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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 21, 2023

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I am seeing zero merit based scholarships from Harvard.

https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works/types-aid

https://scholarships360.org/scholarships/ivy-league-scholarships/#:~:text=Harvard%20does%20not%20offer%20any%20merit-based%20aid%2C%20and,you%20might%20qualify%20for%20almost%20a%20full%20ride.

This one says no merit based scholarships. Based on parents job descriptions he would not have been eligible for need based scholarships. Though Wikipedia said he got a post grad scholarship from some Soros foundation so maybe that’s what he referred to.

I just assumed that saying he got a scholarship to Harvard was boasting about how smart he was at that age, to be academically able enough to win a scholarship to a prestige institution. Not that he needed the money or whatever to get in.

The details do seem to be fuzzy; the Soros Fellowship that helped pay for Yale Law School is clear and traceable, but the 'Harvard scholarship' isn't defined anywhere, so maybe it is confusing the Fellowship to Yale with him going to Harvard:

Ramaswamy’s opposition to affirmative action has been one of the main pillars of his presidential campaign, alongside his fight against “wokeness.” He has criticized race-based admissions as a “cancer on our national soul” and pledged to end them if elected president. Curiously, Ramaswamy received substantial support from the Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2011 during his time as a graduate student at Yale Law School, according to The Daily Beast. The fellowship, backed by the family of George Soros, is intended to provide opportunities and equity to immigrants and children of immigrants, aiming to level the playing field for historically marginalized groups.

Despite receiving support from the fellowship, Ramaswamy seems to have attempted to distance himself from it. The media reported, citing a Mediate story by Isaac Schorr, that he paid to have information about the fellowship removed from his Wikipedia page. This move raises questions about the candidate’s discomfort with his own association with a program that aligns with the very principles he opposes.

The fellowship’s selection process reflects a holistic approach, considering factors beyond just academic grades, aiming to support students who have overcome obstacles and demonstrated potential for success. This approach bears resemblance to the admissions process used by institutions like Harvard, which considers various aspects of applicants, including race, to create a more equitable environment, the Daily Beast reported.