Students all over are starting college this month, and some of them still have a nagging question: what, exactly, got me in? An admissions officer tells us the most wrongheaded things applicants try. And Michael Lewis has the incredible story of how a stolen library book got one man — Emir Kamenica — into his dream school.
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Emir as a Harvard undergrad. Photo by Terri Wang.
Prologue
Students all over are starting college this month, and some of them still have a nagging question: what, exactly, got me in? An admissions officer talks about the most wrongheaded things applicants try. And Michael Lewis has the incredible story of how a stolen library book got one man into his dream school. (2 1/2 minutes)
Act One
The Old College Try
Ira talks to Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admissions at the Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. Clark says the latest trend in misguided college admissions efforts: parents emailing and calling the admissions office, pretending to be their own children. (7 minutes)
Act Two
My Ames is True
Writer Michael Lewis tells the story of a man named Emir Kamenica, whose path to college
started with fleeing the war in Bosnia and becoming a refugee in the United States. Then he
had a stroke of luck: a student teacher read an essay he’d plagiarized from a book he’d
stolen from a library back in Bosnia, and was so impressed that she got him out of a bad high
school and into a much better one. He went on to Harvard and great success. Years later, he
tracks down the student teacher to thank her, only to find that she remembers the story differently. (34 minutes)
Act Three
Act Three
Michael Lewis’ story continues, and he figures out why Emir Kamenica insists on remembering, and telling, the story of his life the way he does — even when he finds out that some of the facts may be wrong. (14 minutes)