Rescinded from Harvard... Now What????
As many of you know, Harvard recently rescinded the acceptances of at least 10 students (I think the number is 12) for obscene memes in a Facebook group chat.
Unfortunately, I was one of was those students.
My initial response was to blame Harvard, the founders of the offensive group chat, and the original posters who prompted me to post for what happened. Now I realize that I must take full responsibility for my actions if I wish to turn my life around. Was Harvard in line for rescinding my acceptance? I don't know. I wish it didn't happen the way it did, but what's done is done.
I've wanted a career in investment banking for years now, but I'm afraid this bump in the road may hinder my future chances of landing an offer. Luckily, Harvard has kept the individual students anonymous, but I'm afraid I might have to disclose this on my future college applications.
Since I was accepted to Harvard early action (as an athlete), I didn't apply to any other schools, and have had no backup college to enroll in for the next year.
So my question is - should I enroll in a community college for a semester, then try to transfer to another target second semester, or I should take an internship to make this look like a positive gap year I took to "find my passion" that cold bolster my resume.
Any ideas?
Mod Note (Andy): One of the posts of 2017 that have the most views .
Work for a year, then go another good school. Oxford/Cambridge/LSE all expect gap years. Keep up with your sport if possible. You could even join the Reserves / Air National Guard (3 to 12 months training, depending on job) and then reapply to Harvard. Write about it the perspective you got on the essay, etc, etc. Don't tell other schools. To them, it's a gap year. This could easily be a blessing in disguise. Do something mildly selfless. Peace corps or inner city youth counseling.
If Harvard blackballed you with other Ivy institutions (you'll know if you get rejected from the 7 others). Then, you should just sue the fuck out of them. You have a case (especially with early action). I actually feel bad for you. Schools are too PC these days.
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If this is actually you then I can't believe you got your offer rescinded for that lol. Look at any high school/college group chat in the world and you'll see things ten times worse
Just look up "Harvard memes" and you'll find it
Moral of the story: spending too much time on /b/ rots your brain and warps your sense of normalcy
This person posted memes making fun of children being raped and using slurs against minorities.
In real life an adult doing stuff like that would have been fired and probably not allow around children.
Harvard did the right thing. Sane people do not find the rape of chid or abusing people because of their race funny.
Wow...
started from the TOP now we're here
US colleges are turning into a joke
check out evergreen state college, the campus has descended into total anarchy because some white professor wouldn't leave the campus against his will because of some "day of absence" thing haha it is completely insane
there are a lot of other crazy examples too, look up campus reform they cover a lot of it
You could probably get a free ride at the Kekistan Institute of Technology.
Lets see what the top minds on WSO have to say thebrofessor DickFuld FratLord @TNA" IlliniProgrammer
I think I am getting trolled here. How does a new user know any of these bozos gives good advice? WTF is someone who got kicked out of Harvard doing on social media for that matter? I thought you people were supposed to be smart.
This is obviously a very tricky question with advice best not requested in public nor posted in public.
In all seriousness to the kids who got kicked out, find something to do for the next year. Hang gliding, motorcycle racing, something FUN that you won't be able to do when you are working full time or retired. Come up with a cool and exciting story for how you spent a year. Make yourself a cooler and more interesting 19 year old than your 18 year old self.
As a gay guy who did highschool swimming, I'd like to think I could offer a lot of witty commentary here about what karma would look like for the different parties involved, but as I grow older and wiser I've learned it's best to STFU in public on a messy subject like this. I'm also not going to try not to render any opinions on this whole situation in public, as obnoxiously opinionated as I can be.
Bottom line: that Existential philosophy stuff you thought was useless BS in senior year humanities? You get to go from studying it to living it now. Find something fun and exciting to do for a year-- become the person you want to be, that makes you happy.
This isn't a punishment. It's an opportunity. Now find something fun to do.
OK so you were able to get Kaplan tutoring in high-school, a motorcycle and were able to hang-glide. Why don't rub it in more? I know all you Urban kiddies have a hard time understanding what it's like living under the line and getting your hands dirty but quit suggesting us to "live our lives" while we go out and work our 6 hours after school to put food on the table. Now I have a whopping 20k but cant spend it on any of the fucker activities you recommend. I have to pay for a shit school for a shit education for a shit life, see the perpetuity? Idk if they taught you that in UChicago.
@thebrofessor" "be sensible and start investing early and often and invest with a broker when you get more serious coin." (He actually gives good advice, so disregard him)
DickFuld. "I'm a pretend CEO. Drink Bombay Sapphire. Go fuck yourself."
FratLord. Generally talk shit to people: "join a rape club and get shitfaced. That Attack_Chihuahua guy is a GDI fairy."
@TNA" "Trump is a god. Build the wall. Get an MSF. 'Nova rocks"
IlliniProgrammer "go hang gliding and pretend you're poor. You're good at sales? Have you considered a computer science or engineering degree from some random state school? U of I is clearly superior to Harvard or especially Yale."
lol, you pasted quotes from people and included yourself.... hahaha
Go work somewhere for a year, do the peace corps, whatever, and reapply to other top schools. If you got into Harvard, you will get into the other Ivy's. I'd scrub your name from the internet as well.
