calmly_koala

I'm gonna hijack this comment and say this:

I looked up his linkedin and he comes from a similar background as me. (Kinda funny that he didn't post his linkedin up there either).

One thing to note for the readers is that he grew up in Toronto (as did I) where there are lots and lots and lots of social programs like universal healthcare, and great public education, and cheap/free recreation programs and the baby bonus. And the things that were available to Torontonians are not really available to most of the Americans of a similar socio-economic background.

In Toronto, it's not that uncommon for the children of factory workers or restaurant staff to become lawyers and doctors. That was basically everyone I went to high school with --and this was in a low-income neighborhood. That's the benefit of the social safety net and some of the best paid public school teachers in the world (compared to the cost of living; not to mention they have an amazing pension plan which makes it a very coveted job)

Also, as a Canadian, he counts as an International student, so he doesn't have to deal with being penalized by Harvard's biases which hurt Asian-Americans. Canadians are actually over-represented at Harvard since we are "international" but "not too foreign", so he actually got a boost in admissions.

Good for him, but his story won't apply to most poor Americans, especially Asian-Americans. I hope there is a disclaimer on his book; and there should be one in his post as well.

Of course your life would be different. You (and I) had a lot of help growing up where we did. How much harder would your life had been if your family didn't have access to universal healthcare, for example?

You say "no pity points" but then lament about single, immigrant mother working in a factory. There is a lot of conflicting statements there.

Oh, and Harvard knows you are Asian, but you aren't in the "Asian-American" bucket. You are in the "Canadian - International" bucket, and it makes a huge difference to admissions.

And being born in Canada makes it even easier on you, than if you were an immigrant to Canada. Harvard does ask where you are born on both college and business school apps, so knowing that you were born in Canada, and speak perfect English is another plus in your column. (Also, English may not be your "first" language -- isn't mine either, but is it the language that you think in? Because then it's pretty much your native language).

You (and I) def. got a boost growing up where we did. I take offense to the way you are presenting your story because while you worked hard, you had a lot of opportunities that these folks don't. And rather than talking about the importance of a social safety net, you are selling a "look at me, I pulled myself up by the bootstraps" story -- which is false. Because frankly, where you and I come from there are a lot of people who go up from working class immigrants to highly paid elites in half a generation. We all worked hard, but we had a great system in place. That's why there are so many of us.

These self-promoting snake oil salesmen are destructive. This guy is no different than a Kardashian promoting "Tummy Tea" -- just a smaller scale.

Well you didn't bother putting any of it in the the body of the post. And nothing in the first few pages of the book as per Amazon either.