41 Comments
Several New York blogs have picked up on an Obsessed TV interview with “Real Housewife of New York” Kelly Killoren Bensimon, and all seem to agree the best quote is about how she got into the School of General Studies:
“A friend of mine said you should really go to Columbia, they have an amazing journalism department there. And so I actually went to the school and I said to them, I said, ‘You know, if you take me, I, you know, you just gotta give me a chance, and if you take me, then I will be the best student, I will do whatever it is, whatever you need whenever you need it. I promise you, you know, I will not be a mistake.’ And this man, the dean, was like, ‘Who are you? Like, what? No, no, no. We have a process here. You have to fill out an application.’ And I was like, ‘No no no, It’s nice you have an application, I’ve already sent that in, but I want to go here, and I really really wanted to go there.’ And he let me in.”
Combined with the allegations against her for assaulting her boyfriend and stealing jewelry ideas, GS students everywhere haven’t been this embarrassed since the last time they had to…oh screw it, the Varsity Show beat those jokes into the ground.
But perhaps GS can claim Bensimon is simply dumber with age. In April 1996, she talked about balancing her studying, modeling, and charity work to the now-defunct Columbia Observer, saying “Columbia is like just one of my fingers. But being part of my body I treat it with the same respect that I do my work or charity or whatever I’m doing.” Then again, maybe not.
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41 Comments
@Anonymous So typical of Columbia kids to duke it out on BWOG.
@GSer Why all the hate for GS? I wish we had better financial aid but apart from that I have a great time here.
I don’t understand how I “cheapen” Columbia. I take the same classes anyone from CC or SEAS takes and I have a 3.9. I’m not saying that I’m a badass or anything but I’m no dumber than anyone else at Columbia.
Some of you guys are quite hateful.
I’m a 21 year old sophomore so most of you wouldn’t know I’m in GS but I shouldn’t have to be afraid to show it.
@arparp She took the classes and passed them. Maybe she plays dumb to make money, but she was in Trinity before CU GS. I’m not sure who thinks that GS is going to be a good path to money, the majority of degrees are clearly not applied sciences (compsci is an exception.) You want a career booster, you take engineering, not physics– you take business, not economics. How can you not know this?
@... the real tragedy of gs has nothing to do with some rich bitch on television.
it has everything to do with the scores of lower and middle class who bought into the “columbia dream” only to find themselves saddled with obscene amounts of debt in a rough job market. (and don’t even try to use that as an excuse until you’re prepared to explain that the mean inedebtedness of gs grads is somehow near the national average, even at top institutions.)
i have seen previously hopeful and glowing faces go grey and lifeless post-graduation as they come to realize that the mercedes the slick columbia salesmen had sold them is actually a fiat. it makes me taste my own bile.
lee bollinger is the biggest asshole on earth for letting this shit go on under his watch. lee, i know you’re reading this. it’s wrong and you know it.
@slick Columbia salesmen? lol. How much did you think a Columbia education was going to cost, exactly? Did it not occur to you that somewhere along the line you would have to pay for it?
@SEAS '09 Yeah… You knew the cost of your education before you attended. You rationalized it or convinced yourself that you were entitled because others were pursuing it. Don’t call the salesman a trader in snake-oil when he gave you a truth in lending form and explicit financial aid/billing information.
That said, I’m SEAS and I’m headed to grad school. I received generous financial aid, but I still have about 90k in debt from my years of undergrad. I only very recently became cognizant of the fact that this is going to be a huge financial burden well into my late 30’s. The hope is that my degrees will pave the way to a well-paying technical career. I’m not sure I could’ve made that case were I pursuing a degree in English or sociology.
@GSer I agree to #35, although I think struggling with college tuition debt is almost universal phenomena. Problems I’ve seen so far were mostly due to the gap between overly high expectations (or just simply wrong) that incoming GSers have and not-so-pinky reality they face soon after a few weeks from orientation. If I have to blame, I’d blame Columbia and GS administrations. They oversell GS. It prevents people from making informed applications. I understand the reasoning behind keeping GS in Columbia, including it being a good source of cash flow, but enough is enough. Stop giving a false hope to innocent students and tell them the truth about GS. I don’t regret my choice but I have seen a plenty of people regretting theirs. It’s just wrong.
@GSer Meh. Who cares? W. went to Yale and we see how he honors HIS alma mater.
@ehhh This whole transcript is an admission officer’s worst nightmare.
