Are all Big 3 alumni this insufferable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:‘I should’ve gone to Yale. Even though I didn’t like it as much, at least no one would attribute my acceptance to my last name.‘

It’s artfully worded. It’s implied but not stated.

Usually the ‘legacy angst’ goes away if you also applied and were accepted to a school that’s even harder to get into.

Don’t get me wrong legacies at ivies are no slouches. Most legacy applicants are rejected. But there is a reason people pick to apply to the school where they have a hook.

No one turns down Yale for Dartmouth.

Calling BS in this.

If you have a cancer center at UVA named after a family member, the name on your degree is meaningless. For that level of wealth, there is no difference between Dartmouth and Yale

She applied (and was accepted) ED to Dartmouth.
It's weird that she even brings up Yale. No one from her NCS class went to Yale although many applied.
The entire article is odd.

It is odd. As is her defensiveness about how she adds value to the class even though people assume that as a double legacy she must be less qualified. After reading that op-ed, I tend to think she is the beneficiary of a legacy preference--her writing isn't that good, even looking past the cringe-y, tone-deaf content. And also weird to me, that both she and her father majored in art history at Dartmouth. Might as well just tattoo "child of a privileged family" on her forehead.

Her father took enough science classes to end up in med school. At least at SLACs, it used to be common to major in something you enjoyed while taking the prerequisites for med school

She does say that she's doing her art history major in anticipation of ending up in corporate America. Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her writing is very odd to me. I have a 10th grader at NCS and she's a very good writer because she's learned it by trial and fire at NCS. There are kids in her grade who are brilliant writers.

Like or hate NCS, they teach the girls to write

One of the hallmarks of good writing is the limited use of hyperbole. Sorry, but it is impossible for a 10th grader to be a "brilliant" writer.

[Anonymous]

This is getting a little personal and harsh. She's a kid - albeit one who grew up with privilege as she acknowledges.
But even getting in as a legacy is no small feat at the Ivies. They reject most of them. Even double legacies. Lots and lots of times.
And the workload at NCS is pretty intense.
So i don't doubt she is smart and hardworking.
It's intimidating to anyone to land at these schools and see the talent that's there - pretty much everyone there can find those who have done way more with way less.
It's reasonable to wonder who fits and why - why so many private schools and why legacies at all?
The essay could use a real heavy edit but it's anxiety as expressed by an 18 year old.
cut the kid a break

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some of the criticism here is a little disingenuous.

To me, it very much seems that she was aiming for self-deprecating and tongue in cheek. The problem is that it's so hard to get that tone right, especially in print, and I don't think she did. The editors should have been more responsible (esp. considering she's been on campus for about two seconds), and said, hey this isn't working in the way you intended and we're not running it.

(Fwiw, I went to a different Ivy undergrad and these school papers are huge operations. You had to apply to be a writer, the editor positions were super competitive, they had a board of trustees and a giant budget, etc. It's not like the articles just get stuck online with no oversight.)

I agree with this. I think she was trying to be funny, and it does not come off that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her writing is very odd to me. I have a 10th grader at NCS and she's a very good writer because she's learned it by trial and fire at NCS. There are kids in her grade who are brilliant writers.

Like or hate NCS, they teach the girls to write

One of the hallmarks of good writing is the limited use of hyperbole. Sorry, but it is impossible for a 10th grader to be a "brilliant" writer.

You seem like a happy person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her writing is very odd to me. I have a 10th grader at NCS and she's a very good writer because she's learned it by trial and fire at NCS. There are kids in her grade who are brilliant writers.

Like or hate NCS, they teach the girls to write

One of the hallmarks of good writing is the limited use of hyperbole. Sorry, but it is impossible for a 10th grader to be a "brilliant" writer.

You seem like a happy person.

