A high school senior who wrote an open letter to the Ivy League universities that rejected her has sparked a firestorm of anger, with readers accusing her of being 'entitled', 'whiny' and even racist.
But others have praised Suzy Lee Weiss, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the honesty and 'accuracy' of her article, which appeared in theWall Street Journal on Friday.
She said she wrote the piece after she was rejected from a string of schools in one day.
Despite the teenager's 4.5 GPA, an SAT score of 2120 and work experience as a U.S. Senate page, she was shunned by Princeton, Yale, Vanderbilt and the University of Pennsylvania.
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Controversial: Suzy Lee Weiss, pictured on the Today show, wrote an open letter to colleges that rejected her, saying she believed she did not get in because she was not 'diverse' enough
In her article she blamed not getting into the schools on the fact that she was not 'diverse' enough, and she even accused her parents of giving up on her because she is the last of four children.
She started out with an attack on diversity, suggesting that her white skin, business-owner parents and good education worked against her in the application process.
'What could I have done differently over the past years?' she wrote. 'For starters, had I known two years ago what I know now, I would have gladly worn a headdress to school. Show me to any closet, and I would've happily come out of it.'
She added she regrets not going to summer camps in Africa where she could 'scoop up some suffering child, take a few pictures, and write my essays about how spending that afternoon with Kinto changed my life.
Cause: Her article appeared on the Wall Street Journal and has sparked mixed reactions
Of her parents she added: 'As the youngest of four daughters, I noticed long ago that my parents gave up on parenting me.
'My parents also left me with a dearth of hobbies that make admissions committees salivate. I've never sat down at a piano, never plucked a violin.'
The article outraged many, who accused her of being entitled, self-indulgent and even racist.
'Entitled little brat,' one Twitter user said, as another said: 'Choking on the petulant privilege of Suzy Lee Weiss & hoping she matures out of her ignorance rather than being bolstered by a book deal.'
Another directed a message to Weiss, saying: 'Your letter reveals your republican homophobic leanings and hatred of others not exactly like you. Grow up.'
Shock: Readers accused her of being entitled, whiny and racist after she said she was not diverse enough
Fans: But others said that the article was 'brutally accurate' and praised Weiss for her courage
'WE WERE LIED TO': SNIPPETS OF SUZY'S SARCASTIC LETTER
'For starters, had I known two years ago what I know now, I would have gladly worn a headdress to school. Show me to any closet, and I would've happily come out of it. I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker.
'I also probably should have started a fake charity... Raising awareness for Chapped-Lips-in-the-Winter Syndrome. As long as you're using someone else's misfortunes to try to propel yourself into the Ivy League, you're golden.
'As the youngest of four daughters, I noticed long ago that my parents gave up on parenting me. My parents also left me with a dearth of hobbies that make admissions committees salivate.
'I should've done what I knew was best - go to Africa, scoop up some suffering child, take a few pictures, and write my essays about how spending that afternoon with Kinto changed my life.'
But others applauded her outspoken rant, saying she was simply telling the truth about tough application processes, while some noted that the piece was simply sarcastic and fun.
On Twitter, one reader noted she 'makes brutally accurate assessments of college admissions,' while another added: 'Saying what you feel is not always easy or popular! She is going places!'
'It was a joke,' Weiss insisted on Todayon Thursday. 'It's a satire. That's the point. Just like '30 Rock' is a satire, which pokes fun at things that are politically correct. That's what I was trying to do.'
She said that before writing the letter she had been crying to her mother, who complained she had heard too much moaning and told her to speak to someone else.
She called her sister, a former assistant editor of the Op-Ed section at the Wall Street Journal, who said she should write about her feelings, leading to the article.
In turn, the article has led to offers of jobs and internship, Weiss said.
She added that while diversity is 'wonderful', universities do need to change their attitudes.
'In this day and age, we’re being judged on things that we cannot control as opposed to things that we can,' she told Today.com.
