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Never heard of the 'hook' in the college admissions process? More rudimentary thinking?
Why do you think he needed to be an international student to have a "hook?" Admissions committees expect excellence in grades first, but look for really interesting kids as the deciding factor. I didn't attend an ivy league school, but I did do my undergrad at a very good school with a highly competitive application process that requires an essay and interview, and I occasionally interview prospective students as an alum now. My "hook" in that process was being a ranchers kid from Nebraska and everything that goes with that, but talking about how my chance to spend a year abroad in high school had opened up the world for me, and how I could tie the two experiences together. Since not many rich kids have experience branding and roping calves or shooting rattlesnakes, and since I'd shown my interest in learning as much about the world as I could, they thought I'd be a good addition to the student body. Rich kids who pay full tuition are held to lesser standards. Kids who get scholarships (like me) had better bring something interesting to the table.
Obama wouldn't have to lie or forge anything to be interesting to an admissions committee, and he wouldn't even qualify as an international student under Columbia's current standards unless you think he forged his high school transcripts to make it look like he attended high school out of the country. Why would he need to do that? His real life history is way more interesting just as it is. He's an American biracial kid with a dad from Kenya who left the family when he was two. He was raised by a single white mom, and traveled back to a small village in Kenya to meet his Dad's family at the age of 10. He moved with his mom and step dad to Indonesia when he was in the first grade, and got to experience that culture until the 4th grade, when he returned to Hawaii to live with his very white, American grandparents from Kansas. His family is diverse, his experiences are incredibly diverse--the truth is more interesting than anything you could make up. I'm sure he was charming and interesting in the interview, and they were excited to get him as a student.
Why do you think there's no way a school wouldn't see that potential in him based on the truth? Why do you think that a man who graduated from college and law school with top honors had bad grades when he was younger? I don't get some of you at all. Why do you think every person of color has to cheat the system somehow to get ahead? It's sick.
wont matter.
there could be a video of Obama shooting out of his mothers womb in a grass hut in Kenya and it will be denied, ignored etc.
best to go after his verifiably corrupt actions.
Frank, no truer words have ever been spoken. In fact, these criminals confess to crimes everyday, and nothing happens.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a corruption contest taking place, and the only thing that separates us from third world banana republic status is the fairy-tale weaved by the media 24 hours a day.
I concur. I don't think there are any special advantages for international students over US citizens. I will say, though, that I do recall international students being asked to contribute some aspects of their personal backgrounds. For instance, in a discussion about apartheid, I remember a South African student discussing his personal experience and his hope to return to his country and help heal the wounds of apartheid. I remember the college asking international students to co-ordinate an International Day, where they served foods and wore clothing and played music that reflected their culture. I remember international students serving as escorts when speakers from their countries came to make presentations. This level of participation wasn't a requirement, but many international students did volunteer to do these things.
It's a way of helping the international students contribute to the college community, and a way to expose the resident community to the international kids. It's a win win for everybody. Lots of times the students organize fun things on their own too--when I was abroad the American kids got together and held a costumed Halloween party and a traditional Thanksgiving for friends on campus. Both were a huge hit. I made friends who took me home to see their families, etc. It was really interesting and fun.
I said it was one example. HistorianDude claims to have cited Columbia's actual policy, but he cited current policy not the policy in effect at the time of Obama's admission.
Not hard to understand. Why are you both struggling so with it?
Applying as a student from Hawaii is a hook, too. Diversity doesn't just include students from different nations. Someone applying to the Ivy League schools from Arkansas has a hook, too. Striving for diversity doesn't just apply to admissions, they also want that student to succeed. And the student must meet the admission requirements as well. I've never come across an unqualified international student, though I've met some students in athletic programs who probably didn't meet the school's academic standards for admission.
Exactly--they look for kids with very strong academic backgrounds first, but from there it's really interesting kids with a broad variety of experiences and accomplishments. I think the standards are loosened up a little (or a lot) for really wealthy kids who pay full tuition and have parents who write big donation checks, but if you're there on scholarship they want kids who bring something new and different to the table--something that might be out of the range of life experiences for most of the students. Being from another country might be one example, but farm kids, fisherman's kids, students who've started businesses on their own or achieved something really unique in an outside activity are all part of the formula as well.
If you think about it, Romney was the one who would have had the easier time getting into an Ivy League school. He had a governor dad who could write a check for his tuition. He didn't have to prove himself on his own merits, beyond his grades, to anyone.
I'm sure there are others who can relate. They either have or know recent college grads, or hire job applicants in their current positions.
I know for a fact courses and GPAs are verified. So do others.
