<p>Wow. Reading this article, I was reminded of my interviewer; I even had to check the byline to make sure that it wasn't him, as he had reflected on many similar points when concluding the interview (including walking out to the car with me and speaking with my dad!) and even afterwards (I have kept in touch with him though I did not get into Harvard).
This article gave an interesting and underreported perspective, thanks!</p>
<p>very well written article. i enjoyed it lots.</p>
<p>"A Harvard slack-ass isn't going to outdo a State U keener...and he never ever will." Really jaso9n2 ?</p>
<p>classic example- President Bush. He goy "gentelman's Cs" at Yale, yet has managed to be successful. </p>
<p>I agree with everyone on the article- very nice.</p>
<p>Yeah. And he set the bar reeeeal high for the next guy, right? He's the President in name only, as far as I'm concerned. Remember who his daddy is.</p>
<p>a beautiful piece</p>
<p>"Somebody here restore my faith and tell me they know an exceedingly bright, well adjusted, working class kid, (not a helmeted athlete), who recently (not 35 years ago) got an Ivy League acceptance letter."</p>
<p>Right here! :D</p>
<p>D's roommate--definite working class kid--dad works construction, mom works in a grocery store. It happens!</p>
<p>top notch article, it is really sad how true that is and makes you wonder how much worse college admissions are going to get in the next few decades.</p>
<p>Oh wow, this article nearly made me cry. Fantastic.</p>
<p>An excellent read.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting, MotherOfTwo !</p>
<p>Touching, and that's all there is to it.</p>
<p>adf8--good point. I think everyone should spend a summer doing manual labor or working retail. Gets you in touch with the "real world" and reminds you why you go to college--so you don't have to do that the rest of your life. ;)</p>
<p>Young, Gifted, and Not Getting Into Harvard</p>
<p>By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: April 29, 2007, The New York Times</p>
<p>On a Sunday morning a few months back, I interviewed my final Harvard applicant of the year. After saying goodbye to the girl and watching her and her mother drive off, I headed to the beach at the end of our street for a run.</p>
<p>It was a spectacular winter day, bright, sunny and cold; the tide was out, the waves were high, and I had the beach to myself. As I ran, I thought the same thing I do after all these interviews: Another amazing kid who won’t get into Harvard.</p>
<p>That used to upset me. But I’ve changed.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, I’ve done perhaps 40 of these interviews, which are conducted by alumni across the country....</p>
<p>Why do I continue to interview? It’s very moving meeting all these bright young people who won’t get into Harvard. Recent news articles make it sound unbearably tragic. Several Ivies, including Harvard, rejected a record number of applicants this year.,,,</p>
<p>Actually, meeting the soon-to-be rejected makes me hopeful about young people. They are far more accomplished than I was at their age and without a doubt will do superbly wherever they go.</p>
<p>Knowing me and seeing them is like witnessing some major evolutionary change take place in just 35 years, from the Neanderthal Harvard applicant of 1970 to today’s fully evolved Homo sapiens applicant....</p>
<p>Register if you cannot access the article; registration is FREE</p>
<p>I agree that this is a wonderful article. It touched my heart, as a teacher of seniors in high school who have "tire tracks on their backs." (Quote from another article in the NY Times) and also as a parent of a senior.</p>
<p>I do, however, know two girls who were accepted to Ivies. Last year, my D's best friend from a tiny upstate New York school was accepted to Harvard with no Calculus and no AP exams in her r</p>
<p>I loved this article was quite good. I'm glad people are learning to have new perspectives on the college process, especially a Harvard alum :) It was a quite touching story.</p>
<p>"Hi Northstarmom, I meant getting into Ivy... not just a "top college" I know bright working class kids get into top (non-Ivy) colleges all the time."</p>
<p>I was talking about Ivies.</p>
<p>I have chaired my regions schools committee for Harvard, which is the alumni committee that interviews students. As a result, I've gotten to know a lot about H applicants.</p>
<p>I have seen one working class, nonimmigrant kid, apply to H from my area, which is geographicaly a region that is a couple of hundred miles long. That student didn't get in, but that's understandable to me as I have known H students from that kind of background who were much stronger.</p>
<p>I am fairly familiar with the admissions pool in my city, and I do not see working class, nonimmigrant kids who have the stats to be in the admissions pool for a place like H. I'm not talking about SAT scores, since I am not in a position to know their SAT scores. I am talking about things like being valedictorian: The info about valedictorians is published each year by our local newspaper, and in general, the valedictorians are either immigrants (African or Asian) or come from highly educated families, of which my area has many.</p>
<p>The exceptions probably are students who go to some of my areas weakest schools. These are places where high schools have no National Merit or National Achievement scholars, and where the schools struggle to attain passing grades in the state rating scale. </p>
<p>When I taught college, I taught some students who had been at the top of their class in such schools. Through no fault of their own, they had highly deficient writing skills, so bad that I sent them to the campus writing center for remedial instruction. Those would not have been students who could have gotten into an Ivy for undergrad even though they were bright and hard working.</p>
<p>When I went to Harvard, however, I did have some friends who were first generation college students from low income backgrounds. These friends included nonURMs.</p>
<p>I just read the link without any trouble. Thanks for posting it. Reminded me of son's area alumni interview for another school- I wonder how useful they are, seems only for someone to "eyeball" the applicant to make sure they're real. The thoughts on the simpler era and the numbers of excellent candidates were worth noting.</p>
<p>Alum interviews are very useful:
1. They help screen out the liars from the people who are honest. A couple of times, I have caught students in lies or big exaggerations, which would not be apparent to an admissions officer, but would be obvious to someone who lived in the area. An example: A student who greatly overstated their role in a local organization that I happened to be volunteering with and that my S was a top officer of. (S had such a minor role in the organization that the student didn't realize that my S was a top officer). Another example was a student who, when I asked about their favorite book, mentioned an obscure book that I happened to have read and loved, and that it quickly became obvious that the student hadn't read.</p>
<ol>
<li>They help screen in students who may understate important activities or things about their background that would make them stand out in admissions. An example of a student who got in was one who was serving on the board of a local organization, and had through the student's self direction, done some things for that organization that wouldn't seem impressive to someone used to achievements from students in places like Boston, but were a big deal in my area, where next to no students get to participate in leadership roles with adults, and where adults typically don't think that students are capable of doing important work with adults. In my narrative, I put the student's achievements into a local context, and that may have helped the student get an EA acceptance.</li>
</ol>
<p>I thought it was a great article. For those of you who wonder if any normal kids get in, I can say with great humility that my daughter was chosen over some other students with similar scores, but with more affluent parents. I think it helped that she didn't do any of the expensive pre-programs and found her own interests. We are not poor, but we are middle class people. I do think there are some parents who are a little surprised that she did so well.</p>