<p>Kinshasa:
I stand corrected. I did a Google search, and found</p>
<p>'Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, drafted in 1787, says that only natural-born Americans at least 35 years old who have lived in the country for 14 years can serve as President.'</p>
<p>My bad... :-)</p>
<p>Tebro, LOL about Cat and the hapless guy. You mean he wasn't ready to sacrifice his anatomy for his college career?</p>
<p>OptimizerDad: there's one other difference between us citizens by birth and people like you: you became a citizen with your clothes on.</p>
<p>I think that an Embassy is U.S. soil. What if you're born in international waters - or in the air?</p>
<p>hahahaha: I read a hilarious fanfiction a few weeks back about a Chicago cop holding a case about to be closed by his boss. He ran to the Canadian consulate and managed to get a handful of soil on his papers, declaring the case Canadian and out of the jurisdiction of the CPD. </p>
<p>It amused me verily. </p>
<p>I was actually pondering the same thing about "First Gentleman." "First Spouse," or would that imply that the previous couples did not have marriage licenses? "First Husband"...rather awkward. "First Sir"? </p>
<p>TheDad: he was attached to Smith, but more to his "dangly bits." Edmund Blackadder Some people have no concept of priorities.</p>
<p>"TheDad, mini: One of my friends who graduated last year could give you two a run for your money in promoting Smith. She ended up snatching up any hapless junior and educating them about the greatness that is Smith--regardless of gender. She was so persuasive that one guy got really excited about applying...until he read the brochure. Cat had forgotten to tell him about the all-women's situation."</p>
<p>Good thing that he didn't get to visit...then he definitely would have wanted in!</p>
<p>I was born in Japan to an American citizen in the military (many moons ago). My dad tells me that he had to register my birth at the US embassy and I had my first passport when I came to the states 3 months later. I've never had to be "naturalized"--I'm considered "natural born." </p>
<p>Any other babies born in foreign countries to American citizens?</p>
<p>Now I have to tell my funny passport story. After S was born in New Delhi we applied for his passport. The US consulate arranged the Indian visa to be stamped into his passport. When he was five months old we took a trip to Singapore. The officials at the Delhi airport went nuts when we tried to leave. S's passport did not have an entrance stamp into the country! We explained that he was BORN in India and hence did not have an entrance stamp. They absolutely could not understand how he could have a US passport and physically be in India yet did not have an entrance stamp. I said to H, "Maybe we should have had an immigration official waiting outside the delivery room?"</p>
<p>My SIL's baby was born in France last year - they had to decide at birth whether he would be an American citizen or have dual French-American citizenship - they chose American only, and my understanding is that he is "natural born", but a little young for the Presidency :)</p>
<p>tebro,
This post would make an excellent college essay...</p>
<p>And I am sure you'll make the best of any choice you make in April.</p>
<p>Well, I am back and saw this post by TheDad and I thought I would weigh in with my daughter's happiness rating. I even asked my husband what he would rate her happiness as being and so I have averaged the two. </p>
<p>School: Yale
Result: Deferred then rejected
Present college: Georgetown SFS
Happiness rating: 6.5</p>
<p>Now the reason for the low score. I thought 7 and H said 6 so I compromised. We think that the D loves the freedom and all the free time that she has. She was in the International Baccalaureate Program for the last 4 years and she had about 5 hours of homework every night. She also was in many many activities (as most of our kids were). So every waking moment was taken up by something.
The first week she called and said she was bored. She was on two debate teams, international relations (MUN), representative for her floor to the council, the Supreme Court Docket organization and a few others. There was a lot for her to do - DC has soooo many opportunities to explore. But the problem seemed to be that she had so much time on her hands after being in IB. She said she read every book assigned, she wrote her papers (she is one of those fortunate souls who can sit down and crank out a paper in a short time) of which she had about 3-5 due a week. I think IB really really prepared her for college. She also never missed a class - many many other kids did - which brings up another problem.
The quality of students. I don't want to seem snobbish or offend anyone but this was her observation. She had always attended public school - magnet schools where kids were serious about school and bc they were at a higher level the intellectual discussions were wonderful. She said there is a wide gap at Georgetown of private school kids who don't take school seriously and public school kids who are very serious. She said it is very evident - you can pick them out. She said it is like the public school kids worked their butts off to get here and the private kids (with lower stats) take it for granted. She sees the difference in the haves and have nots. We are middle class (not to get into that discussion again) and she is living with kids who well, you know.
