NY Times article

Parents Forum
1

<p>I'm surprised that nobody has posted on the NYTIMES article today about the horrendous hardships faced by students at one of the most affluent high schools in the United States, Newton North:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/education/01girls.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=education&pagewanted=all%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/education/01girls.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=education&pagewanted=all&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So sad. These pitiful creatures, saddled with the burdens of suburbia. Why, the one poor girl was the only girl in her class who didn't have a credit card. Life is truly unfair.</p>

<p>I had to choke at the snobbishness of her essay about the backwaters of Kentucky:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/us/girls-esther-essay.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/us/girls-esther-essay.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
Esther Mobley wrote the following essay as part of her college application to Williams College:</p>

<p>Going back to Campbellsville reminds me of who I am and of who I am not. In Campbellsville, Kentucky, where my grandparents live, conservatism is palpable. It manifests itself in many ways: people erect wooden boards on their laws with the Ten Commandments written on them. There is a beauty pageant for every girl age four to seventeen. At the county fair in August, the rides are always creaky, with paint chipping off and an odd red light that doesn't light up. On any given day, the same regular crowd of men sits in Jeff's Deli, wearing baseball caps, ordering the usual. Things are old. But some things aren't grand-old or antique-old; they're just stale, outdated, washed up.</p>

<p>I used to think that I felt alienated from Kentucky because of the oldness and the conservatism. Now I realize that it's more than that: it's that Kentucky is drenched in SLOWNESS. The people walk slowly, talk slowly, breathe slowly. They Sunday-drive every day, and their cars seem to exhale onto the road below them. They drag their ancestors with them, treasuring the past the way Northerners treasure the future. They know exactly who they are. In Kentucky, the people reject change, as if to accept it would be to relinquish their heritage. All of this slowness can take a toll on you. It can suck the momentum out of you, it can STAY you, and that's probably why so many people never, ever leave.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Hint to next year's applicants. No more "grand theme" college essays. Write about your stamp collecting or something. Save the social commentary until you've actually lived outside the Route 128 suburbs.</p>

2

<p>I attend a high school in Massachusetts in a wealthy suburb about 40 mins away from Newton North HS. Let me say that everything said in the article is completely true, and it exact same pressures exist at my high school. </p>

<p>interesteddad--I didn't feel like the article was trying to make you pity the girls, and the girls didn't seem to want pitying. Maybe I am simply too acclimated to such a high pressure atmosphere that I wouldn't feel any sympathy anyways. Academics and college talk certainly do dominate at our school (especially this past week), but it is not something unmanageable. </p>

<p>I have to say, though, I'm not a big fan of their essays either. This is nothing to do with the quality of their essays, but I'm surprised that high school students would so readily agree to have such personal essays printed in a high profile national story.</p>

3

<p>I was mostly struck by the fact that the surprisingly naive-sounding Times seemed to think it had breaking news in the "discovery" that pretty girls have varied interests and strive to excel.</p>

4

<p>Why would anyone here post that article? It is CC. :)</p>

<p>And that essay made me gag.</p>

5

<p>
[quote]
I have to say, though, I'm not a big fan of their essays either. This is nothing to do with the quality of their essays, but I'm surprised that high school students would so readily agree to have such personal essays printed in a high profile national story.

[/quote]
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<p>Actually, the reason those were such ineffective college essays is that there was nothing even remotely personal about them.</p>

<p>"I had a hard teacher once who taught me to overcome hardship" and "What I learned about life from visiting a hick town..."</p>

<p>I'd rather read about the excitement of getting a new pair of designer jeans. At least it's relevant to a living, breathing teenager.</p>

6

<p>That Kentucky essay was dreadful.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
That Kentucky essay was dreadful.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yeah....I'm kinda thinking that Davidson was a "no, thanks!"</p>

<p>Essays like that give "damn yankees" a bad name.</p>

8

<p>My favorite line:</p>

<p>
[quote]
I'm looking for....the welcoming attitude of Newton.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I can just imagine the adcom in Williamstown thinking, hmm, I guess we have to reject her so she can remain in welcoming Newton. :)</p>

