Malia - Harvard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is her friend group also Harvard-bound?

What would this prove? I was the only one of my friends to go to an Ivy. We were all white girls. No one ever suggested I wasn't qualified or didn't merit it.

Malia's parents are both brilliant. It's not difficult to imagine she would have gotten in even without being the president's daughter. Tons of kids are academically qualified for Harvard (but may not get in for various reasons).

As a reference the Nesbitts (close friends of the Obamas) sent a son and daughter to Harvard and Stanford. They are a active, educated black family with kids at UC Lab. Malia was likely heading to Harvard without being the daughter of POTUS. But again, there's nothing shocking about daughters of Harvard Law alum also attending Harvard. She's not taking some white boy's spot and it's certainly not a reach for her to go there.

[Anonymous]

Harvard and institutions like it (e.g., Georgetown, Oxford, Cambridge, etc) enroll the half-wit spawn of the global "elite" ALL the time. It's part of their role in implementing US foreign policy -- promoting Brand USA and influencing the development of future foreign leaders. At least Malia is the intelligent, poised daughter of accomplished, involved, self-made (no one can argue with that) parents. And, fwiw, my dd attends a small LAC in "flyover" land most of you wouldn't be caught dead allowing your child to attend.

[Anonymous]

Harvard is already lowkey bragging through their newspaper and promoting Gap Years on Twitter.

http://www.thecrimson.com/flyby/article/2016/5/2/malia-obama-harvard/

Gap Year is truly the smartest decision in her case; let all the hysteria calm down. Imagine if she were applying during the 2012 campaign season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard and institutions like it (e.g., Georgetown, Oxford, Cambridge, etc) enroll the half-wit spawn of the global "elite" ALL the time. It's part of their role in implementing US foreign policy -- promoting Brand USA and influencing the development of future foreign leaders. At least Malia is the intelligent, poised daughter of accomplished, involved, self-made (no one can argue with that) parents. And, fwiw, my dd attends a small LAC in "flyover" land most of you wouldn't be caught dead allowing your child to attend.

Yup, the difference is that typically the rich and powerful spawn are usually white, so no one complains about affirmative action for them--they're all worth and deserving as Daniel Golden pointed out in his book the Price of Privilege.

http://www.economist.com/node/7945858

The American establishment is extraordinarily good at getting its children into the best colleges. In the last presidential election both candidates—George Bush and John Kerry—were “C” students who would have had little chance of getting into Yale if they had not come from Yale families. Al Gore and Bill Frist both got their sons into their alma maters (Harvard and Princeton respectively), despite their average academic performances. Universities bend over backwards to admit “legacies” (ie, the children of alumni). Harvard admits 40% of legacy applicants compared with 11% of applicants overall. Amherst admits 50%. An average of 21-24% of students in each year at Notre Dame are the offspring of alumni. When it comes to the children of particularly rich donors, the bending-over-backwards reaches astonishing levels. Harvard even has something called a “Z” list—a list of applicants who are given a place after a year's deferment to catch up—that is dominated by the children of rich alumni.

University behaviour is at its worst when it comes to grovelling to celebrities. Duke University's admissions director visited Steven Spielberg's house to interview his stepdaughter. Princeton found a place for Lauren Bush—the president's niece and a top fashion model—despite the fact that she missed the application deadline by a month. Brown University was so keen to admit Michael Ovitz's son that it gave him a place as a “special student”. (He dropped out after a year.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question is, does GDS allow us to count her in the comparison of students going to Harvard?

Well, they like to claim President Obama really wanted his daughters to go to GDS, but the Secret Service somehow overruled him, so it wouldn't surprise me if they actually try to count her as a GDS grad at Harvard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is already lowkey bragging through their newspaper and promoting Gap Years on Twitter.

http://www.thecrimson.com/flyby/article/2016/5/2/malia-obama-harvard/

Gap Year is truly the smartest decision in her case; let all the hysteria calm down. Imagine if she were applying during the 2012 campaign season.

You realize that the Crimson is a student newspaper. Harvard is already "low key bragging"...as if the President of the University planted the article.

[Anonymous]

Who'se Mrs Nesbitt? I've always thought that last name was a joke. Like, Mrs. Nesbitt's asshat or something

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is already lowkey bragging through their newspaper and promoting Gap Years on Twitter.

http://www.thecrimson.com/flyby/article/2016/5/2/malia-obama-harvard/

Gap Year is truly the smartest decision in her case; let all the hysteria calm down. Imagine if she were applying during the 2012 campaign season.

You realize that the Crimson is a student newspaper. Harvard is already "low key bragging"...as if the President of the University planted the article.

Yes I'm aware the Crimson is a student newspaper (I've heard of it). I never insisted it was the President or any other school official had anything to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thats strange. She didn't go to GDS.

what's GDS?

who's Malia?

Harvard I've heard

1. Malia is the "first daughter."

2. GDS is the feeder pipeline to Harvard.

3. Despite not attending GDS, somehow Malia still got into Harvard. Her parents really wanted her to go to GDS but the Secret Service told them no. So they had to settle for Sidwell.

4. Harvard is Harvard.

Next.

I'm not sure what GDS stands for, but if it's a feeder, that in itself does not exclude students from other schools from getting into Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who'se Mrs Nesbitt? I've always thought that last name was a joke. Like, Mrs. Nesbitt's asshat or something

The Nesbitts are close friends of the Obamas. Marty Nesbitt is a businessman and his wife, Dr Nesbitt, is a doctor who delivered both Obama girls.

[Anonymous]

How is this news- or note- worthy? She is the daughter of the President Also, who gives a damn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question is, does GDS allow us to count her in the comparison of students going to Harvard?

Well, they like to claim President Obama really wanted his daughters to go to GDS, but the Secret Service somehow overruled him, so it wouldn't surprise me if they actually try to count her as a GDS grad at Harvard!

But of course!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is her friend group also Harvard-bound?

What would this prove? I was the only one of my friends to go to an Ivy. We were all white girls. No one ever suggested I wasn't qualified or didn't merit it.

Malia's parents are both brilliant. It's not difficult to imagine she would have gotten in even without being the president's daughter. Tons of kids are academically qualified for Harvard (but may not get in for various reasons).

Just because (a) a student's parents are bright and accomplished doesn't necessarily mean that (b) their student is setting the world on fire at school. But if (a) is very strong, (b) will matter less for selective college and university admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is her friend group also Harvard-bound?

What would this prove? I was the only one of my friends to go to an Ivy. We were all white girls. No one ever suggested I wasn't qualified or didn't merit it.

Malia's parents are both brilliant. It's not difficult to imagine she would have gotten in even without being the president's daughter. Tons of kids are academically qualified for Harvard (but may not get in for various reasons).

Just because (a) a student's parents are bright and accomplished doesn't necessarily mean that (b) their student is setting the world on fire at school. But if (a) is very strong, (b) will matter less for selective college and university admissions.

a. Someone on this board mentioned that her friend group was looking at Harvard. There's at least one other black female attending Harvard (which is good).

b. When it comes to white legacy admits we already know this is the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is her friend group also Harvard-bound?

What would this prove? I was the only one of my friends to go to an Ivy. We were all white girls. No one ever suggested I wasn't qualified or didn't merit it.

Malia's parents are both brilliant. It's not difficult to imagine she would have gotten in even without being the president's daughter. Tons of kids are academically qualified for Harvard (but may not get in for various reasons).

Brilliant?