Friday, April 1, 2011

Tiger Cub Going to Harvard

You knew it was going to happen. I’m sure you wanted to hear it here first. But the daughter of the Tiger Mom, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, has been accepted at Harvard. And she has chosen to attend.

Is it vindication for the Tiger Mom? Does it tell us anything more about her parenting techniques? Or is it all about genes and legacies?

The Above the Law blog is on top of the story. Link here. In its view, Sophia, the Tiger Cub, was an exceptionally good candidate.

[Addendum: If you read the comments to this post, you will see that Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld has kindly corrected the record: she has been accepted into Harvard, but has not yet decided whether she will attend. I regret having presented misinformation. Since she now has her own blog, that seems to me to be a great source for accurate information about her future plans.]

7 comments:

Tiger Moms Network said...

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld Admitted by Harvard, proving wrong most American parents' point that Tiger Cubs under Tiger Mom's discipline and hard work only have proficiency without critical thinking and creativity.

http://blog.tigermoms.net/2011/03/sophia-chua-rubenfeld-admitted-by.html

Soviet of Washington said...

Even in the old days when daughter was applying (2006 ~10% acceptance), HYPSM (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT) could have filled their classes almost completely with HS valedictorians.

I'm sure Ms. Chua-Rubenfeld is as smart and talented as claimed, but the HYPSM applicant pool is loaded with such kids. Being the child of TWO legacies, who also teach at the Law School of another HYPSM school, and with one on the NYTimes best-seller list makes the difference between getting in and getting a rejection. So does being the child of a national politician (Clinton, Bush, Obama [soon]) or Daddy and Mummy being able to donate a building.

To assume that this admission provides anything other than anecdotal support for the Tiger Mom claim is silly. Read Chuck Hughes' "What it really takes to get into the Ivy League" or Michelle Hernandez "A for Admission" for a more complete take on the Ivy admission process.

Soviet of Washington said...

Also, TMN's full of it if they think the college admission process anywhere measures anything so non-quantifiable as critical thinking and creativity.

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld said...

Hi Mr. Schneiderman,

Thank you for your post! I've enjoyed your thoughtful coverage of the tiger mother controversy for a few months now.
Just to clarify, I have not officially chosen to attend Harvard next year -- people are jumping to conclusions! I've started a blog of my own, where I clear up some misconceptions about my college situation: http://tigersophia.blogspot.com/

All the best,
Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld

Stuart Schneiderman said...

Thank you, Sophia, for the kind words about the blog and for providing us with more accurate information.

Allow me to congratulate you on your great successes and to wish you all the best for the future.

And, good luck with your own blog!

JP said...

SOW says:

"Even in the old days when daughter was applying (2006 ~10% acceptance), HYPSM (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT) could have filled their classes almost completely with HS valedictorians."

I was a HS valedictorian and got waitlisted at Princeton and accepted at Dartmouth.

What was the difference between these two schools for me? I really hit it off with the Dartmouth interviewer and thought the Princeton interviewer was a jerk.

I ultimately went to a state school who would pay me to attend class. I eventually ended up at Duke Law (who was willing to pay for a year of tuition for me) where I proceeded to skip most of Amy Chua's classes do to my near complete apathy for law coupled with me being burnt out.

I don't think there's a moral to this story.

I will say that I found Amy Chua to be a rather nice person. But that's based on me going to a party at her house in NC rather than me actually interacting with her in class.

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