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Pity the NYU admissions officer who thinks about rejecting 17-year-old Rena Senisi, whose father was stabbed to death by a stranger in 2007 on his way to buy a carton of milk for his daughter's cereal. Senisi (pictured here with her late father and brother) has written a moving account of that fateful day for her application essay, which was also read at the killer's sentencing yesterday. According to the Post, it describes how she "rushed downstairs to find my dad lying there on the ground moaning. I took his head in my hands, saw a little drop of blood on his chin, and ran upstairs to call my aunt and grandma...It would be an honor, an award, and a break for me from this rough period in my life if I could attend NYU." Horrible and tragic, so it's safe to say she's a lock, because obviously the university's going to want to avoid headlines like, "Heartless NYU Rejects Poor Daughter of Murdered Brooklyn Man." And the killer was sentenced to 22 years in jail.
Father's Murder Makes Powerful NYU Application Essay
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years of isiah thomas stories in chant form
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2009/11/14/20
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so after going through the painful death of her father, she wants to further punish herself by attending nyu?
i guess we all grieve in different ways
btw $100 says she gets rejected
Agreed that a more bucolic setting would be much more theraputic. Get out of state, honey, there are much nicer places you can go than NYU, which is, frankly, kind of an overpriced dive.
she's kinda hot. that's also a plus.
Nothing like just trying to be cool and telling people I attend NYU because you know a state school are for the losers and so uncool people.
what are her SAT scores? Shouldn't those be taken into consideration as well?
seems kind of shameless to use her father's death to gain admission.
I second that
Maybe, but then again college application essays ask you to write about an event that changed you, so it also seems like a no-brainer.
Yes. In fact, given what happened to this young girl, any college advisor/writing instructor/editor would tell her to incorporate that into her essay.
Sure, if it changed her into a scholar.
or it explains why there might have been a dip in her grades or extra-curricular activities
Please, someone kill my father so that I can attend NYU.
Please, someone kill my father so that I can gain admission to NYU.
But first Son, you will have to finish Junior High.
yeah, damn, if only one of my parents or both were killed so all the doors in life will open to me! infinite guilt trips leverage galore, that girl knows how to work it
Shameless. Man that's pretty harsh
I thought you were supposed to write what you know. Aren't college essays usually about who you are what has shaped you. How don't you write about this?
That said I do think grades, tests matter as well.
Ouch. Sheesh, people.
I second Lautaro's comment. Give the girl a break, people. She is writing about her own experience.
its one thing if she wrote about the experience, how it changed her life, made her stronger, etc..
but here she is basically coming out and saying "have pity for me, let me go to nyu" and laying a guilt trip.
sorry thats pretty shameless on her part, but i guess she learned from the 9/11 victims families that tragedies are things to exploit
fugothamist'
'but here she is basically coming out and saying "have pity for me, let me go to nyu" and laying a guilt trip. '
Did you read the essay?
this says it all:
"It would be an honor, an award, and a break for me from this rough period in my life if I could attend NYU"
"My father's death made me a stronger person," Rena wrote in the essay, read in court by prosecutor Timothy Gough.
"Nothing could hurt me more than the pain that I feel when I think about what happened to him and what I lost. His life taught me to love, care, understand others, and believe in myself."
"I want to be a nurse because I want to help heal people emotionally and physically," she wrote. "Sometimes helping to heal the wounds of others helps to heal the wounds that pierce one's own heart. I am fighting for a happy ending to my story."
There's really nothing more to say.
fugothamist,
I don't know you, but I'm betting that you're a decent person with a heart. It's not going to hurt you to use it.
In response to your comment above, I happen believe her when she says that it would be "an honor, an award, and a break for me from this rough period in my life if I could attend NYU." That doesn't mean they should accept her just because she dealt with a tragic life-altering event. No one suggested that except a few heartless commenters on this website.
vanessa - thank you for posting the essay excerpts. perhaps some of the snarkier commenters will learn about taking quotes OUT OF CONTEXT and leaping to conclusions.
