Suzy Lee Weiss, the browbeaten teen who sounded off in a humorous op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about her college rejections, said she was just having some fun.
“It’s a satire. That’s the point. Just like ’30 Rock’ is a satire, which pokes fun at things that are politically correct. That’s what I was trying to do,” Weiss said on Thursday's "Today" show.
Weiss took jabs at the college admisssion process and the impossibly high standards in the controversial essay, which was published last week in the Journal. She poked fun at diversity, volunteer work and chastised her parents for not encouraging her to take on more hobbies.
"For starters, had I known two years ago what I know now, I would have gladly worn a headdress to school. Show me to any closet, and I would've happily come out of it," Weiss wrote. "'Diversity!' I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker."
Weiss said she wrote the piece after receiving multiple rejection letters in one day. Depite a 4.5 GPA and a 2120 SAT score, she was rejected from Yale, Princeton, Vanderbild and University of Pennsylvania. The mass rejection left her wondering where she went wrong.
"I also probably should have started a fake charity. Providing veterinary services for homeless people's pets. Collecting donations for the underprivileged chimpanzees of the Congo," she wrote. "Raising awareness for Chapped-Lips-in-the-Winter Syndrome. Fun-runs, dance-a-thons, bake sales—as long as you're using someone else's misfortunes to try to propel yourself into the Ivy League, you're golden."
While some dismissed the essay as a whiny diatribe, Weiss said she received nothing by positive feedback, especially from other high school students.
“Everyone my age, whether they wanted to get into Penn State their whole lives, or Harvard, is agreeing with me that it’s just a rat race nowadays, and it’s such a business model as opposed to who’s most qualified should get in,” she said. “It’s a crapshoot, and I understand that.”
The precocious teen did have some good news to share on the show. She was accepted to Pennsylvania State, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. She hasn't made a decision.
Photo Credit: AP