<p>Flossy, it IS worse now than ever. </p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/hate-and-extremism”>http://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/hate-and-extremism</a></p>
<p>The good news is, the number has been going down slightly since then. Let’s hope the downward trend continues.</p>
<p>Well, we will just have to agree to disagree on that one. Opposition groups forming on the opposing side after an election is typical. Maybe no-one was counting them in previous cycles. Anyway, it has nothing to do with where the kids go to college. I think she has show biz dreams and is headed to California. </p>
<p>How about London? Paris? Schools abroad? Any chance? She’s traveled a lot. </p>
<p>Flossy, the SLPC has tracked the presence of hate groups for 30 years. But if you want to believe that it isn’t different or worse now, there is no convincing you.</p>
<p>Maybe her parents will come out here for advice. I’m sure we could help!</p>
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<p>The NSA knows.</p>
<p>@PennyLane The point is, it doesn’t matter at all what her test scores or grades are or what her essay topic is, if she even writes one. Application is a mere formality when you’re that unusual a case; every single school already knows who she is. She can’t even visit a campus without a pre-visit by the Secret Service. Some schools might say they won’t be able to provide the security she would need on campus, but I guarantee no school will turn her away on the merits. She really will have her choice of anywhere she’d like to go in the US (possibly with some nudging from Mom and Dad).</p>
<p>Just imagine the revival of the “communist” reputation of Berkeley if Malia goes there :P. </p>
<p>So, I just realized she’s only 16. By the time she goes to college her father will be just a few months from being a former president. </p>
<p>@Flossy But when she applies her father will still be president.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know. She is in either way, any school, whatever stats. Nothing matters. imho.</p>
<p>This is a measurable, objective standard, at least if you think the Secret Service knows credible threats when it hears them. It initiated protection of the Obamas on May 3, 2007, earlier than any other candidate in history. It was about nine months earlier than the time the 2004 Democratic frontrunners received their protection (February 2004). Similarly, Mitt Romney got it in February 2012. The only other candidate besides Obama to have received protection months before primary voting began was Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988.</p>
<p><a href=“Secret Service Guards Obama, Taking Unusually Early Step - The New York Times”>Secret Service Guards Obama, Taking Unusually Early Step - The New York Times;
<p>Malia’s protection will be a serious matter, even after the administration ends.</p>
<p>Maybe she pines for their old neighborhood and Hyde Park/U of Chicago will get the nod. :)</p>
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<p>So you don’t think that even just for appearances, she will complete an application just like every other high school senior, complete with essays, supplements, test scores, recommendations from teachers and guidance counselor? </p>
<p>And what happens if she’s admitted to a school where she’s under the middle 50 percent? Will the college orchestrate it so that no professor ever gives her a C? Will her classmates be paid off to keep their mouths shut about her perfect transcript?</p>
<p>I think that the the parents of Malia Obama will not pull strings. Maybe others will, but I don’t think that’s what her parents want for their kid. Would you want to pull the strings for your kid? Is that good for an 18-year-old? Don’t you think her parents want what’s really good for her, not a coronation to HYPSM or wherever she prefers?</p>
<p>I don’t think they have to pull any strings. Her scores will be fine and they will not be public. But, yes parents with strings to pull will obviously pull them.</p>
<p>Malia seems like a high achieving student all her own; both of her parents went to stellar universities before the presidency was a factor. It’s unfair for us to assume that she wouldn’t have been able to get into whatever schools she ends up going to on her own. (even though it’s pretty safe to assume that being the president’s daughter didn’t hurt.)</p>
<p>I have no doubt that any successor will extend any protection necessary to any of the Obama family after they leave the White House, unless they’re Clinton II and cashing it in for millions every year, in which case they can pay for it themselves.</p>
<p>The assumption she’s got stellar stats is a bit presumptuous. The First Lady is no doubt smart, the President, not so much, but great packaging. He’s above average at best. Recall that he was an indifferent student in high school and we’ve never seen a thing on his academic performance at the undergrad level at either Occidental or Columbia, nor Harvard Law. Sealed tighter than a drum, and you can bet if it were stellar, it would have been released. Nothing published academically either at Harvard or while a lecturer (not a professor) at UChicago. And “Dreams From My Father” was undoubtedly ghostwriiten, just like “Profiles In Courage” was, as was “Hard Choices” and just about any book written by a politician in the last 100 years. Even George Washington had a ghostwriter, some fellow named Alexander Hamilton.</p>
<p>The bottom line is, she says she want to go to school X, and it’s pretty much going to happen. Given how few presidential kids there are, I really don’t have much problem with that.</p>
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<p>Many urban/suburban campuses do not have gates and guards at the campus entrances, nor do they have card keyed doors to classroom buildings during daytime class hours.</p>
<p>“The point is, it doesn’t matter at all what her test scores or grades are or what her essay topic is, if she even writes one. Application is a mere formality when you’re that unusual a case; every single school already knows who she is.”</p>
<p>So then why didn’t the other Bush twin go to an elite school then, if being a First Daughter is such an instant-admit? </p>
<p>Yes, MrMom, slackers get elected to the head of H Law Review. @@. I’m kind of embarrassed for you. </p>