Give the girl a break.
Most people find it hard to talk about such a loss, I hope this girl intentions were genuine and not calculating. And yes, NYU should denied her admission if her grades and test scores are not within its guidelines. NYU should not accept her just to avoid such a headline.
Also, Vanessa posted the victim impact letter which was read in court, I don't understand how this letter could be used for college admission? anyhow, I know kids who lost their parents and never talk about it since it is painful. I find it strange that she used this tragic event in her admission application. I hope not to negate her low test scores and grades if she has them.
My question is: why did the prosecutor feel the need to read her essay verbatim in court? He could have just taken all NYU references out of there and it would have still been heartbreaking. By leaving them in there, he's only opening her up to this mockery and judgement. If this was only read by NYU admissions, I doubt it would have leaked that she referenced her father's death for the essay.
Spot on.
That lawyer is an idiot. Now at NYU there is no doubt she will be "OMG is that the girl who got in 'cuz of her dead dad?"
Totally.
Formula for NYU acceptance:
$ = admission.
Spot on! If I were her, I would do the same thing. She is merely using every tool in her kit to get into the school of her choice. Nothing wrong with that.
I don't understand why this had to go so public. There are plenty of other students who have written about their horrible experiences and still didn't get admitted into their school of choice - where are their news stories?
Guaranteed someone's going to hear about this and fabricate a story about a murdered relative for their admission essay.
Hmph this girl got into Harvard and then was denied admission because her mother was murdered!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE0DD133EF93BA35757C0A963958260
Ha! Re-read that article. Although a good story, she was denied after they learned SHE was the one who murdered her mother.
Gotcha! Yes I knew that - although why I remembered this story is another question!
Ugh dear, she murdered her herself, not exactly to same thing.
Now this girl seems a bit too willing to use this event in her life to get into a school for my taste. I think it says more about the crazy competition to get into these schools than it does about her though and the pressure.
So for everyone who has ever lost a parent to something less head-line worthy, like cancer....I guess they don't count when it comes to NYU pity policies.
".. it would be an honor, an award, and a break for me from this rough period in my life if I could attend NYU."
Sugar, if you think going to NYU would be an honor, an award, and a break," your life right now is obviously a little rougher than you think. I feel for you and I'm sorry for your tragic loss. Please reconsider your options. NYU doesn't want to see you recover and grow from your experience(s); they really don't give a damn. If it's a good essay and you've done well for yourself, best of luck.. but don't expect any support/empathy/compassion once you're in. These crooks at NYU will take your money and run and laugh at you when you ask for help.
My parent's nasty divorce and a death flu that laid me out for a week during midterms - as well as an impossible financial situation - certainly didn't win me any fans in the front offices - but I did come away four "F"s richer with an unwinnable fight that led to my leaving the school at the end of that semester. The bastards are still coming after me for tuition and housing fees for the following semester, when I made sure to stay as far away and uninvolved from that hellhole as possible. Don't let them fool you - I've done fine for myself without them.. actually easily, better.
PS - You're a New Yorker, like me - most people come to NYU because they're seduced by the idea of the city life they see on "Sex and the City." And somehow, being at NYU and living in New York gives them the excuse to be complete assholes. Don't fall into the trap - New York City will always be here for you.
Best of luck,
Jamie Gollogly
If NYU were located in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan, believe me, no high schooler would pick it as a "dream school". Its pathetic alumni giving rate (like 8%?) is an indication of how poorly it treats its students.
41 comments in and not one 'I'd hit it'?
What is gothamist coming to.
I'd hit it, but only after she gains admission.
Bad press for NYU, yay.
Like the School of Visual Arts
NYU will take anybody with the dough.
It's a horror what she went through I guess
few here have any compassion left.
She can use her Father's death anyway she chooses.
I have taught at NYU and they often consider
life experience in the entrance application.