Student with 2 published books, 4.2 GPA and 1560 SAT score rejected by Harvard, MIT, Yale and Prince

Student with 2 published books, 4.2 GPA and 1560 SAT score rejected by Harvard, MIT, Yale and Princeton

https://www.yahoo.com/news/student-2-published-books-4-182005756.html

TikTok user Limmy (@Limmytalks), who posts reviews of college applications on his account, highlighted the case of the alleged overachieving male student in a recent series of posts.

 

Assuming it's true!

Everybody and their mom has a story on TikTok.

 

The student, Hamza Alsamree, has a page here: https://hamzaalsamraee.com/ I saw a lot of interesting things here - e.g. his books - but nothing about the rejections etc. He did say he's on a gap year from his studies at Stanford - and what he's doing in that time. I was impressed by Hamza - but not by "Limmy from Tik-Tok." Hamza has, I think, way more cred. than "Limmy" -- and likely a far better GPA, too. And how many books has "Limmy" published?

 

Has it come to this for journalists and or journalism?

1. Watch TikTok video
2. Write an article or story around said video
3. Media gets an article and TikToker gets more views - possibly more subscribers.

 

Well he is Asian, might he just thrown in mixed with Native American or Latinos...he'll in.

 

If true, this just highlights that what you do isn't as important as how you sell yourself in your application. IIRC, admissions people usually spend maybe 2 or 3 minutes, if that, reviewing each application. If he didn't highlight his achievements so that they can be absorbed within 60 seconds of picking up his application, I'm not surprised he got rejected.

 

I could be wrong but I believe these undergrad programs that receive tens of thousands of applicants have those applications go through (3) admissions team members before a decision is rendered. I feel like I had read that regarding UC Berkeley because they receive somewhere north of 60,000 applications each year.

 

Very impressive. His two books were self-published I note (which probably discounted their importance to the Adcom.) If you eliminate that part, there are lots of kids with 4.0+ GPAs and 1560 SAT scores getting rejected from the Ivies just on the basis of how many students come in with strong academics.

 

And settling for Stanford instead is pretty great, I'd think. Not everyone can do that, by a l-o-n-g shot.

 

His name is Arabic so, yes, technically, Asian origin. .... But what does your comment mean? I just don't get the significance. What does it have to do with .... anything?

 

I have not explored this area at all so I can't be certain it's true, but there is a claim that Asian students who are allegedly overrepresented in Ivy League schools, are penalized compared to students from other ethnicities. So if the student who was Asian had claimed a different ethnicity they may have been more likely to be admitted. Again, no idea if this is realistic or not but the same belief is pervasive among some Canadians who think claiming to be Black or Aboriginal will increase their chances for education, employment, etc.

 

My comment is reference to what Dustin's response. But here is also what was in the media.

 

Interestingly with that specific example, he only ever applied to medical school once, identifying as a Black applicant: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidnoriega/the-problems-with-mindy-kalings-brothers-med-school-hoax

He never actually attempted to get into medical school with his correct details, therefore it's impossible to know whether he would have been accepted had he not lied.

 

I think maybe, as far as claiming to be First Nations is concerned, it's a money thing. Many people believe that all First Nations people get higher education free. Here's one article that says they don't.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/debunking-the-myth-that-all-first-nations-people-receive-free-post-secondary-education-1.3414183#:~:text=It's one of the commonly,This is not true.

I like to think that here, people of all ethnicities have to work hard to attain a good level of education -and to climb the job ladder after that. No breaks because of race, etc. And no added penalty - I hope. I'm not blind - I know racism and discrimination are still the favourite sports of low mentalities in Canada, despite what's said to the contrary,

I don't think any group really gets an easier ride here --- but fakers gonna fake, I guess.

 

When I was in college for my SSW diploma one of my classmates was a member of an indigenous community with status, and clarified this for us. Richer communities often can afford to sponsor their residents but many poorer communities can't. Of course, we know there are many First Nations communities where residents have no running water or access to services. Shameful for a developed country like Canada.

On the subject of some groups getting an easier ride, I think that when you add any potential government benefits and subtract the racism, structural inequality, and generational trauma that affects many racialized communities (I'm still behind the curve on the change from the term visible minority) you come out even at best.

 

THAT TOO. LOL.