Not Getting into Harvard

My brother Keith sent me a link to a New York Times article titled Young, Gifted, and Not Getting Into Harvard by Michael Winerip. Winerip is a Harvard alumnus who interviews students applying to his alma mater. He realizes that the highly qualified applicants will probably not be accepted. Moreover, he accepts that his own kids will not be going to Harvard. Perhaps he can accept this because he knows (based on his interview experience) that so many excellent students are also not going there.

It good to read an article about how not getting into Harvard (or any other elite school) is not the end of the world. I doubt it will stop the flood of students trying to do so. Elite schools are elite because everyone wants to go there and have that awe-inspiring credential.

My brother and I both have had numerous experiences of mentioning our alma maters (his is California-San Diego and mine is Florida; both of us went to Georgia Tech as undergrads) and not getting the kind of reaction that folks from Cal-Berkeley and Michigan and MIT get. But I suppose that is simply envy. Thanks to our parents and other gifts that God gave us, he and I and my siblings have had opportunities that many others have not. Not getting into Harvard is not the end of the world.