Good student: Weiss, left with a relative and right, has top grades and has worked as a U.S. Senate page
'Didn't do enough': She blames her parents (pictured) for her failure to make the colleges, saying they gave up on her because she was the fourth child and did not encourage her to take music lessons
Where next? She attends Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, pictured, and has been rejected from Princeton, Yale, Vanderbilt and the University of Pennsylvania
After being so critical of people who carried out volunteer work and accusing them of being insincere, she said that she knows not everyone does it for their resume.
'I've done a ton of volunteer work, and let me tell you, it wasn't just to get into college,' she said. 'But I do think there's a lot of resume padding going on right now, just to get into these amazing schools.'
She said that, for the most part, people had been really positive to her about the article.
'Everyone my age, whether they wanted to get into Penn state their whole lives or Harvard is agreeing with me that it's just a rat race nowadays and it’s such a business model as opposed to who's most qualified should get in,' she said. 'It's a crapshoot and I understand that.'
To see more of her interview from the Today Show click here
"'Didn't do enough': She blames her parents (pictured) for her failure to make the colleges, saying they gave up on her because she was the fourth child and did not encourage her to take music lessons"
I can see the 4th kid feeling a heavy pressure from what their older siblings did. I know my brother who has 3 older sisters did. I have to admit I have nofucking clue what gets someone into an Ivy League school if a 4.5 GPA and a 2 million SAT score can't.
Also I am like "I didn't even earn a scholarship to a state university" smart and even I know you need to do a lot of shit to get into an Ivy school. WTF dummy
I also love how she's complaining about her lack of opportunity to do internships because she's not related to someone important, but she's related to an editor at the WSJ and was a US Senate page.
WTF and she's bitching? Cal is incredibly hard to get into in-state, never mind out of state. It is probably just as hard as Harvard which like Harvard applying and getting into Cal is a crap shoot.
Post by PinkSquirrel on Apr 5, 2013 15:07:28 GMT -5
Where I went to high school the honors kids were on a 5.0 GPA scale, so a 4.5 meant you got the same grades as someone with a 3.5, but you took honors classes. Also, her SAT scores don't seem that great either. 2120/2400 percentage wise would be like getting a 1400 out of the 1600 that was the max when I was in high school. No one thought a 1400 was good enough to secure you a spot in an Ivy back then, so why on earth would a 2120 be good enough now. Is it a great score, sure, but it's not Ivy material.
She's an obnoxious entitled little shit that doesn't get that even if you take away everyone's extracurricular, she's just doesn't have the grades/scores to compete for an Ivy league spot.
Well thank God DS has been in violin for the last year. Glad to know I can stop saving for college since Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the like with throw scholarship money at him since he had music lessons.
She needs to just sat her ass down and be quiet. Sssshh Suzy!
Right. In my Big Momma voice - Gone over there SAT DOWN and SHUT UP. 'Round here embarrassin' family and what not with this foolishness. Act like you got some dayum sense girl."
Every couple years, I get 1 or 2 kids who go to Ivy. They're extraordinary kids. They're not rat-racing, resume-padding fakers who fake. You don't make yourself equal to your peers / competitors by cutting them down, which is what all her bitching attempts to do.
She validated my opinion of her as entitled, and the only thing extraordinary about her is her bitter spite.
Yeah, unless she is valedictorian and on a varsity sport, I don't see why Yale or Princeton should have taken her.
The valedictorian of my high school class got wait listed at Harvard. Blah, blah, life moves on, she went to an awesomely awesome west coast school and then got a PhD, and is doing a post doc in Australia. Life's hard. Her then-boyfriend was ALSO valedictorian of his class, but he was captain of his crew team, and was scouted by Yale. Lucky him. Sounds like this girl wasn't good enough. Sorry!
Well thank God DS has been in violin for the last year. Glad to know I can stop saving for college since Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the like with throw scholarship money at him since he had music lessons.