<p>The unfortunate fact is that by taking this tack, Kelsey is probably going to make the gradate program dig in its heels. Moreover, all across the country, graduate programs are getting this message “Don’t tell those you don’t admit to the program why they were not admitted. Don’t tell them what they can do to strengthen their application for next time.”</p>
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<p>The interesting thing is that they already don’t do that. It seems that in general they avoid it at all costs. I was rejected by some graduate programs, and although I didn’t insist on finding out “why,” I don’t think they would have said much more beyond that there were too many highly qualified applicants.</p>
<p>I’m curious how she got the information in the first place - was it an actual official communication from the graduate program, or was it a “friendly” professor trying to console her? I get the feeling that it’s more likely to have been the latter.</p>
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<li>edit - I see that other posters have discussed exactly this on the last page. Oops!</li>
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<p>“Wonder if the publication (that was mentioned by a poster above) might be co-authored with dad, not someone in the psych dept”</p>
<p>Not exactly, but close enough.</p>
<p>She has co-authored at least 4 papers- not with her father, but with her brother who is also a university professor. What is worse of all is that she wrote these papers and included her brother’s name because the papers were so poorly written that only with the help of her brother she could get it published. Everybody knows it at UIUC but people do not want to say anything. The brother is a cool dude who everybody likes.</p>
<p>Also, did you know that this girl is terminally ill and lost one of her ears? She always wears her hair on only one side of her face because she is trying to cover the missing ear. Apparently she will have 3 of her toes removed (if they do not heal) in the fall because of her diabetes. I believe that all these medical problems were a big liability for UIUC and for that reason she may have not been accepted.</p>
<p>How do you know all this Sherlock? If she is terminally ill, that would lend a different tone to her rush to get through her education, but is this public info?</p>
<p>BS - like half of this forum.</p>
<p>This says her brother was a senior in 2009 so that is impossible. I can’t link it because it is a blog but if you search for her she has a blog called Whiz Kid Blog. On the other hand, her brother (Derek by public record news article [13-year-old</a> to graduate from high school in May | News-Gazette.com](<a href=“http://www.news-gazette.com/news/people/2008-01-29/13-year-old-graduate-high-school-may.html]13-year-old”>http://www.news-gazette.com/news/people/2008-01-29/13-year-old-graduate-high-school-may.html) ) has a number of articles co-authored with his dad (via google search for their names).</p>
<p>LOL I am so gullible. I was believing it!</p>
<p>This forum has really gotten out of hand. It’s valid to discuss the merits of age discrimination and maturity as it relates to grad school admission. People are making up conversations between this girl and her professors and alleging things about her personal life we have no way of knowing. While she probably made a mistake going so public with this issue, there’s no need to cut this girl down in the way this forum has. I agree that at 17 she probably doesn’t have the makings of a great admit to the clinical psych world…but let’s not fabricate things and act as if they are necessarily true.</p>
<p>We have only had one ■■■■■-post on this thread so far, and it was quickly spotted. The only made-up conversations were clearly identified as such, and were posted as part of conjecturing what really happened - I think that is fair to do. No one else has made anything up, we all just trying to ascertain what really happened. I do not think anyone has been disparaging her, most of the comments have simply questioned what happened, noted where people think she went wrong, or postulated the consequences of this action.</p>
<p>Considering that she brought this to a news site and not a court, I think this discussion has been appropriate.</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem like this is the best field for a child with no life experience to accelerate entry into. From the articles, it sounds like she has been very isolated, with few friends and only family to spend time with. Now there are plenty of things I’d be comfortable with having a brilliant child do, being a clinical psychologist doesn’t sound like one of them. In my very limited, general experience, it seems that the psychologists I’ve met fall in one of two categories. Compassionate, open minded, thoughtful, with a genuine desire and experience to help others. Or…went into that field because they have huge issues of their own (therefore the interest). Who would want to be treated by an isolated young person, with no experience of normal relationships? I’d rather be treated by the C student, who has lived a little and has plenty of experience in personal relationships. Or my hairdresser, at least she gives a good head and neck massage too.</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with you, cosmicfish. Your post is spot on. There are a lot of stereotypes and misnomers about clinicians and many other professionals. I worry about the potential burnout for someone who enters a profession at such a young age. </p>
<p>I feel badly for the author of that article. Not only has she burned her bridges at UIUC, she may had inadvertenly caused some discomfort for her dad WRT faculty relations, and she will likely have a tougher time being considered for candidacy to other programs, even if she does get some experience under her belt.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t read all the comments but I did read the article. I think the admissions folks made the right decision. It appears she didn’t apply anywhere but her alma mater, which frankly is a bit odd in the competitive world of clinical psych programs. Then she demands a meeting to find out why, bringing along her parents (!). Then she seems to be taking this way over the top, trying to turn it into some national issue of sorts.</p>
<p>She’s not too young to learn, as she seems to suggest; but she sounds much too immature to be trained to be a clinical psychologist. Her response suggests she’s brilliant, but alas, a 17 year old.</p>
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<p>April87 only creates an account to defend Kelsey. As a TA, I’m assuming a graduate student…who then should know better than making a meaningless statement such as “about to publish a manuscript”</p>
<p>What does that even MEAN? About to submit it to a journal? A revise and resubmit? Conditional acceptance? Gigantic difference and year at least apart. And certainly wasn’t ready on time for her application. </p>
<p>This suggests she has no publications. It would shock me if you could in this day and age get into a top clinical program such as U of I without publications.</p>
<p>Hmmm…someone on here seems desperate to close this discussion down. Anyone else get PMs?</p>
<p>I get PMS, but very few PMs (certainly not from this thread). Who are you getting PMs from?</p>
<p>Someone telling me I was being insensitive to keep posting since everyone on this forum knows this girl is sick and stopped posting when they found out, except for me. </p>
<p>At first I thought, oh lord what have I done? Leave it to me to not read the whole thread before making a snarky and insensitive post.</p>
<p>But then I read the thread and the message makes no sense. Feel free to fill me in if I’m truly clueless. </p>
<p>Let me just add that there are a few brand new posters that started an account for the purposes of defending her on this thread (even if they have more than few posts under their name). A few who drifted over from her cheering squad who are working full force on the Huffington website now (the link to this thread appeared on that thread).</p>
<p>Whew, complicated.</p>
<p>Nope-- no PMs in the last day or so about this thread. I think someone might be yanking your chain, starbright. Kelsey is the one who brought this whole thing public by writing in the Huff Post about her perceived slight by UIUC and the belief that she was a victim of age discrimination. Head honcho Roger Dooley brought the discussion here and is participating with other cc’ers in the discussion there. Why should the conversation be stifled?</p>
<p>No PM’s here either - apparently its just you, starbright! I have seen only one reference to the girl being sick, and that was from a post that largely considered a distasteful attempt at trolling.</p>
<p>I don’t see a whole lot of action on here right now, but I see no reason to stop the thread, especially when it was the person in question who took the whole affair to the forum of public opinion in the first place.</p>
<p>I didn’t get one, either, and I’ve been a largely negative responder in this thread.</p>
<p>How strange then. </p>
<p>As I responded to the PM, if you go public for such a cause, you are going to get people responding who disagree with you. I think on this forum as well as the HP one, most seem to think the school made the right decision. But she doesn’t need protected: if you are mature enough for a clinical psychology program, you can handle some negative feedback.</p>