Anonymous wrote:As Politico dug up her senior thesis and published it (it can be found here: http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_1-251.pdf ), you can judge for yourself rather than relying on some random opinion piece you read that may or may not have had an agenda. I haven't read the entire text, but from skimming through it, it looks like what one would expect from a senior thesis, and the writing is in no way egregiously poor

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^^she was not a legacy. Her brother attended but neither of her parents had even gone to college. I swear where do you people get your information? Anything to tear down her achievements.


here - http://www.newsweek.com/who-michelle-obama-94161 in it she refers to herself as a legacy. Too her credit, she's always been forthright about how having a family tie to Princeton gave her an advantage in the admissions process.

I have never heard of legacy admissions applying through siblings, just parents. The way it is worded in the article sounds like speculation--or like something perhaps Michelle worried about due to some personal issues with impostor syndrome. I also don't understand how this article can say that she wasn't at the top of her class, but it has been well recorded in the press over and over that she was salutatorian!

In any case, she grew up in a working class family, she attended a selective admissions magnet school (which, by the way was a 3 hours round trip commute, just to get a stellar education) had a very strong academic record there, and went on to Princeton, despite the fact that neither of her parents had attended college. From everything in that story it seems like a) she was an excellent student who there is no reason to believe did not get in on her own merits and b) she didn't have a lot of the advantages that non-minorities coming from upper middle class families have, including parents with a college education.

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Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if she chose a classic - like Princeton (her mother's undergrad alma mater). I know she is interested in film production but I seriously doubt if she would attend a school like NYU or USC. It would be cool if she did.

I read somewhere that Michelle Obama did not like her time at Princeton and has been an estranged alum.

In the 80s, Princeton was a very weird place for African Americans. The whole diversification exercise always felt a bit forced. I am sure that it is much better now.

Let's be clear. It may have been awkward, but it was not forced. It was a voluntary initiative to admit minority students like MO who objectively were usually less qualified than other students in order to enhance their future opportunities and the opportunities of their children. And, by and large, that is exactly what it has achieved.

No, I meant what I said. During that same period, both Harvard and Yale had much better success attracting and assimilating a diverse student body. At Princeton, the AA students often felt like they were "others". Social life at Princeton centered around the eating clubs, which had only recently been integrated and only on a superficial level. Princeton had not yet worked past its legacy as a school for southern gentlemen. Further, it had nothing to do with any of the students being objectively less qualified, but everything to do with being less welcome. Nice try. Blame it on affirmative action and not the attitude of the school.

I was at Princeton at the time and your recollection (if it is that, rather than pure speculation) bears little relation to the reality.

It was no different at the other Ivies in this period. It's crazy how people want to bash the Ivies for some of the issues associated with affirmative action, when they could have sat back, admitted fewer minority students, and waited until the minority candidates coming from both private and public high schools were stronger academically. If you think a white or Asian applicant to Princeton with Michelle Obama's credentials would have been admitted, you are nuts. They made a conscious decision to diversify, knowing that it would not be a cake-walk for students who arrived with fewer academic skills.

I was the original person characterizing Princeton as less than accepting of AA students in the 80s. Sorry to derail your narrative, but I was an AA private school kid with 1500 SATs, two professional parents, a varsity athlete, who graduated with honors in biochemistry. So, I don't fit your thesis of being less qualified...and that certainly wasn't the reason that I was treated as an other. Again, blaming affirmative action for an unwelcoming environment just doesn't cut it.

+1

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Anonymous wrote:It is my most fervent hope that she goes to a school where people know enough not to use phrases like "enroll at."

+1!

I bet you she does use it, considering she's a hip-hop fan.

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Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if she chose a classic - like Princeton (her mother's undergrad alma mater). I know she is interested in film production but I seriously doubt if she would attend a school like NYU or USC. It would be cool if she did.

I read somewhere that Michelle Obama did not like her time at Princeton and has been an estranged alum.

In the 80s, Princeton was a very weird place for African Americans. The whole diversification exercise always felt a bit forced. I am sure that it is much better now.

Let's be clear. It may have been awkward, but it was not forced. It was a voluntary initiative to admit minority students like MO who objectively were usually less qualified than other students in order to enhance their future opportunities and the opportunities of their children. And, by and large, that is exactly what it has achieved.

No, I meant what I said. During that same period, both Harvard and Yale had much better success attracting and assimilating a diverse student body. At Princeton, the AA students often felt like they were "others". Social life at Princeton centered around the eating clubs, which had only recently been integrated and only on a superficial level. Princeton had not yet worked past its legacy as a school for southern gentlemen. Further, it had nothing to do with any of the students being objectively less qualified, but everything to do with being less welcome. Nice try. Blame it on affirmative action and not the attitude of the school.

I was at Princeton at the time and your recollection (if it is that, rather than pure speculation) bears little relation to the reality.

It was no different at the other Ivies in this period. It's crazy how people want to bash the Ivies for some of the issues associated with affirmative action, when they could have sat back, admitted fewer minority students, and waited until the minority candidates coming from both private and public high schools were stronger academically. If you think a white or Asian applicant to Princeton with Michelle Obama's credentials would have been admitted, you are nuts. They made a conscious decision to diversify, knowing that it would not be a cake-walk for students who arrived with fewer academic skills.

I was the original person characterizing Princeton as less than accepting of AA students in the 80s. Sorry to derail your narrative, but I was an AA private school kid with 1500 SATs, two professional parents, a varsity athlete, who graduated with honors in biochemistry. So, I don't fit your thesis of being less qualified...and that certainly wasn't the reason that I was treated as an other. Again, blaming affirmative action for an unwelcoming environment just doesn't cut it.

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^^she was not a legacy. Her brother attended but neither of her parents had even gone to college. I swear where do you people get your information? Anything to tear down her achievements.


here - http://www.newsweek.com/who-michelle-obama-94161 in it she refers to herself as a legacy. Too her credit, she's always been forthright about how having a family tie to Princeton gave her an advantage in the admissions process.

Anonymous wrote:So funny how you worded it "enroll at" rather than "apply to"

Anonymous wrote:^^she was not a legacy. Her brother attended but neither of her parents had even gone to college. I swear where do you people get your information? Anything to tear down her achievements.

Anonymous wrote:It is not about tearing down her achievements, it is about either rationalizing their lesser accomplishments - I could have done much more in life if I had a similar advantage - or, celebrating their own singular success without similar advantages. It provides comfort and a way of making sense in an irrational world.

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Anonymous wrote:12:30 Michelle Obama was salutation of a highly competitive selective admissions magnet school. I see no reason to assume she was unqualified for admission at Princeton.

I read she was a salutatorian, too.

Anonymous wrote:12:30 Michelle Obama was salutation of a highly competitive selective admissions magnet school. I see no reason to assume she was unqualified for admission at Princeton.