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View Full Version : Is this also heartbreaking, or am I expecting too much?



cleller
10/10/2011, 07:26 PM
My brother has two daughters. One is a freshman in college. He is working overtime whenever he can to finance her college expenses. The other daughter is still in high school at one of the state's largest schools. She is a very high-achieving student. He's very hopeful her academic performance will translate in scholarships for her college expenses.
The HS girl recently was named to the school's National Merit Scholar's program. Two students from the program will receive some big scholarships, but not my niece. Additionally, two other students were added to the program, although they did not have qualifying scores. One is hispanic, one black. Because they were the highest scoring in their respective races, they were included despite their lower scores, and will receive scholarships.

Does this seem fair in 21st century USA? The excuse that the minority students must be disadvantaged just doesn't fly anymore. Just because you are not white does not mean you are disadvantaged. That's lame. They all go to the same schools, live in the same areas.

What it boils down to is this: You can receive scholarships two ways: high scores, or by having skin that is not white. That is disgusting and discriminatory.

yermom
10/10/2011, 07:30 PM
not having a penis usually helps too.


i'm not sure what the school has to do with National Merit Scholarships though. back in my day it was a national percentile thing, and OU pretty much fellates you if you are a finalist

soonercruiser
10/10/2011, 08:49 PM
"Spreading the Wealth" of Education!

With any luck, the ones who got the scholarships will be like some of the documented Wall Street Protesters....
A graduate of Columbia...out of work....with over $100,000 in students loans.
Their major - "Liberal Arts"! :stupid:
DUH!

But, then again, being a paid protester is probably taught in "Liberal Arts".
:stupid:

badger
10/11/2011, 02:13 PM
National Merit Scholars --- the key word is "merit," not need-based, not race-based, MERIT.

Therefore, I am raising an eyebrow at the suggestion that your niece did not have OU banging down their door if she was a National Merit Scholar, regardless of what state they live in. OU takes extreme-to-the-extreme pride in having the most merit scholars and there is no chance in hell they would overlook your niece, especially if they live in Oklahoma.

If she was just a finalist, perhaps they wouldn't be after her as much, but a scholar?! You'll get a kick arse scholarship that covers everything (if you're in-state) and a stipend to cover living expenses. Granted, you will not get enough to make your car payments (lol @ a scholar in one of my classes that complained about that, we all laughed out loud at her as a class, yes), but it's a pretty sweet deal.

Also, if your bro is a resident and his college daughter is attending an in-state public school, she should qualify for scholarships through the school. A few years ago, OU basically handed out money to offset the annual tuition increase to everyone that meets the guidelines, and about the only guideline is "apply for financial aid." I don't think that has changed. It was for everyone, not just the ones in financial straits, not just the minorities, EVERYone.

The biggest thing in the scholarship game is to actually apply for them. Go after every award you can, even if it's only worth more than a few hundred bucks. People offering scholarships don't come to you, you have to, you MUST go to them.

8timechamps
10/11/2011, 02:19 PM
I've always thought the acceptance of X percentage of [insert ethnicity] quota's were bologna! It's kinda like saying "sir, we know you need an emergency heart surgery, so we have Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith graduated from Columbia, so you're in good hands". What they don't tell you is that Dr. Smith graduated last in their class. White, black, Hispanic...I want the BEST. Ethnicity shouldn't matter one bit when it comes to academic scholarships.

badger
10/11/2011, 02:27 PM
I do feel bad when hearing about students getting denied opportunities over nothing they can control -- gender, ethnicity, the economic status of their parents --- but let me tell ya --- I was the dummy of the family. I might have had OK grades, but they were in easier classes than my sibling, who also had a 34 on the ACT test and was so much more capable of a student and now has the degrees to prove it.

Yet I was the one in the family that got all the awards and scholarships.

Was it because I was the chick, or was it because I was the one that actually filled out tons upon tons of paperwork to get eligible for the awards?

