<p>Awesome stuff. Good on the gal.</p>
<p>" ...To many teenagers waiting to hear from college, Opal may seem like an only slightly more crazed peer: To get Opal into the school of her choice Harvard, naturally her parents have created a detailed battle plan with the acronym HOWGIH ("How Opal Will Get Into Harvard"), complete with spread sheets of her extracurricular activities and family focus groups to keep her on track.</p>
<p>Then comes Opal's campus interview. The admissions officer eyes Opal's splendid record, puts down the file and asks the one question she is not prepared to answer: "Don't you have anything you like to do in your spare time? Just for fun?"</p>
<p>With that, her parents immediately switch gears to HOWGAL, or "How Opal Will Get a Life," and the novel takes off. Opal must have a complete makeover. They draw up a list: she must "Get popular," "Get kissed" and "Get wild." She reads Teen People and watches Beyoncé videos. She starts wearing Jimmy Choo spike heels and Habitual jeans instead of shapeless skirts and turtlenecks. Her father makes flashcards so she can learn slang: "keep it real" and "off the hook." Of course, Opal gets into Harvard, but not before learning what her true values are. Publishers Weekly called the book " 'Legally Blonde' in reverse." </p>
<p>....</p>
<p>presumably there's an impendin sequel about Opal's life at Harvard...</p>
<p>I assume she has to live it before she writes about it, and she is less than half-way through!</p>
<p>I can't believe she wrote it in Lamont. That place is where fun and creativity go to die.</p>
<p>Isn't there a new "fun" place to eat and drink at Lamont now, or hasn't it made its debut yet?</p>
<p>next year.</p>
<p>What with that, and the pub, there's just going to be sooooo much "fun". How did generations of Harvard students survive without a cafe in the library and a pub under Annenberg?</p>
<p>Cutting edge in fun is just around the corner, I guess, just as soon as they build the now fashionable -even mandatory - "student center" with bowling alleys and a climbing wall!</p>
<p>Hahahha Byerly...</p>
<p>I can practically taste the bitterness :p</p>
<p>(Kidding)</p>
<p>I can easily see Harvard trying to seem more "fun" by building climbing walls and things like that. Anything to increase yield and rank, I guess. (Still, it would be presented as great stress relief.)</p>
<p>Wonder how long it will be before this book gets turned into a movie.</p>
<p>IvyWise? That is scary.</p>
<p>haha my mom bought me that book. i refused to read it.</p>
<p>from a professionally packaged applicant who already, as a sophomore, aspires to investment banking. how romantic.</p>
<p>Starring Ms. Hilary Duff!</p>
<p>No, they couldn't cast Hillary Duff - she already played her intelligence card with A Cinderella Story. Lindsay Lohan on the other hand...</p>
<p>Hilary, however, has the advantage of being a Harvard girl herself. She'd thus have more credibility in the role.</p>
<p>harvard girl.
hahahaha.
excuse me while i go throw up.</p>
<p>The iBanking bug strikes even innocent first years.</p>