A TEENAGER GOT ACCEPTED TO STANFORD UNIVERSITY AFTER HIS
APPLICATION INCLUDED ONE ANSWER, TO THE QUESTION, WHAT
MATTERS TO YOU AND WHY?
AND ALL HE DID WAS ANSWER, BLACK LIVES MATTER, WITH THE HASH
TAG, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
AND HE GOT INTO STANFORD.
THIS IS THE REASON WHY, HE ACTUALLY HAD A REALLY
IMPRESSIVE APPLICATION, BUT LET'S SHOW YOU HOW EXACTLY
ANSWERED THE APPLICATION.
GRAPHIC NUMBER 8.
THIS IS ZIAD AHMED.
HE IS A MUSLIM WHO FEELS THAT IT IS IMPORTANT FOR MUSLIMS TO
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH BLACK LIVES MATTER AND OTHER
DISENFRANCHISED PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES.
HE'S DONE A LOT OF IMPRESSIVE THINGS, BUT ANYWAY, THIS PART OF
HIS APPLICATION WENT VIRAL, HE TWEETED ABOUT IT AND I'M SURE HE
GOT A LOT OF HEAT, BECAUSE PEOPLE PROBABLY THOUGHT THAT'S
ALL HE DID AND SOME LIBERAL UNIVERSITY ACCEPTS HIM.
BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE OTHER STUFF, I HAVE TO CONFESS
THAT THAT WAS MY INITIAL REACTION.
THAT IS UNDERSTANDABLE, BECAUSE AT FIRST I THOUGHT THAT WAS HIS
ANSWER TO THE ESSAY QUESTION, AND I GOT REAL SALTY.
I KNOW, I KNOW, BUT THAT'S THE PROBLEM SOMETIMES WITH THE
MEDIA.
HE PUT IT OUT ON A TWEET, BUT YOU KNOW, RIGHT-WING, AND NOT
JUST RIGHT-WING, BUT OTHER MEDIA PICKED IT UP AND WERE LIKE,
OH MY GOD HE JUST WRITES BLACK LIVES MATTER AND HE GETS
ACCEPTED INTO STANFORD.
BUT IT WASN'T HIS ANSWER, AND I DID GET MAD BECAUSE I
THOUGHT IT WAS.
I REMEMBER IN ELEMENT TO SCHOOL I HAD DONE SOMETHING WRONG AT
THE LIBRARY AND THE TEACHER THERE WANTED ME TO WRITE 100
WORDS ON WHY I WAS SORRY, SO I WROTE I AM VERY, 96 TIMES, AND
SORRY THE 100TH TIME.
SHE SAID, YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY?
AND SHE PUT IT IN AN ENVELOPE, SEND IT TO MY DAD AND I GOT A
WHOPPING.
SO I WAS THINKING, HE GETS INTO STANFORD AND I GOT A WHOPPING.
BUT TURNS OUT THAT'S NOT THE WHOLE STORY.
HE IS ONLY 18
YEARS OLD, HE'S DONE SOME PRETTY IMPRESSIVE THINGS.
WITH REGARDS TO GETTING ADMITTED TO STANFORD, HE SAID HE DID
NOT THINK HE WOULD GET ADMITTED AT ALL, BUT THAT IS
REFRESHING THAT THEY WOULD VIEW HIS UNAPOLOGETIC ACTIVISM
AS AN ASSET RATHER THAN A LIABILITY.
HE ALSO GOT ACCEPTED TO SOME BIG SCHOOLS LIKE PRINCETON AND
YALE, AND IN THOSE APPLICATIONS DID NOT ANSWER IN THAT WAY.
HE WAS INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE IFTAR DINNER, AND GAVE A
TED TALK ABOUT YOUTH ACTIVISM.
IT IS IMPRESSIVE THAT HE IS AS PUBLICLY ENGAGED AS A YOUNG KID,
AND BY THE WAY, HE STARTED HIS OWN ACTIVISM ORGANIZATION, WHICH
HE TALKS ABOUT IN THIS INTERVIEW.
