Her parents are clearly litigious. The petition stated that they earlier had brought an action against Sidwell before the DC Human Rights Commission, concerning the school’s alleged treatment of her older sister.

It’s a very weak case and frankly also is a bad cert petition, with a number of typos and grammatical mistakes. What was the family thinking? What is their lawyer thinking?

Anonymous wrote:The girl sounds like she is being influenced by her parents, and they are slightly delusional.

Possibly and sadly she comes off as being entitled and somewhat troublesome which may affect future opportunities because companies do not want to hire someone that is lawsuit happy. I hope that’s not the case and I wish her well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's her SC petition for cert - https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-1356/97268/20190423135437781_Adetu%20Petition%20E%20File%20Apr%2023%202019.pdf

She now runs track at Penn, after getting in after a gap year.

Twitter thread with more detail than the LA Times story - https://twitter.com/aaron_leib/status/1129011767168970753

In 2015, a black female Sidwell Friends student and her parents sued the school, saying they were retaliated against for raising concerns about racism. She applied to 13 colleges and was the only student in her class of 126 to not get into any.

So she’s trying to get to the Supreme Court because she’s at Penn and not at Harvard? Her parents should be sanctioned for misusing the court system.

She sounds very entitled. The entitlement of some families in this area is shocking to me. The interview and personality go a long way as well and maybe she came off in an unflattering way in her interviews. It happens. If the family is difficult or the student was difficult her recommendations may be lukewarm. That doesn’t mean Sidwell said anything negative about her but if she was not charming in person and her recommendations were lukewarm and her scores were mediocre of course she’s not going to get in if she did not have safety schools.

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is notorious for attempting to limit how many kids apply to each top school. I know several pissed off families who applied places Sidwell assured them were out of reach, whose kids were admitted.

So this girls experience is not unique, and is common enough situation that it is likely not going to win a lawsuit.

What you have is called third-hand gossip ("....I know several families who said...."). So clearly your opinion matters not much at all.

The girl sounds like she is being influenced by her parents, and they are slightly delusional.

Her lawsuit is over the top. No wonder the DC superior court ordered her and her parents to pay almost $40 thousand to Sidwell in legal costs, which the appellate court upheld. For example, one of her complaints is that the school recommendation noted that both of her parent had come to the U.S. from Nigeria, a fact that the student had written about in her application essays. Yet she complained that the recommendation (which is confidential, and which she obtained only after the lawsuit was filed) may have given colleges the misimpression that she was not American, which may have caused them to deny her an affirmative action preference. This is a strange argument, as it suggests that she believed that she needed affirmative action to be competitive for the Ivy League.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty clear that she got special, advantageous treatment from Sidwell. At the time she applied to college, Sidwell limited most students to just nine applications. They have since increased the limit slightly.

How can they limit how many school students apply to?

By not supporting the applications to schools above the limit.

If she applied to 13 schools she created a problem for herself - where does Sidwell push for her - all four ivies she applied to?

But why? Couldn’t they have emphasized the schools where were they wanted them to “push”? The balance of the school wouldn’t get any particular attention.

I don’t understand why the volume was such an issue. Doesn’t seem with in the schools purview to limit how many schools a child can apply to.

Sure it is, the school has to write/send out more recs, and it adds more management for each file. If one person does it, then 128 can do it, and all of the sudden you are dealing with 500 more applications.

It's all pretty automated. Once the recs and transcripts are prepared it takes a matter of minutes to send them to each additional college. Also, it is a college counselor's job to support and serve the students, not act as gatekeepers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty clear that she got special, advantageous treatment from Sidwell. At the time she applied to college, Sidwell limited most students to just nine applications. They have since increased the limit slightly.

How can they limit how many school students apply to?

By not supporting the applications to schools above the limit.

If she applied to 13 schools she created a problem for herself - where does Sidwell push for her - all four ivies she applied to?

But why? Couldn’t they have emphasized the schools where were they wanted them to “push”? The balance of the school wouldn’t get any particular attention.

I don’t understand why the volume was such an issue. Doesn’t seem with in the schools purview to limit how many schools a child can apply to.

Sure it is, the school has to write/send out more recs, and it adds more management for each file. If one person does it, then 128 can do it, and all of the sudden you are dealing with 500 more applications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty clear that she got special, advantageous treatment from Sidwell. At the time she applied to college, Sidwell limited most students to just nine applications. They have since increased the limit slightly.

How can they limit how many school students apply to?

By not supporting the applications to schools above the limit.

If she applied to 13 schools she created a problem for herself - where does Sidwell push for her - all four ivies she applied to?

But why? Couldn’t they have emphasized the schools where were they wanted them to “push”? The balance of the school wouldn’t get any particular attention.

I don’t understand why the volume was such an issue. Doesn’t seem with in the schools purview to limit how many schools a child can apply to.

Anonymous wrote:The best part of the brief is when Tom Farquahar supposedly told the parents that all the teachers at the school wanted the family “gone, gone, gone.”

I can see why.

I’m glad Tom is gone gone gone. Now time for Brian and the MS head to be gone gone gone

The best part of the brief is when Tom Farquahar supposedly told the parents that all the teachers at the school wanted the family “gone, gone, gone.”

I can see why.

Anonymous wrote:Something stinks here and it doesn't seem like it is the young girl. IMO if she is at Penn now, after a gap year and no substantive changes to her application (like her SAT score didn't increase exponentially), then it certainly seems to me like Sidwell played a negative role in her initial application. More power to her and her family if she pushes forward with her case.

+1

Anonymous wrote:But wouldn’t they have looked up the credentials on someone who was supposed to be their own witness? Nothing against Sidwell in particular, but they could have verified his credentials.

Really this was the lawyers' job. Sidwell hired lawyers to defend the lawsuit. The lawyers in most cases identify and hire experts. Sidwell likely had at most input of "If you say this guy is good, go ahead and hire him."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty clear that she got special, advantageous treatment from Sidwell. At the time she applied to college, Sidwell limited most students to just nine applications. They have since increased the limit slightly.

How can they limit how many school students apply to?

By not supporting the applications to schools above the limit.

If she applied to 13 schools she created a problem for herself - where does Sidwell push for her - all four ivies she applied to?