Posted on 04/03/2013 8:09:12 AM PDT by TSgt
Like me, millions of high-school seniors with sour grapes are asking themselves this week how they failed to get into the colleges of their dreams. It's simple: For years, they—we—were lied to.
Colleges tell you, "Just be yourself." That is great advice, as long as yourself has nine extracurriculars, six leadership positions, three varsity sports, killer SAT scores and two moms. Then by all means, be yourself! If you work at a local pizza shop and are the slowest person on the cross-country team, consider taking your business elsewhere.
What could I have done differently over the past years?
For starters, had I known two years ago what I know now, I would have gladly worn a headdress to school. Show me to any closet, and I would've happily come out of it. "Diversity!" I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. If it were up to me, I would've been any of the diversities: Navajo, Pacific Islander, anything. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, I salute you and your 1/32 Cherokee heritage.
I also probably should have started a fake charity. Providing veterinary services for homeless people's pets. Collecting donations for the underprivileged chimpanzees of the Congo. Raising awareness for Chapped-Lips-in-the-Winter Syndrome. Fun-runs, dance-a-thons, bake sales—as long as you're using someone else's misfortunes to try to propel yourself into the Ivy League, you're golden.
...
Then there was summer camp. I should've done what I knew was best—go to Africa, scoop up some suffering child, take a few pictures, and write my essays about how spending that afternoon with Kinto changed my life. Because everyone knows that if you don't have anything difficult going on in your own life, you should just hop on a plane so you're able to talk about what other people have to deal with.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
College admissions favor the elites, diverse and perverse. I especially like the part about going to Africa, scooping up some suffering child, taking a few pictures and writing essays about how spending that afternoon with Kinto changed her life.
I want to vomit whenever I see pictures of my affluent suburb friends and their children on some 3rd world country excursion they'll quickly forget about to make the world better.
Do that in battle dress uniform carrying a rifle for an 18 month tour and get back to me on your epiphany and humanitarian conversion.
She would probably not like the politically correct atmosphere at the colleges that rejected her. I firmly believe there are good fits for all applicants. She may have saved herself a boatload of money and debt by choosing a less prestigious school anyway.
She is funny, but bottom line is she probably should have done better in school and SATs. That is really the bottom line in chosing student and I have first hand knowledge of this since I work at the Naval Academy.
I think this young lady will do fine without college.
Maybe even better.
Her mistake might have been applying to top-tier leftist colleges and universities. Why would one bother? My daughter didn’t. She is as white as the driven snow, but she had no trouble getting accepted to several good schools. Being further to the right than Ann Coulter, my child had no interest in going to an Ivy run by Marxists.
Once she began attending her chosen school, however, she often reflected bitterly that she wished she could be Hispanic so she could qualify for all the grants, scholarships, and other easy sources of funding available to the Hispanic girls. Their lot was much easier than hers, since she had to work to the point of exhaustion to pay for her education, and they didn’t. Of course they had more time and energy for studying than she did, since they didn’t have to hold down two jobs.
I assume the author is white, and therefore isn’t desirable for “diversity” at these colleges.
I had to laugh one day when I overheard a conversation between a senior in HS and some older liberal. The girl said that she preferred some college that was 80% hispanic because it was “more diverse” than the nearby state college.
Looks like she learned that early. Now get a better, cheaper, education in a field that actually produces something and can support you.
Getting rejected by the Ivies isn’t a bad thing.
Agreed. My youngest son wanted to play football in college. He played 6-man football in high school and could run the 40 in 3.9 seconds. He was a mediocre student, but willing to work hard. He did manage to get into a D2 school. He would have been fooling himself if he tried to go to one of the more famous D1 schools. So, there is a place for everyone if they are willing to look and not confine their choices.
I met an admissions officer at a conference a couple years ago. The gentleman worked at a very good school and told me an application from a home schooler was always set aside from the others and that acceptance was close to 100%.
I'd be interested in how our military academies handle the home schooled.
And if your first name is Epiphany, or better yet Ypiffenie, then you truly are golden!
Let’s see if we can come up with the ultimate “diversity” candidate, let me start:
Native American lesbian in a wheelchair.
One of the best lessons that a young person can learn is the lesson of trying and failing. In some areas, you are successful but in other areas, you don’t get what you want. Perhaps you didn’t put enough effort into it. Or if you did put your best effort into it, there were still other people who were better than you. If you succeed at everything you try, you aren’t moving far enough outside of your comfort zone. You gain perspective on yourself and ultimately are more successful if you try and fail.
Colleges (most, at least the liberal arts and degrees-of-no-commercial-worth kind) could give a rat’s ass about a prospective matriculator’s ‘outreach,’ ‘community outreach,’ ‘extra-curricular activities,’ et al.
They only care if you are a minority, if you can qualify for Pell Grants, if you can get a full ride Obama minority grant, and so on. They’ll hook you with bullshit about what your education is worth and tell you that you can get loans for your education (Obama will forgive it) if you can’t qualify for the ‘special person’ grants and loans any more.
In truth, the only people (employers) these schools can ‘hook you up with’ are government minority outreach endeavors. Hey! In this day and age though, you’ll probably get a job at DHS, or TSA, or any of the other multiple Executive Branch jobs out there. And you will become a hater of anything worthwhile. Good luck suckers. You’re gonna need it when the SHTF.
remember Michael Dukakis’ perfect running mate?
a black lesbian native american disabled illegal alien etc. etc....
There was a scene in “World War Z” where they were trying to assemble people that could actually DO things.
And all they could find were people with worthless college degrees.
washingtonexaminer.com/mcdonalds-want-ad-demands-bachelors-degree-two-years-experience-for-cashier/article/2526145
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.