He’s not a black muslim kid. Nice try though.
The kid’s short essay showed his conviction and was arguably gutsy – I give you that. But no way was it creative. Even if it was deemed creative for some reason, it did not answer the “why” part.
Anyway, since two people read essays for Stanford, this wasn’t a decision by a single reviewer. Also, even if the essay reader did not like one short essay, other aspects of his application could have been very strong. Therefore, all my comments are directed to his short essay, not his application which I know nothing about.
An awful bigot I know gleefully showed me the WSJ article re this, remarking, “Why would you want to send your kid to a school like this?” Having just re-read my own kids essays (because I’m still shocked she was admitted to Stanford!), I can see a common thread. First, her essays were somewhat relaxed and irreverent. Mostly, they showed her personality and what she would bring to the school – passion. When I read her answers, I saw the person, she came off the page. Whether you agree with this kid or not, he came off the page. They had 43,000 applicants; he gave the admissions committee something to talk about. For the record, one of the words my daughter used to described herself was “trouble (straight from my dad’s mouth).”
“Having just re-read my own kids essays (because I’m still shocked she was admitted to Stanford!), I can see a common thread. First, her essays were somewhat relaxed and irreverent. Mostly, they showed her personality and what she would bring to the school – passion.”
- did she actually answer what's important to her and why, or did she repeat a hashtag 100 times?
That kid’s third essay didn’t really show his personality at all, being that those weren’t even his words. Not sure how you can conclude that he came off the page - did you read all his essays? Have no doubt that reading your daughter’s stuff did re-convince you about her. Betting she answered all the questions. Irreverence is obviously not the issue. Many have described themselves as such (heck, pretty sure my college essay said the same! LOL). Laziness is the issue. Read that HuffPo article that @CA94309 posted. Very well written.
@JBStillFlying No i haven’t read his application but some of his more prominent achievements, TED talks, projects etc are out there for anyone to see with a simple google search.
@CA94309 Not surprised that a Yale grad said that. I feel if he had this for Yale chances are he would have been rejected. Yale has a completely different mentality than Stanford. Yale is about tradition and doing things the prescribed way.
Stanford has an innovative, dynamic and irreverent culture. That kid fits right in at Stanford. Stanford loves students who think outside the box, take risks but also have put in the work and have the talent to back up these bold moves. Yes other students are toiling over their essays but they are not giving ted talks and doing actually impactful advocacy work at the age of 17. In any case I thought Stanford made an excellent decision to admit this kid.
“Stanford loves students who think outside the box, take risks but also have put in the work and have the talent to back up these bold moves.”
- Because Yale or Harvard obviously doesn't.
“Yes other students are toiling over their essays but they are not giving ted talks and doing actually impactful advocacy work at the age of 17.”
- How do you know this? This kid is the ONLY person admitted to Stanford who has done this? are you sure?
I think the student took a risk and it worked in his favor. Other kids do other unique things to stand out from the pack, like write poetry or put their essay in verse. Sometimes gimicks backfire. In this case, it worked. I don’t think we should be down on the kid. It’s been done before. It will be done again #dowhatworks
Lets all not forget what a twitter account can do for you when you randomly tweet at 3 in the morning.
@JBStillFlying
pretty sure many other students with similar proven track records of commitment and work towards their interests also got in. so what is your point here?
I never said Yale doesnt (didn’t mention Harvard to begin with), but Stanford seems to value such things more. Do you disagree that Stanford has a more innovative and irreverent culture than Yale? That is common knowledge.
I think he would be a good fit at Harvard. Did he get in?
@Penn95 at #88 - then we are in agreement, since both of us (obviously) know many bright “outside the box” thinkers who have gotten into and attended both schools. As that young man got into Yale as well as Stanford, he is obviously a great fit for Yale. So my point was that your point made no sense. Sorry it wasn’t more clear.
@collegedad13 at #89 - not sure. He did get into Princeton, however. @Penn95 would you say that Princeton is about tradition and doing things the prescribed way, or is it more irreverent? How does it compare on these areas to, say, Yale?
BTW, just for the record, I’ve known some real stodges who have gotten into Stanford. Over-stereotyping a school is about as useful as assuming some kid must be creative because he copied a popular hashtag 100 times. Or assuming that he must be an oppressed minority.
@JBStillFlying Yes Princeton is more like Yale than Stanford in that regard…are you disputing that as well?
Maybe my comment didn’t make sense, or you didn’t get it…fine by me either way…
no one is saying 100% of Stanford admits are a certain way or 100% of Yale admits are another way…and yes their are many stodges as you say that have gotten into Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Princeton over the years…but the schools do have distinct cultures, values etc what is so novel about this claim?
“Yes Princeton is more like Yale than Stanford in that regard…are you disputing that as well?”
Not at all.
"no one is saying 100% of Stanford admits are a certain way or 100% of Yale admits are another way…and yes their are many stodges as you say that have gotten into Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Princeton over the years…but the schools do have distinct cultures, values etc what is so novel about this claim?
Sure, the schools have distinct cultures - what about the kids who apply to them? Your post #84 is quite humorous because you have gone ahead and shoehorned this young man right into Stanford. What if he chooses Yale? You also went ahead and stereotyped the author of that HuffPo article, but hopefully that was just in jest.
My daughter (who, incidentally also got into HYP - and S) had the pleasure of meeting him at a Diversity Leadership Conference. According to her, he is absolutely the real deal and has some very impressive accomplishments. In short, he’s all that and a bag of chips. I’m sure the rest of his application stood out.
FWIW, my D had some cheeky/irreverent answers to some of her supplements and got into everywhere she applied.
@LoveTheBard - What did she think of his tweet?
She thought his essay was clever and gutsy (I didn’t ask her about his tweet, though). She also thinks that he very much deserved admission into top schools based on all of his many impressive accomplishments.
Truth be told, at first glance I was underwhelmed by the “essay” and thought it was an act of laziness, but since I’ve taken the time read his writings – which I provide a link to below – I can clearly see that he was perfectly capable of writing a lucid and cogent essay on just about any topic he set his mind to writing about, including the Black Lives Matter movement or why it is indeed important.
Here’s a link to some samples of his writing (parts of which would have sufficed as a perfectly respectable answer to the prompt in question):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yes-we-must_us_58814adfe4b08f5134b61f46
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/waking-up-in-trumps-america_us_582347ace4b0102262411f9f
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/ziad-ahmed
I’m sold! And I think my D would be lucky to have him as a classmate.
Hmm. Given the limited scope of his writings, why do you conclude that he was capable of choosing any topic? He’s articulate, surely, but for $34,000 a year at Princeton Day I would really hope so! Let’s hope that college broadens his horizons a bit.
@JBStillFlying - As to whether or not the scope of his writings is “limited” I have no opinion. I found sufficient depth and breadth in his writings to conclude that he expresses himself and reasons rather well and is certainly more than capable of answering a “What matters to you and why?” prompt better than most.
Moreover, without direct knowledge of Princeton Day’s curriculum or what classes he has availed himself of, neither of us is in a position to comment on the quality of a Princeton Day education or how much he pays for it.
And I trust his horizons are sufficiently broad. I hope yours are too.
As for the tweets, the issues that are important to him are getting the exposure and attention he seeks.