American Idol Meets Harvard
Bill McGurn ·
Apr 15, 2011 at 12:52pm
You can see right away why Harvard let her in, with charm like this:
When high school senior Grace E. Oberhofer found out she was waitlisted two weeks ago, she did what we all wished we had the guts to do in order to give her application a boost: she wrote a song to Harvard and posted it on YouTube.
In a video appropriately titled "Dear Harvard," which has reached more than 5,000 views in five days, Oberhofer, clad in a Harvard beanie and Harry Potter glasses, plays the piano and sings about classic Harvardisms, from the Russian Bells to Primal Scream.
"On John Harvard's statue I'd never pee/Harvard I utter my primal scream," Oberhofer promises. "Let me in to your community/Harvard please admit/Me!"
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Comments :
Apr '11
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
That anyone would put that much effort into getting into a particular university rather than anything marginally productive encapsulates why this nation is rapidly falling into the abyss.
Aug '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
There are three lies in this YouTube video:
Lie #1: It is not from Grace Oberhofer
Lie #2: Grace Oberhofer was not an applicant to Harvard
Lie #3: Grace Oberhofer was not applying for the class of 2016.
May '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
Too good to check. But it does bring to mind a Tom Lehrer tune. Fight fiercely, Harvard! Dana Vachon should sing this accompanied by Steyn in the piano bar on an NR cruise...
Sep '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
The overly-complicated song and the melody line that sounds like it was written by someone who wants people to hate music, and that voice. Yikes! Perfect for Harvard.
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
anon_academic: There are three lies in this YouTube video:
Lie #1: It is not from Grace Oberhofer
Lie #2: Grace Oberhofer was not an applicant to Harvard
Lie #3: Grace Oberhofer was not applying for the class of 2016. · Apr 15 at 1:23pm
According to the Harvard Crimson newspaper, where Bill got the story, all of these statements are accurate. What are you talking about, anon?
Jun '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
There's some strange things going on at the "U of Illinois of the East", I'd say.
May '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
I think she's charming. Give her the diploma, already!
Aug '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
It's a Harvard in-joke. If you spend more than five minutes in Harvard Yard you'll overhear a tour guide talking about "the statue of three lies." The actual spiel goes like this:
This is the statue of the three lies,
Lie #1. That is not John Harvard
Lie #2. John Harvard did not found Harvard
Lie #3. Harvard was not founded in 1638
Edited on Apr 15, 2011 at 3:06pmRe: American Idol Meets Harvard
anon_academic
It's a Harvard in-joke. If you spend more than five minutes in Harvard Yard you'll overhear a tour guide talking about "the statue of three lies." The actual spiel goes like this:
This is the statue of the three lies,
Lie #1. That is not John Harvard
Lie #2. John Harvard did not found Harvard
Lie #3. Harvard was not founded in 1638 · Apr 15 at 3:02pm
Edited on Apr 15 at 03:06 pm
Ah, thank you for the explanation! I'm not well versed in Harvard lore.
May '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Ah, thank you for the explanation! I'm not well versed in Harvard lore. · Apr 15 at 3:24pm
Dartmouth snob! It was too good to check, but nice to know Bill didn't get snookered/snooker us, like that kid who wanted to be governor of New Jersey vid.
Harvard is, of course, the Vanderbilt of the North.
Edited on Apr 15, 2011 at 4:16pmRe: American Idol Meets Harvard
Kennedy Smith
Harvard is, of course, the Vanderbilt of the North. · Apr 15 at 4:14pm
Edited on Apr 15 at 04:16 pm
Ha ha. We were fond of saying Princeton is the Davidson of the North....
Jul '10
Re: American Idol Meets Harvard
Kennedy Smith
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Ah, thank you for the explanation! I'm not well versed in Harvard lore. · Apr 15 at 3:24pm
Dartmouth snob! It was too good to check, but nice to know Bill didn't get snookered/snooker us, like that kid who wanted to be governor of New Jersey vid.
Harvard is, of course, the Vanderbilt of the North. · Apr 15 at 4:14pm
Edited on Apr 15 at 04:16 pm
Reminds me of a story. My Russian-born wife made the acquaintance of a very unpleasant doctor of Palestinian origin, who was quite full of himself.
When she informed him that she had been accepted into dental programs at Harvard, Columbia and Penn, he retorted that his sons had been accepted at Vanderbilt, the "Ivy League of the South".