In SOME fields that teach more technical material, and even then the transcripts only matter to get your foot in the door for your first job. After that it's all about work experience and job performance, unless you have to show proof of continuing education for your field.
Why do you think he needed to be an international student to have a "hook?" Admissions committees expect excellence in grades first, but look for really interesting kids as the deciding factor. I didn't attend an ivy league school, but I did do my undergrad at a very good school that requires an essay and interview, and I occasionally interview prospective students as an alum now. My "hook" in that process was being a ranchers kid from Nebraska and everything that goes with that, but talking about how my chance to spend a year abroad in high school had opened up the world for me, and how I could tie the two experiences together. Since not many rich kids have experience branding and roping calves or shooting rattlesnakes, and since I'd shown my interest in learning as much about the world as I could, they thought I'd be a good addition to the student body. Rich kids who pay full tuition are held to lesser standards. Kids who get scholarships (like me) had better bring something interesting to the table.
Obama wouldn't have to lie or forge anything to be interesting to an admissions committee, and he wouldn't even qualify as an international student under Columbia's current standards unless you think he forged his high school transcripts to make it look like he attended high school out of the country. Why would he need to do that? His real life history is way more interesting just as it is. He's an American biracial kid with a dad from Kenya who left the family when he was two. He was raised by a single white mom, and traveled back to a small village in Kenya to meet his Dad's family at the age of 10. He moved with his mom and step dad to Indonesia when he was in the first grade, and got to experience that culture until the 4th grade, when he returned to Hawaii to live with his very white, American grandparents from Kansas. His family is diverse, his experiences are incredibly diverse--the truth is more interesting than anything you could make up. I'm sure he was charming and interesting in the interview, and they were excited to get him as a student.
Why do you think there's no way a school wouldn't see that potential in him based on the truth? Why do you think that a man who graduated from college and law school with top honors had bad grades when he was younger? I don't get some of you at all. Why do you think every person of color has to cheat the system somehow to get ahead? It's sick.
Nice story. But it's just a story, nothing more. And this race card thing is absurd. Without the white people voting for Obama, he couldn't have been elected "Dog Catcher". The problems thinking Americans have with him is not his dark skin, but is dark past, and his lack of honesty and integrity.
As for the intelligence factor ... aside from his practiced ability to read a script, I don't find him particularly bright at all ... and not far removed from the previous buffoon occupying the White House, who was a graduate of the most prestigious Yale University. A cursory examination of those few episodes of teleprompter failure shows just what a bumbler he actually is, and I no longer question whether or not he means what he says ... as I no longer believe he even understands the words he reads off the screen. He's a third rate actor in the comedic B movie script that American politics has become.
The reality is, nothing that has been presented about Obama by Obama or the media appears to remotely resemble the truth, while a more honest investigation of his background reveals a number of significant issues explaining the secrecy and withholding of records.
As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words:
You might want to put down the book "Dreams of My Father" and pick up the one titled "Dreams of My Real Father", for a more accurate account of who your president actually is.
You might want to put down the book "Dreams of My Father" and pick up the one titled "Dreams of My Real Father", for a more accurate account of who your president actually is.
Ignoring that "Dreams of My Real Father" is a video and not a book, it appears to only be popular with the mentally defective members of "Jewelers for 9/11 Truth."
In response to GuyNTexas--what the h*ll? Where did that come from? What dark past do you think he has, outside of something you'd read on a birther website that some whacko pulled out of his ear? You people are NUTS. You get presented with fact after fact, and you just ignore it and go for some completely impossible and implausible conspiracy theory because you don't want to accept reality. No one is playing the race card--you people will ignore every fact presented to you because you can't accept having a black president. I didn't really think that was as widely held of a view until I started reading more of this birther stuff and it horrifies me. I'm ashamed of the republican party for tolerating it in any form. I may not agree with the president on a number of policy issues, and I may think that certain other politicians could do a better job as president, but I respect him as a person, and he deserves my respect.
Last edited by mb1547; 08-08-2012 at 12:44 PM..
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What dark past do you think he has, outside of something you'd read on a birther website that some whacko pulled out of his ear? You people are NUTS. You get presented with fact after fact, and you just ignore it and go for some completely impossible and implausible conspiracy theory because you don't want to accept reality. No one is playing the race card--you people will ignore every fact presented to you because you can't accept having a black president. I didn't really think that was as widely held of a view until I started reading more of this birther stuff and it horrifies me. I'm ashamed of the republican party for tolerating it in any form. I may not agree with the president on a number of policy issues, and I may think that certain other politicians could do a better job as president, but I respect him as a person, and he deserves my respect.
