Re: Suzy Lee Weiss ("And then there’s Suzy Lee Weiss who claims a 4.5 GPA, a 2120 SAT score, and spot as a US Senate Page.")
You don't need to blame affirmative action for that rejection. 2120 (~1410 on the older scale for people my age) was Duke/Cornell numbers back when I was applying to colleges a dozen years ago, and these days it's Berkely/Michigan/Virginia numbers. That's the nature of a system where populations grow but class sizes stay the same at top colleges. The other stuff is meaningless--you can easily inflate your way to a 4.0+ GPA these days now that schools have eagerly rushed to label everything AP, and being a Senate page just means you know a Senator (your parents being rich and living in D.C. is enough) .
You don't even necessarily need to take APs to get that kind of GPA. "Honors" classes are also on a 5.0 scale in certain schools (and there's no 3 hour test in the spring).
Completely agreed on the SAT score. I had a similar score (albeit a decade ago on the old system) and had the lowest SAT score out of all my friends at one of the supposed "elite" colleges.
I'm an alumni interviewer for my alma mater, and have seen candidates far more impressive than Ms. Weiss denied admission this year. I honestly don't think I'd get into my school today.
edit: I remember reading the article by Suzy Weiss and thinking that she was just being facetious. Was she actually serious about that article? Wow. Or I guess the more likely situation is that while the article is satire, her feelings and outrage are genuine.
It does underemphasize how much getting into a specific school is kind of a lottery even for the highly qualified. I knew plenty of people who applied to pretty much every top school, and got into some small number of them -- in some cases including their first choice. My sister applied to a bunch of highly ranked schools -- many rejected her, but she made it into Yale.
The somewhat arbitrary & capricious nature of admissions is part of what feeds into this whole complex the article discusses.
It was bad a decade ago when I was applying and seems to have gotten worse. At this point it's such a crapshoot that you basically have no choice but to apply to 10+ schools and pray that you luck out on one of your top choices.
edit: you're right, this is a pretty good (and funny) article.
I find it very disappointing that, in trying to show how conceited the "whiney" white girl is, the author's own vanity comes to light. Don't get me wrong, I think Miss Weiss is totally off base in thinking that affirmative action had anything to do with the rejection of a person as egocentric as herself. But let's not play the "my life was harder than yours" game. It just makes you look self absorbed.
Agreed. The white girl who didn't get in might have been rejected based on a combination of factors, but she IS legally discriminated against because of her race in college admissions, which is a reasonable complaint. IIRC, putting "black" down on your college application gives you something like a +500 point bonus on your SAT score. A rich white girl is an easy target for mocking, but what about the poor white girl who has nowhere near the resources of a rich black girl? Studies show that class is now the deciding factor in relative advantages, much greater even than race, yet still our college policies are based on 1960's society. The accomplishment gap between rich and poor is far, far greater than that between white and black, and still we see fit to punish...asians. Over indulging in white guilt leads to victimization of the poor of all races, which I find ethically deplorable.
It is my hope that race based discrimination will soon be no more. Lots of important things coming up for SCOTUS, recently. Studies show that academic mismatch from race based discrimination actually hurts the minorities it is intended to help, so if race based discrimination is made illegal, then people of all races will be better off. Minority graduation rates will be much higher once we've gotten rid of it.
> Apparently brown babies are receiving their Ivy League acceptances stapled to birth certificates in the delivery rooms nowadays. You sign up for a lifetime of other systemic issues (Racism? Discrimination? No big), but hey, at least you’re going to Harvard.
This seems to imply that college is supposed to be the sort-of "invisible hand" hand that makes the whole world equal. Just because your parents/grandparents endured some hardships because of a prejudice society, I'm not sure how that ties into college acceptance (or should at least).
If a person earned a 4.5 GPA, they earned a 4.5 GPA. If I earn a dollar, is my dollar less valuable than a black person's dollar? No because it's earned all the same. Maybe I don't have a car and have to bike to work in freezing weather, where the black person has a nice warm car. But when I try to buy a burger with that earned dollar, will I get a discount because it was a little harder for me to earn that dollar?
i don't care what race you are, i don't like people who feel entitled to things. life is a motherfuckin bitch, grow up.
as far as the whole black/white thing, black people definitely still have to deal with the racism of past and present, and it's in our social structure and political structures and legal structures and economic structures and on and on. i certainly acknowledge it, but i still can't help but be annoyed by this article's presumption that white people just 'have it made'. bitch i didn't even dream of ivy league. local public college was the top of my scope of college ambition. stop worrying about the next person's lot and tend to your own.
in my experience, when i was rejected, i went on my own and proved that i can make it just fine without whatever organization/institution/group that rejected me - their loss! life is full of rejection, take it gracefully and show them up with your own accomplishments. the author of the article seems to hold that point of view so kudos to her. she gets it.
lastly i'll say no one cares what college you went to, and if they do - congratulations! you made your way into some elitist, 'exclusive' high society circle jerk. only thing that matters in this field (this is hacker news, right?) is skills, wherever you got em.
The Wire? umm no need to turn to racist generalizations. Not really sure what a tv show about heroin trafficking has to do with this, but keep your stereotypes at bay.
And you didn't address any point other than the diction in my delivery, so way to stay relevant, with your ad hominem, non sequitur, fallacious remark.
For your info, I wasn't referring to the author with the interjection. Get some culture.
Well it is published on racialicious.com...IMO a select (and quite excellent) quote of the article is all that is needed:
"Plus, in singling out diversity as your issue, you're eliminating half the college applying population from your debate. By your logic, if a white girl with your background doesn't get into an Ivy League college, it’s because there weren't enough spots for white students that year. But, if a non-white girl with an identical profile is rejected, who do they blame? No one."
You don't need to blame affirmative action for that rejection. 2120 (~1410 on the older scale for people my age) was Duke/Cornell numbers back when I was applying to colleges a dozen years ago, and these days it's Berkely/Michigan/Virginia numbers. That's the nature of a system where populations grow but class sizes stay the same at top colleges. The other stuff is meaningless--you can easily inflate your way to a 4.0+ GPA these days now that schools have eagerly rushed to label everything AP, and being a Senate page just means you know a Senator (your parents being rich and living in D.C. is enough) .
I can't believe this kid got on T.V.