TUSooner
10/11/2011, 02:28 PM
not having a penis usually helps too.....

I dunno, an admissions officer at some I-forget-where-U in the Carolinas said "smart white girls are a dime-a-dozen" so you have to show something extraordinary to stand out for admission officers. I mean my daughter was a Natl Merit Scholar, straight-A valedictorian, with athletic and extracurricular goods, 31 ACT and corrresponding SATs, but lots of schools basically yawned because there are so many "smart white girls" who want to go to college. (My other smart white daughter said they should have claimed their mom's Iranian blood & name and said they were Muslims or something. In retrospect.... Oh, whatever.) There is NO DOUBT AT ALL that it helps your admissions chances if you can pad a school's diversity stats!
That said, thank God OU recognizes and appreciates its NM Scholars. If your neice really was a National Merit Scholar, OU would have come up with the goods.

Midtowner
10/11/2011, 02:30 PM
"Spreading the Wealth" of Education!

With any luck, the ones who got the scholarships will be like some of the documented Wall Street Protesters....
A graduate of Columbia...out of work....with over $100,000 in students loans.
Their major - "Liberal Arts"! :stupid:
DUH!

But, then again, being a paid protester is probably taught in "Liberal Arts".
:stupid:

I'm doing fairly well with my liberal arts degree.

TUSooner
10/11/2011, 02:39 PM
I just wanna add that I am deeeelighted not to have to go through the college admissions grind ever agin (I hope). It's a scam and a racket and a ripoff and a world of illusions and delsuions at every turn, and colleges know it. The memory of it makes me cringe.

I'd tell somebody to join the military and then do college. If you do it right, you'll have a bit of cachet, but mostly you'll have maturity, perspective, and a financial foundation that far surpasses that of the average snooty prep-schooler.

TUSooner
10/11/2011, 02:41 PM
Can cruiser say ANYTHING, that's not flat-out stupid and irrelevant political dog vomit?

The answer to that is "NO" by the way.

badger
10/11/2011, 03:01 PM
Real live "smart white girl" here.

It is kind of ironic that from an early age teachers and parents and just adults in general expect the girls to be the good students the good kids and the high achievers, then somewhere along the way, the responsibility and expectations shift back to the boys to be the primary breadwinners, the doctors, the scientists, the CEOs, the elected officials, the money-making professional athletes (and their highly paid coaches and sports team owners).

I hope that the lesson we impart to every student is that the expectations are high on them all and to not expect free rides anywhere, even if everyone else around you seems to have it much easier for whatever reason. If it doesn't work out or you find yourself getting shortchanged, find a way to better yourself rather than a way to blame others.

SouthCarolinaSooner
10/11/2011, 03:44 PM
I'm doing fairly well with my liberal arts degree.
A well rounded education is for fools

NormanPride
10/11/2011, 03:46 PM
Is a law degree considered liberal arts? Because there's kind of a big difference.

Midtowner
10/11/2011, 03:52 PM
Is a law degree considered liberal arts? Because there's kind of a big difference.

It got me into law school, didn't it?

NormanPride
10/11/2011, 04:01 PM
Well, so do a lot of different degrees, yes? :D I think the point was that a plain old liberal arts degree isn't much on the money making.

Midtowner
10/11/2011, 04:23 PM
Well, so do a lot of different degrees, yes? :D I think the point was that a plain old liberal arts degree isn't much on the money making.

Lots of folks do fine with 'em. Lots of folks like me use them as a prereq for grad school. It's actually a pretty good sort of degree to get if you're going to law school as really, pre-law probably loses you points, and if you're like me, and got a minor in Sigma Nu, then liberal arts is the way to go.

I'll agree that if you major in sociology with no plans to get a PhD, you are wasting your money and time in college.

NormanPride
10/11/2011, 04:27 PM
Yeah, I think that was the idea. That most who get those degrees (and don't want higher education afterward) are either really going for the MRS, or have no idea what they want to do and will be a burden on society for decades. ;)