+1. One of the Bush cousins was at Princeton while he was President. Some journalist did a report on famous/rich/legacy kids getting into Ivy League schools and found that her SAT scores were pretty mediocre. But her last name was Bush. |
How does this become known? Just as the student fills out the alumni connections part of their application? Because Bush is a common last name. What if the entire family went to Yale and the kid is trying to get into Harvard? How is that made known when there isn’t a huge donation but it’s really about the name? |
I went to a different Ivy but most (maybe it’s required now?) students do interviews. That’s true since early 2000s. Also they frequently have admission people who will have like coverage of specific schools. So there might be someone in admissions that covers like North Dakota and Choate. Seems like either would be easy places for it to come up. And of course the essay. |
When I applied to college, it asked for parental names and college degrees. This was an issue 20 years ago (see Lauren Bush article). Now with google it's very easy to see *who* are the bold faced named kids. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/nyregion/files-searched-on-yale-site-included-those-of-lauren-bush.html |
When I applied to Ivy grad school, Penn had me list all immediate family members with Ivy degrees. |
Did they really? That's so gross! |
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Check out Daniel Golden's Price of Admissions. It caused a stir when it came out in 2006 by naming names of the progeny of the rich and famous who got into colleges that they didn't seem to deserve to be in. And then it had renewed interest more recently, because one of the rich kids cited as a case study was a then not famous Jared Kushner who was described by all as "mediocre" but got in to Harvard after his father donated $2.5 million.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvard |
| I forgot about the Gores! And now I’m feeling surprised all over again that Al & Tipper split. |
| The girls all went to NCS and were extremely smart, top of the class, excellent athletes, and student government leaders …. Didn’t know the son though - all three daughters went to Harvard |
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Surprised no one has yet mentioned that Kristin Gore is now married to Damian Kulash of OKGO fame. Link below is old - they are now married. I knew Damian a bit from when he was in Chicago. He is a super nice guy, hope they are doing well.
https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/ok-go-damian-kulash-and-kristin-gore-purchase-los-angeles-home/ |
Gosh, I totally forgot about that. |
I went to high school with them. Karenna was a rock star over achiever who would have had a good shot at Harvard regardless of legacy - varsity athlete, student government, good grades, president of government club etc. Kristen was also avoid student and athlete. I don’t know Sarah - she was younger. But they were impressive teens regardless. But yes unless things have changed in the past two years, being a legacy helps a lot at Harvard. Slate did an article a few years back with some amazing statistics, for example, 1/3 of Harvard students are legacies |
Avoid should say “a good” And yes Kristen is married to Damian - he was a year ahead of her at sta |
Sarah went to Harvard as well. They went to my high school the same time as me. All of the girls, especially Karenna, would have had a good shot at Harvard without the famous name. Karenna was a good student, president of government club, varsity athlete in multiple sports, president or VP of student body, etc. I didn't know the son well except encountered him a few times when he was a kid and would hang out in the courtyard waiting for his sisters to be done with sports. He was friendly and polite and would do stuff like open the door for people. |
Just because people aren't in the spotlight or in the media all the time doesn't mean they're not okay. What a bizarre take on people's lives. |