@BWOG mcdonald’s coffee gives me the shits. investigate.
@wth why the hell would you drink mcdonald’s coffee anyways? you go to columbia, get some class
@hahaha it’s the anti-nauseates McD’s puts in everything
@well caffeine is a diuretic…. so that probably has more to do with the shits than the anti-nauseates?
@hmm So, I’m an alum (CC09), and I watch the show occasionally. And yes, Kelley, does not come off as the sharpest pencil in the box. Maybe she just isn’t that great at expressing herself vocally (while hopefully being capable of doing a better job on paper). After all, it is very common to get same day acceptances, or come in and speak with admissions directors at other schools to gain entry.
@gser CC Alum and former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey was much less on an embarrassment.
@yeah His sex life aside, McGreevey was actually a pretty decent guy. Yes, he made a mistake, but he owned up to it and acted appropriately afterwards.
Vitter, on the other hand – now that’s one hell of a hypocrite.
@uhhh mcgreevey just reeked of corruption. he put his “boyfriend” in charge of nj homeland security. “Gay American” was just a “hey, look over there” trick.
Dick Codey did a good job cleaning up the mess.
@So what? Your son rip is on line toot.
@Hmm If you watch the video, you can see this quotation is totally taken out of context.
@anyone see the reunion special on bravo? turns out bethenny went to nyu. looks like that inferiority complex follows them for life.
@wow Am I the only one who watched the show? Bitch is crazy!
@duck tales the value of my diploma just tanked
@oh.hello.there HAHAHAHAHAHA HATE (love) THIS BITCH.
@uh... I’d have a little respect for her if she just admitted that she blew him.
@hmm This is pretty hilarious. “It’s nice you have an application…” I think I once saw her on the idiotic reality show on which she appeared. The “stars,” so to speak, were each completely dimwitted in their own right, but she somehow managed to be outwitted by all of them.
@uhhh strong undergrad journalism department?
@I Know! I’m trying to watch the damn interview to try to get more info on her columbia statements, but I don’t know where it is in that 30 minute whagarbl, and my internet is slow. I’m not watching that whole thing.
Any generous soul want to provide a transcript?
@Whargarbl? How many Columbians are on Fark?
@fark is nice but... the same meme is shared by reddit and 4chan and probably a host of other sites I don’t know.
@Alum The person who told her this didn’t know what he was talking about, but his error does not make her less credible.
@somehow I don’t believe her account. Pardon my skepticism, but this sounds silly unless she blew him.
@wtf ok this is problematic on two levels. first, its a clear example of how gs cheapens columbia. second, this woman is making her own degree less valuable. what an idiot.
@agreed the biggest problem with this is that she doesnt even mention gs thereby cheapening columbia at large.
@poor ... close-reading skills (as usual), bwog. If you actually read the quote, it states that she submitted the application before she met with the admissions person. The inference most people seem to be drawing is that she was admitted that day, which seems a little implausible.
I don’t know if she’s an idiot or not, but verbatim transcriptions of everyday speech will make most people seem inarticulate (if you watched the video, what she’s saying basically makes sense).
Finally …
#4/5: Maybe this summer you can learn how to post without being a tool. Or figure out that your posts can be tracked. Or at least how to use a thesaurus …
@Recent GSer Yes, because this woman is clearly representative of GS at large.
And it’s funny that we’re cheapening everyone else’s degrees because they sure are charging us a lot. Ba-dum-pish.
I’ll stop.
@Anonymous Who cares? She’s a woman and she’s hot. She’s also rich, so when she’s not she’ll be set. Women are glorified fuck-dolls and not good for anything more anyways.
@really? is your summer that boring already that you have to attempt to provoke controversy and outrage on bwog? go find somewhere else to post anonymous insensitive things just to get a rise out of people.
@I dont i dont think this comment was to incite controversy at all… in fact i agree wholeheartedly
@agreed sounds like someone needs to call the wambulance, or at least twitter their feelings elswhere. like on her twitter
@LOLTROLL Women are glorified fuck-dolls and not good for anything more anyways.
Women are glorified fuck-dolls and not good for anything more anyways.
Women are glorified fuck-dolls and not good for anything more anyways.
Women are glorified fuck-dolls and not good for anything more anyways.
lolollololol someone DESPERATELY wants to get laid i see. sorry you just completed your freshman year and remained a virgin. oh wait, im no sorry. lol
@ALERT Thanks again, Bwog!
Kinda sad how ppl like this are Columbia alums…