Malia’s College Search!

First Daughter Malia Obama was born on the fourth of July. Did you know that? Kind of appropriate, right? She is also so generally beloved that even the New York Post had nice things to say about her stay in NYC this summer, during which times she interned for HBO’s “Girls”:

In marked contrast to the rarefied circles in which Chelsea Clinton and the Bush daughters traveled, this first daughter seems comfortable alternating between high-end outings with her family and the kind of low-key existence any savvy city teen would enjoy.

Now that she’s a high school senior and gets to set her own agenda, Malia is trying to figure out where to go next. Stanford? Berkeley? Harvard? Back to the city for NYU? Somewhere lower profile?

According to a recent New York Times report, her dad offered her some words of wisdom:

“One piece of advice that I’ve given her is not to stress too much about having to get into one particular college,” Mr. Obama told a group that included 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.”

YES, TRUE. Her dad started at Occidental, which is not a place with a high Q score, and he did fine. Also, companies these days are beginning to shield their eyes from the glare of name-brands and find a way to look beyond them. Bourree Lam at the Atlantic reveals that, like EY UK, nee Ernst & Young,

Deloitte UK is moving to change its hiring standards as well — by hiding what institution a candidate graduated from in order to prevent bias against people from non-elite backgrounds. According to a statement, the British arm of the company is tackling “unconscious bias” that happen during interviews.

“Improving social mobility is one of the UK’s biggest challenges,” says David Sproul, the senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte UK. “For us, there is also a clear business imperative to get this right. In order to provide the best possible service and make an impact with our clients, we need to hire people who think and innovate differently, come from a variety of backgrounds, and bring a range of perspectives and experience into the firm.”

Lord knows that, here in America, Silicon Valley doesn’t care:

America’s tech sector has been the most outspoken about the irrelevance of degrees and grades when it comes to hiring: Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president of people operations, has been quoted as saying that while good grades don’t hurt, they’re “worthless as a criteria for hiring.” The company administers sample-work tests — the best predictor of success on the job, writes Bock — and he says that they’re “less concerned about grades and transcripts and more interested in how you think.” One study found that pre-employment skill testing results in employees with significantly higher attendance rates and reduces turnover.

Presumably Malia will check out the federal government’s new ranking site, College Scorecard. Then presumably she will then shrug off whatever data she finds and laugh and do whatever the hell she wants, as she should. Most of us, during the application process, are shackled: we can’t afford certain schools; other schools don’t want us. Malia has no such restraints. Fly high, Malia! Do it on behalf of everyone who can’t! Oh, and whatever else you do, study abroad.

Image via CBS News

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