Tiger Mom's Job Is Half-Done: Eldest Cub Is Harvard-Bound

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld (Lulu Chua-Rubenfeld)

In January, an excerpt of Amy Chua's parenting memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, led to an intense debate about, well, the intense techniques Chua said she used with her two daughters in order to ensure their academic and musical success (no-holds-barred shaming! no sleepovers! hours of hours of practice!). And Chua, who was simultaneously pilloried and celebrated, defended herself everywhere, even The Colbert Report, but her latest crowning achievement may be this: Her 18-year-old daughter Sophia's acceptance to Harvard.

Above the Law's David Lat, a Harvard grad himself, confirmed that Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld is headed to Cambridge and offered this assessment:

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, however, is no ordinary applicant. She’s not only beautiful and brilliant — in Amy Chua’s memoir, she alludes to her daughter’s academic prowess — but she’s also extremely talented. As we all know by now, Sophia made her Carnegie Hall piano debut at the tender age of 14. That’s extremely impressive, even by Harvard standards.

Sophia’s also a superb writer. The defense of her mother that she wrote for the New York Post is impressive — smart yet conversational, as well as thoughtful and funny. But Sophia’s essay about her Carnegie Hall performance, excerpted in Tiger Mother, puts the Post piece to shame. It possesses eloquence and elegance not often found in the writing of people twice or three times Sophia’s age.

Finally, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld had one other significant factor in her favor with respect to Harvard: legacy status, as the daughter of two Harvard-educated parents. Amy Chua graduated from Harvard College in 1984 and Harvard Law School in 1987, and Jed Rubenfeld graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986. (He went to Princeton for undergrad.)

Of course, given her beauty and brains and piano talent and writing ability, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld could have gotten into Harvard without that extra boost. Her admission to Harvard is unsurprising and richly deserved.

Chua has another daughter, Lulu, who rebelled against playing violin, apparently made crappy birthday cards when she was little and bristled (perhaps jokingly?) at how her sister is perfect, suggesting to Chua that the book be named, The Perfect Child and the Flesh-Eating Devil. But Chua's kids have had the last laugh—now Chua is addicted to Facebook.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 1, 2011 2:39 PM

Comments [rss]

laciest

This wonderful Chinese approach is a by-product of that enlivening way of governing in China called....uhhhh.....what is it? oh, yeah, FASCIST dictatorship!! Oh, that IS good stuff-- Hitler, Mussolini... top-notch.

Did anybody pause to think that maybe Sophia is just smart and pretty because she's...uhh smart and pretty IN SPITE OF her belittling mother? Really, aside from her genome, maybe her mother has very little to do with her success. And, anyway, so what if she goes to Harvard and picks up all the right letters after her name and makes a bazillion dollars--she too will die one day. Shall we also want Sophia to be truly happy?

I've also gone to one of the best universities. I've seen a lot of rich kids who went to all the right schools, joined all the right clubs, and got all the right jobs--who also took all the right drugs and were, in general, mental-emotional wrecks.

What children need is inspiration and leadership not beatings and belittling--children innately have enough energy, creativity, and enthusiasm to achieve more than we could ever dream of if we just ignite their own ingenuity and passions to explore and then get our own big egos out of the way.

laciest

This wonderful Chinese supra-authoritarianism is a by-product of that wonderful way of governing in China called....uhhhh.....what is it?....uhhh..uhhh... oh, yeah, FASCIST dictatorship!! Oh, that IS good stuff-- Hitler, Mussolini... top-notch ppl.

Did anybody pause to think that maybe Sophia is just smart and pretty because she's...uhh smart and pretty. Whose to say her mother has ANYTHING to do with that outside of her genome. And, so what if she goes to Harvard and earns all the right letters after her name and makes a bazillion dollars--she too will die one day. Shall we also want Sophia to be truly happy?

I've also gone to one of the best universitie. And, i've seen a lot of rich, achieving kids who were an emotional wreck, drinking, drugs etc and quite miserable. I also had very domineering parents as a kid--mine was the leftover Germanic influence kind--and that has been my one biggest struggle to get over mentally and emotionally all of my life.

What children need is leadership and inspiration not beatings and belittling--children innately have enough energy, creativity, and enthusiasm to achieve more than we could ever dream of if we just ignite their own desires to explore and know things and then simply get out of their way.

karunapara

This Chinese supra-authoritarian 'value-system' is a by-product of that wonderful way of governing in China called....uhhhh.....what is it? oh, yeah, FASCIST dictatorship!! Oh, that is good stuff-- Hitler, Mussolini... top-notch ideas.

Did anybody pause to think that maybe Sophia is just smart and pretty because she's...uhh smart and pretty even IN SPITE OF her insane mother? And, so what if she goes to Harvard and has all the right letters after her name and makes a bazillion dollars--she also will die one day. Shall we also want her to be truly happy? I've gone to one of the best universities also and seen a lot of rich, achieving kids who were an emotional wreck and quite miserable.

What children need is inspiration and leadership not beatings and belittling--children innately have enough energy, creativity, and enthusiasm to achieve more than we could ever dream of if we just inspire their own desires to explore and know things.

Squigs

Wait, this isn't about Charlie Sheen? #notwinning.

scr

sophia has a new blog: http://tigersophia.blogspot.co...

Kev

As a former Harvard undergrad, I can assure you that beauty is not a consideration in the admissions process.

Rocknrope

Lots of junk in the trunks.

harveyharevi

MMM HOTT!! Can I be her Tiger Daddy?

Mordicai

Amy Chua has a sense of humor. Apparently few reviewers do, both among the laudatory & the condemnatory ones.

unretrofiedforu

God that chick is hot.

JohnnyLes

TROOF!

Bernie_Geotz_Squirrel_Luv

True, half asian, half jew. I hope to see more like her. I think Liz Cho is half korean, half jew.

Victoria Adams

meh, not saying harvard is bad. If it was MIT then I would have been more impressed.

chuzzlewit

man the "bad" younger daughter is gonna have to go twice as far off track to average this situation out.

got any pictures of her?

Bernie_Geotz_Squirrel_Luv

Good for her, congratulations and all that.
They're called children for a reason, they're not your best friend's and all that feel good BS.

Rocknrope

Christ David, gush much? What the hell does someone's "beauty" have to do with admission? If he wasn't openly gay, you'd think he was trolling for a date.

jibbly

Exactly what I was going to say. When you're complimenting someone on their talents and hard work, don't start off with "beautiful".

valerick

That's what most men (and many women) do when complimenting females- they reduce them to looks. If this were a male Harvard candidate, I bet my life that his physical attractiveness would never have come up. Note that he not only mentions her beauty but very heavily implies that it was a deciding factor.

Bernie_Geotz_Squirrel_Luv

I never understood why Ivy league applications needed a photo? My college diploma mill didn't need one and this was back in the mid 80's.