At this point in the year, many of our pre-collegiette readers are no doubt embroiled in the stressful yet highly important process of applying to colleges. It’s simultaneously thrilling (finally leaving childhood behind!) and hair-tearing-out-inducing (what if my top pick rejects me, what if all of my colleges reject me, what if I get waitlisted, is it even worth it to apply when I’ll probably be jobless and indebted after college). And it seems that even famous teens are not exempt from this harrowing time.
Malia Obama, the oldest of President Obama’s two daughters, is in her senior year of high school at Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. Like many people her age, she’s currently narrowing down a list of her possible college applications. Now you might think that being the daugther of the leader of the free world might get her pick of any school in the country (or maybe even the world), but the fact is she has to go through the same application crazies as we all did (i.e. essays, teacher references).
Her exact list isn’t known to the public, but the New York Times reports that she’s looking at a few Ivy Leagues, some liberal arts colleges and at least one public school. We also know that she has toured most of the Ivies as well as Stanford, UC Berkeley, NYU, Tufts, Barnard and Wesleyan. Quite an impressive list!
So what does her father have to say about all this? “One piece of advice that I’ve given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college,” President Obama told a group of high school students in Des Moines last month. “Just because it’s not some name-brand, famous, fancy school doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get a great education there.” Cue tears!
He also added that he told her to keep her grades up until college and then just make sure to pass all her classes. And though we don’t know her GPA or SAT scores, we do know that Malia has an illustrious resume already built—She’s even done an internship on the set of HBO’s Girls!
In the end, wherever Malia ends up, she’s sure to get an excellent education. Good luck to Malia and to all the pre-collegiettes!