Pulled up from inside two other threads, this has now become topical insofar as current events have shone a spotlight on how the rich and powerful get their kids into college.
1. How does somebody like Kushner get into Harvard without good grades or SAT scores?
‘Tis a mystery to his high school teachers, but not to us. Unlike the Lori Loughlin scheme, the Kushner path was perfectly legal.
The New Yorker joshed about Jared’s Harvard Admissions Essay
2. OK, I get how they get in, but how does somebody undeserving manage to survive in such a grueling academic environment?
It’s much easier than it used to be, thanks to grade inflation based on the Oprah method of distribution: “YOU get an A, and YOU get an A. Everybody gets an A.” The most common grade at Harvard is A. The average is A-. Read this next sentence carefully. It is possible to graduate cum laude and be in the 9th percentile of the class. That’s right, today’s cum laude is the rough equivalent of a 2.1 GPA in my college era. In other words, guys like Kushner can get through Harvard near the very bottom of the class – and still graduate cum laude!
Now do David Hogg👏👏👏
A high GPA and pretty good extracurricular’s look good on an application.
Well, he did have an A+ average and scored in the 85th percentile in his SATs, so he obviously wasn’t a charity case, even though those qualifications alone would not have gained him admission without his reputation as the leader of a nationwide movement. Harvard, more than any other school, looks to admit future leaders, even though they might not be the very smartest guys who apply.
I recall when Natalie Portman appeared on Letterman years ago and pointed out the rampant grade inflation at Harvard.