Tomorrow we are touring Harvard. I don't want her to go there either, but she has the grades to get into any school she wants to attend. Brandeis and Boston College are for Monday and Tuesday.
I became very disillusioned with colleges now as compared to the past. My daughter, Melanie, never even got a single "B" on any
test, let alone any report card in her entire life. She lead several fund raising drives, played on several sports teams and was captain of the soccer team. Her
only 'knock', if you will, was that she missed 2 questions on the SAT. Along with these credentials she had a dozen letters of recommendation from the principal to the head of every department in which she took classes.
With all those credentials, I had to wake up to realize that there is no possible way that "grades" will get you into any of the so called 'top' colleges. That was proven to me without a doubt. Unless she qualifies for as a minority or you want to donate a few million to the university, getting in on grades, SAT scores and extra curricular activities alone just does not happen. I think I mentioned that Melanie applied to Duke, and she was immediately rejected. Looking at their student body at a basketball game, and their team, guarantees me that there is NO WAY every student there has maintained a perfect grade point average since kindergarten on not only every report card, but every test along the way or every single student there got a perfect score on their SAT tests.
It's unfortunate, but grades clearly are way down the line when it comes to admission into those liberal lunatic colleges. Even though Melanie has a very good chance of going to Harvard Medical school due to her developed connections, she has told me that 'If they didn't want me as an undergraduate as one of the top 20 students in our state, I have no desire to go there for graduate school'. The reverence and mystique of the so called Ivy League schools in the north east has now been completely and totally lost with me. Now it's completely about 1) your race (color of your skin) or 2) how much money you're willing to donate. I have another high school senior graduating this year with a perfect grade point average, scored in the 99th percentile in EVERY category on the SAT and not only was involved in most every sport, president of the student body, but attained a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo while also working 20 hours a week. She has no interest in those schools.
I'm disgusted that a perfect GPA means nothing now due to our overly liberal school politics. When I attended school, there was ONE valedictorian in our class and they automatically had a standing offer for a full ride scholarship to one of our state schools. Now some schools have 40 'valedictorians'.
Bullshit too! It sickens me that grades and extra drive and motivation mean almost nothing to colleges. You have to be a minority or some standout athlete (but can be as dumb as a brick) to get into most of what used to be considered 'elite' colleges. Pictured is Megan's black belt and my youngest's report card. It looks like 4 of my 5 kids will be valedictorians, for what little that's worth. Yeah, I'm disgusted and our college system is now a direct reflection of our liberal 60's hippys being in charge. I wish you the best of luck with your daughter, but a perfect GPA, extra activities, being student president and scoring tops on the SAT means nothing. You're going to have to open your checkbook wide or change your daughter's ethnicity to let her get in where she deserves.
Parking was extremely tough to find. And Norm was not even there. Major disappointment.
That's about the only place I ate other than at the home of the wonderful Harvard professor who put me up in a spare bedroom on their 3rd floor.
