<ul>
<li>Xi Jinping (the next President of China) has a daughter at Harvard</li>
<li>Bo Xilais Porsche-driving (or was that a Ferrari?) 2nd son attended Harvard Kennedy School of Govt</li>
<li>Bo Xilais son from 1st marriage is a Columbia grad</li>
<li>Chen Yun (member of the Central Politburo Standing Committee) had a granddaughter at Harvard</li>
</ul>
<p>Since I would like my kid to be admitted to an Ivy League school too, I would like to learn the secret to these princeling kids admission success!</p>
<ul>
<li>Was it their summer-time community service project?<br></li>
<li>Did they write kick-a$$ essays?<br></li>
<li>Are they lacrosse recruits? </li>
<li>Did they max-out the SAT?</li>
<li>Are they beneficiaries of diversity quotas for offspring of leaders from repressive countries?</li>
</ul>
<p>Do these princelings, as international students, qualify for financial aid, considering that their parents earn Communist Party civil servant salaries?</p>
<p>Does active membership in the Communist Youth (or whatever it’s called) count as a world class EC ?</p>
<p>I used to know a kid from Hong Kong that went to UCLA. He was old money before the take over. So he asks his father for money for a car and dad wires back (in the early 90’s) $60k, about the price of a Honda Accord in Honk Kong (most of the cost is the permit or parking or some such tax). The kid never told dad that an Accord cost $15k back then, and promptly bought an Acura NSX supercar :). This has been going on for a while, it is hardly a recent phenomenon. In the 80’s we had lots of middle eastern and south american ‘princelings’…</p>
<p>My college class (mid 70s) included the daughter of the dictator of Nicaragua. There were a number of wealthy Iranians whose conspicuous consumption didn’t run to Ferraris–at least not as far as I knew–but they did send their jeans out to the dry cleaners. The rest of us were probably doing well if we threw them in the washing machine once a month. :)</p>
<p>Iranian students at the time seemed to be divided between the very wealthy and dissidents who were desperately trying to stay in the country to avoid being tortured by Savak.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No. It is hardly news that the children of the ruling classes in less developed countries find their way to leading colleges and universities in the West.</p>
<p>Not news. Politicians in our country usually have kids who do very well in college admissions too. A big part of the mission of the Ivy League is to educate future leaders who are likely to be members of the ruling class in these countries. They definitely provide diversity. I have no problem with it.</p>
<p>First, I think they’re more politicians and not real civil servants in any sense of the word…especially the ones at the top. </p>
<p>Second, I doubt they’d even consider getting financial aid considering the massive amounts of dubiously accumulated wealth and materialistic attitudes. From what I’ve read in the Asian mass media and from having had encounters with much junior princelings…they’d be seeing red at the mere suggestion they’re so poor that they’d need financial aid. They tend to be a prideful lot.</p>
<p>I just don’t understand what the big deal is…Ivy League institutions are private universities and they can admit whomever they like, whatever their qualifications or lack thereof–although I don’t think being a wealthy communist means any of these students are not qualified.</p>
<p>I also don’t understand the hang up on “fairness” and “transparency” - it’s not a mystery how prospective students are evaluated. All of the colleges that use “holistic” admissions are pretty clear about the factors that they consider in admissions. It’s a combination of objective (mostly) quantitative and qualitative data that are evaluated. It just doesn’t seem clear from the outside looking in because the judgments are subjective and those of us on the outside don’t have access to all of the data/information that the adcoms have. </p>
<p>Welcome to the world - subjective judgments are made all the time in hiring, promoting, firing, etc. Not everything can be precisely measured and different evaluators may value different components more than others…</p>
<p>gloworm, I was just thinking the exact thing! </p>
<p>Anybody ever seen the show Fashion Police on the E channel? They have a segment called “B**** stole my look” and I can’t help but switch that phrase around here on cc to “B**** stole my spot!” :)</p>
<p>Sorry if the sarcasm in my Original Post was not obvious—must post with winky faces in the future. This thread was not intended to be about getting my kid into Harvard, but about why Harvard is looking the other way.</p>
<p>The CCP princelings are their own category. They are not merely rich kids or international kids. </p>
<p>Why are institutions like Harvard which like to espouse their commitment to ideals like human rights, matriculating the kids of CCP officials who are engaged in all kinds of human rights abuses/repression/corruption. Xi Jinping’s daughter reportedly has a retinue of bodyguards assisted by the FBI, so it’s not like Harvard doesn’t have a clue who these kids are.</p>
<p>It’s not like Harvard needs the money, like some lower tier universities that do and are therefore willing to look the other way.</p>
<p>I don’t think accepting the child confers legitimacy on the parent, no.</p>
<p>It’s been awhile but I can’t recall being asked about my parents’ politics or criminal records at all when I applied to college. I get that in these cases you think they know, but is it really relevant?</p>
?</p>