For your edification, @LoveTheBard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Day_School. One of the best college prep schools in the country. It’s safe to say he took college prep courses and made use of the available resources there. So yes, he should be quite articulate. By the way, being that one of his parents is a hedge fund manager, they can probably afford the $34 g. His extensive travels would also suggest that.
My horizons are sufficiently broad to understand that this young man happens to be a child of privilege. Nothing wrong with that, of course, because children of privilege can and should do great things, given their SES and influence-sphere. Seems that he has made good use of the myriad opportunities available to him and has made quite the name for himself. And yes, I certainly do agree that he seeks attention and exposure. Let’s hope that he can redirect that focus to his social justice work.
Didn’t think I needed “edification,” but thanks for the clarification about Princeton Day School’s tuition and his young man’s parents’ ability to pay for it.
He is 1/40 stanford new jersey admits this year. And more than likely that he will not attend stanford as his other two options seem better, in my opinion.
I’m sure that he is reading this thread. For what it is, good luck to him.
As a BLACK high school student, I cannot believe that anyone is justifying Stanford’s decision.
He is very privileged as he went to Princeton Day school since K, which costs 34,000 a year. Do the math and his family has spent well over $100,000. My friend went to Yale Young Global Scholars summer institute with him and is friends with him, and he is very very rich.
Wealth and privilege aside, his essay TRIVALZES and SIMPLIFIES the struggle for black representation and equal protection, and their oppression in the U.S to a hashtag. His privilege matters here because he has NEVER EXPERIENCED NOR TAKEN ANY ACTION, ORGANIZED ANY SORT OF “ACTIVISM” IN PART FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY. It’s obvious that he only wrote #BlackLivesMatter to opportunize on the very real oppression and fear that the black community faces.
Check his facebook/social media- he has no black friends. So yea… this guy knows 0 black people in real life, is very privileged and wealthy, and has never sought to assist the black lives movement in any way. So entitled in fact that he half-assed the prompt and was arrogant enough to brag on his twitter later on.
COLLEGE ESSAYS SHOULD NOT BE ABOUT "SHOCK VALUE. Stanford asked the question, “what matters to you and why.” They should be ashamed of themselves here as their college essay obviously demands students to articulate, reflect, and deeply express the issues/people/experiences that matter personally to them. If they’re looking for shock value or someone who doesn’t even answer the prompt completely, they might as well just get rid of the question…? Then again, this is a generation of hashtags, social media warriors, and slacktivism. Real action and activism in the local and community level is “useless” because social presentation and image is all that matters for someone who only does this all to get into college.
This is just ridiculous. I know that some of you would rebuttal that he has national accomplishments outside of his essays like his nonprofits or his huff. post article, I’m not undermining any of his accomplishments. I’m just mortified by Stanford’s decision here. I though they were a serious academic institution. Their response to this just demonstrates though that they probably didn’t want it to become public.
agree with #104- it was not his essay that helped. In fact, it seems like a cop out. Reminds me of a student who wrote an essay by saying they could best describe something by quoting what others said about it, and then jsut quoted others.
Couldn’t agree more with @yeboiiiiii’s thoughtful and detailed post at #105. Had the young man in question written half as much, there would have been no need to comment on the quality of his “essay”.
Reminded of University of Chicago’s advice for their “Uncommon Essay” prompts. Don’t confuse silly for creative (ok they didn’t use the word “silly” it was more like - show us REAL creativity not some gimmick). They gave the example of a student who wrote his entire essay backwards which basically told them nothing other than that he that he could think up something superficial and gimmicky. They get THOUSANDS of those - what they are looking for is originality of thought. They want to know how your mind works. So the person who wrote his essay as a potentially spurned lover - while getting a bit graphic IMHO - was original enough to warrant an admit decision. Mr. Backwards did not.
UChicago isn’t the only school that takes the essays seriously and it’s a bit surprising to find that Stanford makes some glaring exceptions. BTW, the Uncommon Essay isn’t a short essay so the comparison isn’t quite 1:1. However, they are looking for originality in ALL their essay prompts. Gimmicks don’t hold water.
In defense of the young man in question, he seemed to be gob-smacked at having gotten in. Perhaps he wasn’t being serious in the first place. If so, he would have done the industry much good to have honestly pointed out Stanford’s hypocrisy, rather than twist this into yet another positive story about himself. FWIW.
I think everyone bashing this young man on this anonymous internet forum is a coward, through and through.
Many of you are jealous you/your children weren’t admitted to Stanford- and to that I say, you need to learn to check yourself. I was rejected from stanford this year, and I don’t begrudge him his admission. He is an exemplary candidate.
