applied to Harvard for early admission. In spite of his fine class rank (roughly 20th out of 300) and SAT scores ("slightly north of 1400'' on the old scale), the school rejected him and said that he probably wouldn't be accepted if he entered the general applicant pool." </p>
<p>that's better than most HYPS athletes, and many non-athletes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
A Cosmo poll revealed people would much rather attend Princeton, and there parents would be happy, more than anywhere else.
[/quote]
Glad to see that Princeton has joined the Ponds Institute as a Cosmo college poll winner! ;)</p>
<br>
<ol> <li><p>Because there were stories on the TV news about his waiting to see if he would get in April after failing to do so December.</p></li> <li><p>Unlike Yale and Stanford, Harvard rejects very few in EA - instead it gives out tons of deferrals. Thus an outright rejection in EA is unlikely for ANYBODY.</p></li> <li><p>I generally do not count on sports writers (at SI or elsewhere) to be sufficiently knowledgeable about the fine points of college admissions to be able to distinguish between a deferral and a denial - to them it likely boils down to the same thing: bad news.</p></li> </ol>
<p>But assuming for the moment that SI did get it right, then he must have had some serious flaw in his application to be rejected outright. That's relatively rare at H.</p>
<br> [QUOTE=""]
<blockquote> <p>the school rejected him and said that he probably wouldn't be accepted if he entered the general applicant pool."<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>If he even had the option to enter the general applicant pool, that indicates that he was deferred rather than rejected outright. Rejectees cannot enter the RD pool whether they want to or not. It sounds like he was given a deferral with some sort of an "unlikely letter" - which I've never heard of them doing before.</p>
<p>Coureur--While I don't really want to belabor the point, I could not find any article which mentioned anything about a Harvard deferral. The Sports Illustrated article seems fairly straightforward, especially given the fact that the writer spoke with Cheek's mother specifically about the Harvard decision, and I guess I'm less skeptical than you about sports writers--I think that they often get it right, at least as much as any other journalist.</p>
<p>Regardless, I think that Joey Cheek will do very well at college--I think that the sort of determination and character he has shown will serve him well in the academic arena.</p>
<p>The question is, how much can a 26-year-old with a 1420 and 20/300 class rank contribute to a class of 18-year-olds? Many, many other students have done as much for the causes they believe in, and would gladly do the same thing he did with his Olympic money. </p>
<p>Athletic accomplishments SHOULD NOT be considered when reading applications.</p>
<p>Check out this thread on Joey Cheek in the Yale section.</p>
<p>Sounds like he hasn't given up his dream entirely, and hopes that if he proves himself capable of doing good work at Princeton for a year or so, that Harvard may reconsider him as a possible transfer.</p>
<p>" ... At 26, he is finally ready to go to college, and he applied to Harvard for early admission. In spite of his fine class rank (roughly 20th out of 300) and SAT scores ("slightly north of 1400'' on the old scale), the school rejected him and said that he probably wouldn't be accepted if he entered the general applicant pool.</p>
<p>Cheek has wanted to attend Harvard since he first knew what the name meant. He was crushed, and he told the media as much at his gold-medal news conference. Since then, he said he has received several e-mails from Harvard alumni rooting for the school to change its mind.</p>
<p>"Now, I'm probably doomed because there's no way they can do it under pressure,'' he said, worried about undermining his Plan B -- attending another school and then transferring. He came up with that idea after he boldly called the admissions department and asked what he could do to make himself a better candidate.</p>
<p>"Olympic athletes and athletes in general, we're a pretty stubborn group,'' he said. "... And once we get our minds set on something, we're not used to letting it go....'' </p>
<p>warming up to the guy now, eh byerly? don't get your hopes up. that article reflected cheek's feelings three months ago. anyway, no way he gets into harvard as a transfer, when his chances are 1/10th what they were as an SCEA applicant.</p>