This Is What Kills Me About This Process

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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OP, just know that if richgirl gets in, she will have taken a spot from another rich girl and not you.

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<p>Good point... but overall the effect is still that the preferential admission of richGirls hurts poorGirls.</p>

<p>Given:
richGirls = {richGirl1, richGirl2, ..., richGirlN};
poorGirls = {poorGirl1, poorGirl2, ..., poorGirlN};</p>

<p>boolean ( (richGirls+poorGirls) == HARVARD_CLASS * YIELD) always returns 'true'!</p>

<p>(I miss Java. :()</p>

<p>But, anyway, nerdiness aside, I'm just saying th overall the admission of developmental kids still hurts the admission of non-developmentals - by definition. Similarly, the admission of URMs hurts non-URMs although for any given spot URMs compete against each other.</p>

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<p>If they didn't admit the development kids, they wouldn't be able to afford to give you as much need based aid.</p>

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<p>nutmeg don't agree.........what you said doesn't make sense. NO if she gets in she hasnt' necessarily taken a spot from another rich girl, to the contrary she has likely taken a spot from a hardworking non developmental case student, possibly like myself. We are polar opposites in just about everything so the outcome will be interesting. Will keep you all posted on richgirls fate.</p>

144

<p>"If they didn't admit the development kids, they wouldn't be able to afford to give you as much need based aid.".</p>

<p>agree. </p>

<p>Colleges are smart enough to get more out of rich parents by wait-listing their kids or asking for delaying enrollment. Parents will have to pay more to get their kids off waiting-list.</p>

145

<p>This sort of Robin Hood admissions policy does bring up some interesting ethical questions in the manner of "Should vegetarians wear leather shoes?" or "Should animal rights activists take advantage of cancer drugs developed by animal research? The question that I'm sure Grotongirlie is asking herself is How strongly can I question an admissions system that has helped develop a strong academic experience that I want to take advantage of? If she gets in I would say it was a very good system and if rejected it is abominably unfair.</p>

<p>Let me pose another question along the same line. What if both students are upper middle class, and of roughly equal academics? What if the student who is hispanic gets in but the other doesn't?</p>

146

<p>It seems to me that for any college applicant, you can look at the RESULTS of the college's previous admission decisions by visiting the campus. The OP likes Harvard, after a visit, and I am at least initially disposed to recommend applying to Harvard to students on the math team I coach, being quite aware of which prospective math majors from around the world have been admitted in recent years. If the admitted classes each year don't make the college experience as a whole at Harvard off-putting, what does anyone have to complain about? If someone really, truly doesn't like how Harvard decides to admit students, then it is always possible to apply to any of the other seven Ivy League colleges, or to any of the few hundred other research universities in the country.</p>

147

<p>"If they didn't admit the development kids, they wouldn't be able to afford to give you as much need based aid."</p>

<p>No way...</p>

<p>Look at Harvard - $22 billion dollar endownment and they have what, like 1600 freshman attending each year, thats $80 million a year, if everyone gets 100% financial aid. Even at that rate, H could hold out for 200 years. In reality they give out like 1/4 of that in fin aid. So they dont need that money the rich kids (and thier parents) give them, they need to so they and other universities can say we have an $XXX billion endownment.</p>

<p>Personally, I think admissions should be based on personal merit, not family merit or connections. After all, it is that kid that's going there not the parents. But that's just me.</p>

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<p>^^How do you think they amassed that huge endowment? A key source of income for them was and continues to be donations from wealthy people. They are not about to shut off a key part of their revenue stream.</p>

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<p>Its actually $30 billion. anth_03 there are more complexities to how the endowment is allocated than you mention and a lot of that money isnt in the control of the college. Anyway, things run in families and usually wealthy families have kids who are smart and will be wealthy themselves. Harvard is clearly the number one school in prestige and endowment and they dont have to claw to the top through money based admissions. With selective admissions, they almost always choose cases where money and merit go hand in hand.</p>

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<p>anth_03, they don't actually get to spend that endowment. They only spend what they earn from the endowment (investments or whatever) which is about 3 - 5%. And consider that there's inflation, so $80 million in 200 years will be worth a fraction of what it is now. Besides, you can't just consider Harvard College, the graduate schools need funding as well. Also, there are specific endowments like professorships and those intended for research, etc. When other schools expand their endowment as well, you surely won't expect Harvard to just sit and do nothing?</p>

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<p>A BRIEF UPDATE TO ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED:</p>

<p>We had a social at our school for the upcoming seniors at our school last night as an introduction for families new to the college process and I hear the very girl this entire thread is about's father saying to someone "Yeah, looks like my little girl is going to make us proud and get into Harvard'. How OBNOXIOUS! I mean even if it was a sure thing, to say it like that is pretty ignorant and so in your face, right? I nearly puked. He is so ostentascious its rediculous. These kinds of people really make my skin crawl. I hope his prediction is wrong, I mean the other schools she is applying to are not even in the ivy league so I don't get it. I know many of my skeptics out there are shaking their heads, saying "grotongirlie needs to get a life and stop fixating on this girl possibly getting into H. but to be so obvious about it really makes me crazy!"</p>

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<p>I've dealt with the same kind of problem. It happens. I blame genetics. I get over it. End of story.</p>

<p>If the girl you speak of and her family really are as undeserving of the recognition/respect they have gotten as you make them out to be, then they will be compensated for it in the future. (I hate to be dismal, but some people don't graduate from Harvard. Maybe this girl'll turn out to be one of those (negatively) distinguished few.) Maybe you're not the only one to have noticed the arrogance that exudes from the girl's father; I learned that I wasn't the only one to harbor negative feelings towards the situation I was facing. But no one (including myself) cared to give it a second thought because it's not a controllable factor.</p>

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<p>u said earlier the girl goes to groton, and in your statement you said her father visited a "social at OUR school for the upcoming seniors at OUR school last night"</p>

<p>what was the dad of this girl whose getting into harvard doing at your school, if you dont go to groton?</p>

<p>and, stop holding such grudges against others, whats your beef? if shes getting her, let her, you go into yale</p>

<p>and dont tell us that you posted this thread because you wanted "to know how others feel about the situation", no one is stupid, we all know you couldnt take it and posted a rant to get it out of your system and into ours</p>

154

<p>"I know many of my skeptics out there are shaking their heads, saying "grotongirlie needs to get a life and stop fixating on this girl possibly getting into H."</p>

<p>Only the tip of the iceberg...</p>

155

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we all know you couldnt take it and posted a rant to get it out of your system and into ours

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<p>That is the problem with using a public online bulletin board for venting--someone might read the message and reply.</p>

156

<p>Lala, 1. where did I say she goes to Groton? She goes to my school right now which is a local public school!!!!!!!! 2. My beef and its a pretty legit one is that there are many like myself who have worked very hard these past four years to create a sterling record and she has pretty much had a lackluster high school life, put minimal effort and now because her dad decides "he wants his little girl to go to Harvard", he steps up to the plate and starts courting and milking this system and will likely pull it off". THATS MY BEEF, that she will likely take a very deserving kids spot away from them NOT based on her own merit but her daddy's pocketbook. 3. YES I did want to know how others felt and I wanted to rant a little too, got a problem with that? Go find another thread to bully somone. Geez..........for a supposed "educated group of people" some come off pretty ignorant.</p>

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<p>krypton you could be right, she may not be able to handle it....oh well we shall see.</p>

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<p>...biting my tongue</p>

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<p>That's awkward, and would irk me. I hate when people brag a lot. It's just icky. Good luck to you.</p>

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<p>I'd say that the very girl this entire thread is about is you, not her.</p>