Sucks. A pain in the ass. But not life destroying.
He INNOVATED the meme space but Harvard DISRUPTED his LIFE TRAJECTORY. That's MESSED UP.
Sue the fuck out of Harvard
I'm an intolerant, politically incorrect right-wing extremist and even I think you guys should have had your offers rescinded. Jesus Christ, what unbelievable garbage you guys spewed...
With that said, I don't judge you because when I was 18 I was a complete and utter moron. Actually, I was incomprehensibly stupid and mentally and emotionally immature. In retrospect, I SHOULD have taken a gap year. A gap year will be the best thing in the world for you. Take that year, learn your lessons, grow up a little bit, re-apply to another great school and then thank God that your IQ is off the charts. You'll get into another great school and probably get really high grades with little effort and you'll obtain a fantastic job after school.
I don't agree with suing Harvard. You'll definitely ensure your name gets into the public record at that point.
Don't sue, you will never be able to outspend HYPS on legal. Not sure what idiots are writing here.
Search "Harvard Memes" on Google and see the memes they posted. No one should feel bad for this guy, you completely deserved to get your offer rescinded. However, I will say that the people who snitched are a bunch of pussies
They were livid.
A few days after the group chat got really heated, I recieved an email from the admission committee asking me to submit every photo I posted in the FB group.
In my mind, I figured that if I didn't send the pictures I submitted and some snitch were to tell Harvard, I could get in trouble for dishonesty. I was like heck, if I discolse these photos, they'll atleast understand that I'm not trying to hide anything. So I emailed them back. All the while, my parents had no clue.
Four days later I recieved an email informing me that my admission status was under review, and that I couldn't attend Visitas. I already couldn't attend due to other circumstances, so my parents still didn't know, but I started to freak out.
About a week later I was informed by email that my offer of admision had been revoked. I felt like my whole world had been shattered.
I couldn't bring myself to tell my parents, but the next morning, it was all over the news, and as soon as my parents brought it up, I fell apart. At first they thought I was joking, but after about 10 seconds, they knew it was for real.
They had already purchased me some very nice gifts (I don't want to say to remain anonymous), and immediately returned all of them. Since most of my family were alumni, it was especially devastating. They said I was a disappointment (I somewhat agree).
Anyway, I'm just tying to move on now, and turn this failure into a positive. I appreciate all of the advice you have all given me.
Regards
make sure you post lots of memes about how much you hate white people next year. That will show that you've reformed from your thoughtcrime and now love Big Brother and the party.
The thing is, if you were in a group titled "Fuck the US military", "All white men are rapists" or similar, you'd probably get a diversity scholarship. Organized academia nowadays is really just becoming a scam. Really hope one day CFA Institute comes out with a Level Zero phase for lack of better terms so you could bypass undergrad entirely but still get a financial education.
OK, whatever people may say about whether Harvard was in the right, what you did was wrong. Everyone has different experiences, including trauma and poverty, and the kinds of memes posted would have deeply hurt some of your peers.
If you were an intern and you posted similar stuff in a "Morgan Stanley Edgy Memes Group", you would be fired immediately.
To echo what some other posters have said, the best thing you can do is to better understand the communities you had no trouble marginalizing. If you want to be pragmatic, workplaces are getting less tolerant of employees making others feel harassed. Don't do volunteering overseas (rich man coming over to save the poor third world people), stay local. Work with people who have nothing, helping them to get medical help, SSNs, language help, legal aid. Volunteer in prisons or shelters or psychiatric facilities. Do it for at least a few months to build relationships. It will be hard and confronting, but given that you thought it was OK to participate in that group, something like this will help you professionally and personally.
Apply to other universities next year (which you didn't apply to this year). Don't disclose what happened with Harvard. If they ask why you took time off, say that you realized you were very privileged and thought it was important to give back before starting college.
If you are smart enough, you know why Harvard HAD TO rescind OP:
Imagine being a Mexican American kid. You were very excited to be admitted to Harvard and you couldn't wait to meet with your peers. Then you joined this group chat and saw that people in the group would love to hear that you hang yourself one day (one of the memes). You sent the screenshots to Harvard, telling them you could not image how your time at Harvard would be like with these people around. Not to mention that if you happen to be the first one in your family to go to college, what would the admission officers feel when they see this? Guilty and possibly regretful.
What do you think was going to happen if Harvard didn't rescind people from this group chat?
The screenshots would show up in major news in THIS PARTICULAR YEAR like they did and people would relate Harvard to the current political climate.
Minority students could protest on campus.
Harvard rescinded OP not just to punish him. Harvard wouldn't admit people like him in the first place.
Also, just a friendly reminder: Most people under this post can imagine themselves in the position of OP. Very few put themselves in the shoes of a Mexican American kid who was unfortunate enough to see the group chat. To you this may be just about being politically correct, to minority students this is about justice.
Bhahahahahahahhaha -Me, a black guy
Nope. I am an Asian girl. Loser
love those memes!