A happy person and a better writer than the Grade 10 NCS mom babbling on about the brilliant writers in her kid's class.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a member of the NCS community, but it says a lot about the "community" there that one parent would trash a recent grad's writing publicly, while also trying to convince all of us that the school turns out excellent writers. I'm guessing they do a better job teaching the mechanics of writing than stamping out bullying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Typical liberal kid who gets to the Big City

No place screams "Big City" like Hanover, NH!

Isnt the school paper editor a Whitman grad? Maybe it was a set up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Typical liberal kid who gets to the Big City

No place screams "Big City" like Hanover, NH!

Lol
Bring your skis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I am genuinely stunned by the backlash the OP's posted piece has received. I have a completely opposing view of it. And let me clarify that I VERYYYYYY much dislike NCS, due to the culture. I would not even consider applying for my straight A, high SSAT, URM (uniquely diverse) daughter. Never! With that out of the way...

I fully understood the points being conveyed by the author. The young lady is simply at a crossroads of identity exploration, as many are at that age during freshman year of college. It does not strike me as whining, but rather seeking to carve her own path in life, and one that is valid and appreciated as her own instead of a mere replication of her preceding parents (+other family members). Being in that situation at any university would be difficult, and is only amplified at any Ivy. As much as I detest NCS, and the widely-reported negative experience of URM girls there (in large part, on account of girls like the author), I still appreciate her human experience and the challenges of maturation into adulthood. This seems to be my unpopular opinion (shrugs). Compassion for all human struggles, despite SES/privilege, goes a long way and can extend to struggles starkly different from our own. My immigrant parents would be her parents' literary foil, yet I cannot/wouldn't condemn her for struggling to establish herself as an individual. Just my thoughts.

This is my sentiments as well and i’m a black woman.

I love her level of self awareness and introspection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who believes she got into Yale?

The article did not explicitly say she’d been admitted to Yale. Dartmouth has ED not SCEA. Author was assuming/implying she would have been admitted to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who believes she got into Yale?

The article did not explicitly say she’d been admitted to Yale. Dartmouth has ED not SCEA. Author was assuming/implying she would have been admitted to Yale.

How insanely arrogant of her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who believes she got into Yale?

The article did not explicitly say she’d been admitted to Yale. Dartmouth has ED not SCEA. Author was assuming/implying she would have been admitted to Yale.

The article also doesn’t say she applied ED to Dartmouth. Maybe she applied SCEA to Yale and got into Dartmouth RD. That’s not inconceivable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:‘I should’ve gone to Yale. Even though I didn’t like it as much, at least no one would attribute my acceptance to my last name.‘

It’s artfully worded. It’s implied but not stated.

Usually the ‘legacy angst’ goes away if you also applied and were accepted to a school that’s even harder to get into.

Don’t get me wrong legacies at ivies are no slouches. Most legacy applicants are rejected. But there is a reason people pick to apply to the school where they have a hook.

No one turns down Yale for Dartmouth.

Calling BS in this.

If you have a cancer center at UVA named after a family member, the name on your degree is meaningless. For that level of wealth, there is no difference between Dartmouth and Yale

She applied (and was accepted) ED to Dartmouth.
It's weird that she even brings up Yale. No one from her NCS class went to Yale although many applied.
The entire article is odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody forced her to apply as a legacy.

This is my thought. If she really feels so smothered by her legacy then be brave and do something about it. Will this encourage her to transfer somewhere else, even if it doesn't have the cache of Dartmouth? Based on how she feels now, it seems like she'll never know what she's earned (putting aside all the advantages she has had in life in general - not just as a Dartmouth admit) versus what her legacy status provided her. Or will she just continue and repeat the cycle with her own life/family going forward?

I wonder how hard it is for her on campus at school now. This is a pretty public and rough label to live with and/or live down. I hope it's not too bad.

I do hope she learns some lessons from the negative attention the shade this article earned her. She's young and privileged. But regardless of that, people her age are spreading their wings and tend to make mistakes because they are still immature, lack perspective, and usually pretty self absorbed too. I hope it's a growing experience.