I think I have diverted from the main point. She said the class discussions were much better at her high school and she does not feel challenged at Georgetown. She will graduate in 3 years so she said she will finish there. She has made some good friends and gets along with her roommate. She is having a good time socially - though she confesses she has not had her first drink - she said she and her friends are not into that but they do enjoy going to clubs to dance.
To conclude - if you are not too bored - the 6.5 has more to do with the caliber of students than anything else. The profs seem to be fine - she is in small classes with the exception of econ. I still think she would be happier at Yale.</p>
<p>thank you all so much for your supportive posts. :) I think my parents are beginning to accept my choice, but it's still going to take some time ... either way I know Brown was my first choice and still is, and I'm glad I got in.</p>
<p>About citizenship of kids born abroad to American parents, "Your birthplace must be the United States; or at least on American soil." </p>
<p>That's not the constitutional language. The constitutional language is "natural born" United States citizen, which includes some persons born outside the territory of the United States but who by facts of birth have claim to United States citizenship. This matter has actually never been litigated, but I would litigate on behalf of my third son, born overseas to two United States citizen parents and having no claim to any other nationality, if he chose to run for president [grin]. If the kid was eligible for a United States passport from birth, I would make the argument the kid is able to run for president thirty-five years later, as long as fourteen years of residency in the United States have been racked up meanwhile. </p>
<p>Who wants to be the test case?</p>
<p>Clipper, that's pretty sobering about Georgetown and the whole class thing. I'd been thinking that that's where I <em>should</em> have gone to college.</p>
<p>Of course it's XIGGI with an X---not ZIGGI with a Z! ...I knew there was something fishy about that post, but it was late (it always is when I post---it's 3:24am east coast time right now, for instance) and the Tylenol PM I'd taken for body aches was starting to hit me like a hammer (that sounds like a good excuse, doesn't it---LOL!). Sorry Xiggi...</p>
<p>In anycase, Tebro is wonderful. And Xiggi (who's probably too busy baffling the denizens of Claremont McKenna with his brilliance to come to the boards much anymore), is amazing too! I just love these kids! (Notice how unabashedly I gush.) I'd rest comfortably with the idea of either of them being President.</p>
<p>Clipper: Is your daughter exceptionally smart? I was just admitted EA to the SFS at Georgetown (which has been my dream school for years,) but your post really concerned me. The irony of it all is that I was worried Gtown would be too difficult, not too easy/boring! Is there anything else you can tell me?</p>
<p>Thanks!
Lauren</p>
<p>I"ve been hearing the same thing about Georgetown for about 25 years from students and now from my friends' kids....there must be something to it....I think you can still get an excellent education there as long as you seek out the opportunities that seem to abound there....</p>
<p>Uh oh. That's not good at all. :(</p>
<p>DKE- Would you mind elaborating a bit on what the general complaints are? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Clipper,
Thank you for posting something that confirms my initial reaction to Georgetown when we visited in October. We were only there for half a day, but the vibe was a lot different than what we expected, having heard about GT but living on the other side of the country from it. We'd visited Harvard, Yale and George Washington in the days before. I expected to find at GT a highly intellectual, political community, but we didn't. I found the admissions session to be very slick and business-like, very pre-professional. The tourguide seemed preppy and nice but not intellectual. There were two current freshman students shadowing the tour guide to learn what to do and we talked with them at length (when they weren't flirting with the young prospies from England). They seemed nice but perhaps not as thoughtful as some of the other students we talked to on other campuses. The message we took from our visit, especially after browsing the bookstore and student cafes and just people-watching, was decidedly not intellectual. It did seem very metropolitan and international (lots of foreign languages being spoken) but we got the feeling that the type of people GT attracts are rather into status and would like to use the school as a stepping stone into their careers or grad schools, or possibly as an extension of their successful high school social lives, rather than as a place to hunker down and learn how to think for four years. (And this does not imply that your daughter is one of those people; it sounds like she is just the opposite.) We ended up crossing GT off our S's list (a unanimous decision btw), which is not at all what we had expected. Your daughter's observations are very interesting.</p>
<p>Wow. This is really making me nervous.</p>
<p>yeah, Lauren, same here. I applied EA and got into Georgetown College, but I've been under the impression that it was very challenging academically, nearly on the level with the Ivies. I would really appreciate further responses about this issue.</p>
<p>Also, any more specific information about the Public v. Private academic rift? I'm one of those hard-working publics, and reading that was quite alarming.</p>