9

<p>The sad thing is that it quite possible the girl is not anywhere near as stuck-up as her essay makes her sound. However, these kids start reading college essay books and get hung up on writing some grandiose sociological theme.</p>

<p>The sad thing is that it would be much more effective to write a nice simple little essay about ... I don't know.... a sunny afternoon in the bleachers at Fenway Park.</p>

<p>If poor Esther had read The Gatekeepers, she would have known that adcoms pick up applications like hers and say, "oh great, another rich kid from Newton...this better be good..." To turn around and write a snobby essay about a visit to hicksville.....yeow!</p>

10

<p>I do love the sense of irony in her essay...
[quote]
Kentucky makes me long to move forward, to progress from the narrow-minded, out-dated traditional values.

[/quote]
That was intentional wasn't it? ;)</p>

<p>(Wikipedia: "Narrow-minded, " is an adjective used to describe a person who is intolerant or inflexible in their point of view regarding others.)</p>

11

<p>Do you suppose she sent that essay to Centre? Since Centre accepted her, I guess not.</p>

12

<p>Since Ester was described as "one of the top students at Newton North" and since Newton North presumably has a good advising department, I have to assume that her college list of Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Davidson, Smith (legacy), and Centre was a reasonable list, with a nice gradation from the two reaches to the matches. Most legitimately qualified applicants to Williams or Amherst should get accepted at Middlebury or Davidson.</p>

<p>Outright rejections from Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury suggest that her essay may have literally blown her out of the water. Poor thing probably has no idea. When she posted her "What are my chances?" on College Confidential, she probably wrote:</p>

<p>Essays: great!</p>

13

<p>The word "snotty" comes to mind...and my guess is she didn't use that essay in her Davidson application. She probably wrote of her love for the South and longing for a slower pace of life...that's how its done today...anything to win.</p>

14

<p>Davidson results have been out for over a week...she knew when the article was published whether she got in or not. I wonder why it says she's still waiting. Middlebury was yesterday.</p>

15

<p>I love how when anyone gets rejected from Williams its always because, "they're not an athlete."</p>

<p>Sheesh... the girl got rejected ED.... Williams flat out rejects like 5 percent of early applicants. It's sort of deceptive that we can't see what the rest of her application was like. I suspect her academic credentials were quite abysmal.</p>

16

<p>i-dad:</p>

<p>what could mean "top student" to the author is not necessarily a top student. No where did I find a gpa which, as we know, is much more important than SAT scores.</p>

<p>whit: these types of articles are sent to press way days ahead of the Saturday deadline for "news".</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
Davidson results have been out for over a week...she knew when the article was published whether she got in or not. I wonder why it says she's still waiting.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Waitlisted?</p>

18

<p>OK, I'm from Indiana, but maybe, just maybe so many people never leave because we don't have those snobbish, elitist attitudes and we really don't want to live among those who do.</p>

19

<p>Blue: You're right...Which means that that she must've been rejected by Middlebury on an EA application since the RD results were out just yesterday AM. She's had a pretty bad string...</p>

<p>FWIW: Her college admissions counselor should be fired forthwith if she/he in anyway approved [or even acquiesced to] that Kentucky essay. Disasterous!</p>

20

<p>I dunno. The first sentence of the article is:</p>

<p>
[quote]
To anyone who knows 17-year-old Esther Mobley, one of the best students at one of the best public high schools in the country, it is absurd to think she doesn’t measure up.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Unless Judith Miller wrote this article, I have to assume that she's at least top-10% at Newton North.</p>

<p>That high school is a college acceptance factory. I don't think the guidance office would allow totally misquided application lists. If any high school guidance office in the country knows a reasonable Williams/Amherst transcript, it's Newton North. I mean, after all, we aren't talking about some "slow-talkin' hick school" in Kentucky! There's practically a commuter rail link between Newton North and Williams/Amherst.</p>