This applicant proved himself dedicated to activism. He interned with the State Department, personally met with Obama, founded two non-profits one of which, Redefy, works to eliminate stereotypes. He writes for Huffington Post. He is a perfect example of what Stanford is looking for- a dedicated, engaged and unique individual.
His essay was only one part of the application, but if I had been reading essays this would have signaled to me that he was gutsy, that he knew what he believed in, and he was willing to take a risk. And to the poster saying he was co-opting the movement- read his twitter feed. Read the articles he writes. He has been a supporter of black lives matter for a long time.
He earned his spot. There is no need to belittle him or his essay.
I haven’t commented on this thread until now, but I disagree with your “you are criticizing because you are jealous” statement.
There are plenty of students (and parents of students) here who have been admitted to the world’s most selective schools, and still have issues with how selective admissions are performed.
@hebegebe I did say “many”, not all. And while I agree that there are many legitimate concerns with how selective admissions are performed, anger over this student being admitted with this essay does not constitute a “legitimate concern”, IMO.
Infamous means “well known for some bad quality or deed.” I strongly disagree with your characterization of Ahmed’s essay as “infamous” - he displayed support for a very important social justice cause, backed up with evidence of his commitment to social activism. I don’t think an applicant who volunteered at an animal shelter and did NHS would have had the same result by writing this essay- it was this essay combined with his resume and other qualifications that led to his acceptance.
Agreed, @Zinhead! However, H & P are different schools now, supposedly. As JFK’s essays demonstrate, they admitted on different criteria in those days.
@yonceonhismouth Ziad’s essay has, indeed, reached the infamy stage, although next year this’ll all be forgotten, most likely. BTW, no one doubts - or even criticizes - his fervor or zeal.
Has young Ziad posted his Yale or Princeton essays? Would be fun to take a look.
As an African American high school student, I cannot believe that anyone is justifying Stanford’s decision.
He is very privileged as he went to Princeton Day school since K, which costs 34,000 a year. Do the math and his family has spent well over $100,000. My friend went to Yale Young Global Scholars summer institute with him and is friends with him, and he is very very rich.
Wealth and privilege aside, his essay TRIVALZES and SIMPLIFIES the struggle for black representation and equal protection, and their oppression in the U.S to a hashtag. His privilege matters here because he has NEVER EXPERIENCED NOR TAKEN ANY ACTION, ORGANIZED ANY SORT OF “ACTIVISM” IN PART FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY. It’s obvious that he only wrote #BlackLivesMatter to opportunize on the very real oppression and fear that the black community faces.
Check his facebook/social media- he has no black friends. So yea… this guy knows 0 black people in real life, is very privileged and wealthy, and has never sought to assist the black lives movement in any way. So entitled in fact that he half-assed the prompt and was arrogant enough to brag on his twitter later on.
COLLEGE ESSAYS SHOULD NOT BE ABOUT "SHOCK VALUE. Stanford asked the question, “what matters to you and why.” They should be ashamed of themselves here as their college essay obviously demands students to articulate, reflect, and deeply express the issues/people/experiences that matter personally to them. If they’re looking for shock value or someone who doesn’t even answer the prompt completely, they might as well just get rid of the question…? Then again, this is a generation of hashtags, social media warriors, and slacktivism. Real action and activism in the local and community level is “useless” because social presentation and image is all that matters for someone who only does this all to get into college.
This is just ridiculous. I know that some of you would rebuttal that he has national accomplishments outside of his essays like his nonprofits or his huff. post article, I’m not undermining any of his accomplishments. I’m just mortified by Stanford’s decision here. I though they were a serious academic institution. Their response to this just demonstrates though that they probably didn’t want it to become public.
@zinhead I remember reading JFK’s college essay. I was really surprised that the person (JFK) who wrote THAT particular essay got in. However, since JFK became the President, I guess Harvard did good in selecting someone who would make their brand name better known. Anyway, JFK and the applicant in this case got into schools despite the essay.
Interesting Yeboiiii writes like an upset parent on CC. @yonceonhismouth I thought your posts above were right on point. A lot of the parents just don’t get it. They think that taking piano lessons for 6 years and self studying 10 AP tests gets you into an Ivy. That young man showed tremendous creativity and ingenuity. He deserves to be in all of the top schools in this country
Hopefully, @yeboiiiiii will burst the bubble that some of the goo-goo-eyed parents on this thread seem to be living in.
BTW, @collegedad13 we know plenty of kids who have gotten into a few Ivy’s doing just what you have said wouldn’t work. And your post is a bit insulting to those kids who have worked very hard to follow their passions AND took the time to answer the essay prompt.
Sorry, @yonceonhismouth but someone’s twitter feed isn’t exactly evidence of hard work to promote a good cause. Talk is cheap - and so are tweets.