I'VE NEVER HAD A PROBLEMS PICKING UP FOR MYSELF AND
DEFENDING MY FAITH AND BY AT THE CITY AND MY ATTRIBUTES, BUT
THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO DO NOT HAVE THAT CONFIDENCE.
SO I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, HOW CAN I BETTER THE SITUATION?
WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE THIS BETTER?
THERE WERE SO MANY MISCONCEPTIONS THAT I HELD, EVEN
AS I GO THROUGH THIS JOURNEY I LEARN SO MUCH MORE ABOUT THE
DIVERSITY THAT EXISTS IN OUR WORLD, AND I WANTED TO CREATE A
PLATFORM BY WHICH TEENAGERS COULD REALLY BECOME EDUCATED
ABOUT THESE ISSUES.
SO I STARTED THIS WEBSITE, AND REACHED OUT TO SOME OF MY
FRIENDS TO START THIS MOVEMENT, AND I'VE BEEN VERY FORTUNATE TO
SEE IT BLOSSOM FROM THERE.
SO THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET INTO GREAT SCHOOLS
THESE DAYS, IT IS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE AMAZING GRADES, AMAZING SAT SCORES.
YOU CAN HAVE BY THE WAY, A PERFECT FOUR-POINT ON SAT
SCORES AND STILL NOT GET INTO THE SCHOOLS.
YOU HAVE TO START HOLDING ORGANIZATIONS BY THE TIME
YOU ARE 18, YOU HAVE TO ACTIVISM.
YOU HAVE TO STAND OUT, BUT NOT IN AN INAUTHENTIC WAY.
THINK WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE HIS GENUINE PASSION, AND IT
DOESN'T HAVE TO BE POLITICAL, IT CAN BE ANYTHING.
THESE ARE EASILY PASSIONATE.
HE'S SO YOUNG, LISTEN TO THE WAY HE SPEAKS.
I KNOW, THESE KIDS ARE AMAZING.
I LOVE YOUNG PEOPLE, THEY ARE SO IMPRESSIVE.
PEOPLE ALWAYS GIVE THEM A HARD TIME, THERE'S SELFIES INSTAGRAM
AND YADDA YADDA -
VIDEO BUFFERING ñ
THERE IS NO WAY IN THE WORLD I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN INTO
THOSE SCHOOLS TODAY.
AND SO, IN 1950S
THEY HAD ALL THE ALUMNI FROM THOSE IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS, OH
PLEASE, DUDE, YOU GOT IN BECAUSE OF YOUR DAD, LET'S KEEP IT REAL.
I SNUCK IN THERE WHEN IT WAS STILL BARELY POSSIBLE.
I HAD A COUPLE OF C'S, I HAD A D.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET IN NOW, NO WAY, NO WAY.
I DIDN'T START ANY NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS BY THE TIME I WAS
18.
SO THIS KID, HE DID ALL THAT, I'M SURE HE WAS AN AMAZING
STUDENT, AND THIS IS NOT HIS ESSAY.
THIS WAS JUST AN ANSWER TO WHAT MATTERS TO YOU AND WHY?
AND HE DID THIS PARTICULARLY CLEVER THING, AND IT WAS UNIQUE.
INTRICATE FOR ME, ALL RIGHT, IN MY PRESTON APPLICATION I
DID SOMETHING VERY SIMILAR.
FOR THE ESSAY I WROTE IT IN TRAIN OF THOUGHT, SO I WAS LIKE,
OKAY SO THIS IS MY THOUGHT PROCESS, SO IT'S GOING TO BE A
VERY UNIQUE ESSAY, AND IF THEY GET IT THEY WILL BE LIKE, OH WOW
THAT'S INCREDIBLY UNIQUE, AND IF THEY DON'T THEY WILL THINK I'M
AN IDIOT AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO GRAMMAR CORRECTLY.
THEY DIDN'T GET IT.
OR MAYBE THEY DID AND THEY ARE LIKE, YEAH WHATEVS DUDE, NO
WAY, AND SO I DIDN'T GET INTO PRINCETON.
SO HE IS A LITTLE, NOT LUCKIER THAN ME, BUT MUCH MUCH MORE
QUALIFIED, AND HENCE HE GOT INTO ALL THOSE SCHOOLS.
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