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Mean Girls is, obviously, one of the best films of our generation. Thanks to Tina Fey’s fantastic writing, a star-studded cast straight out of SNL, and a constant sling of jokes, it’s no secret why everyone, females and males alike, can quote this movie by heart.
It’s that effing fantastic.
That said, while I’m on board with every far-fetched concept (like hooking up with a not-so-hot cousin or being alive after getting pushed stepping in front of a bus), there’s one plot point I can’t, to this day, stomach.
The fact that Aaron Samuels got into Northwestern University.
It’s quickly stated in the movie that Cady is not only really good at math, but she likes it because “it’s the same in every language.” Aww. So sweet. So, she’s placed in a 12th-grade calculus class, even though she’s a lowly junior. This is where she meets our leading man, Aaron Samuels. Aaron is a senior, on the swim team AND soccer team, and apparently, sucks at math.
Now, while I went through the IB program, I always took the dumbest of IB math classes because I was too busy being heartbroken over boys to “apply myself,” as my father put it. That said, I’m pretty sure even in my math studies classes we hit up factorials and summations. No, I don’t remember any of it because I went on to get a degree in communications with a minor in skipping class and gaining 30 pounds on beer alone. That said, summations and exponential and logarithmic functions were part of our curriculum in “math studies” so I’d imagine they’d be something an extremely intelligent senior would have down pat.
Let’s keep digging, though. Considering that Aaron invites Cady to his Halloween party in that very same scene, it’s apparent that this takes place at the very end of October. And these sort of concepts were probably hashed out in last year’s course. Plus, our girl Cady is a junior. It seems like, while they would place her in a senior math class, it would most likely not the absolute hardest math course at the school. That way she’d have something to challenge her the next year, like calculus II. Besides, as a transfer student from a different country, they would want to make sure she’s adjusting before throwing her into the hardest mathematical course at the school. A course that someone who plans to attend Northwestern University would absolutely have to be in.
So, it seems fair to believe Cady is in a senior-level math class, but not necessarily the hardest course at the school. Therefore Aaron might be in a standard to just-slightly-elevated math level. And Northwestern? It doesn’t take standard-level anything.
My brother, a recent graduate of The MIT Sloan business school with his masters, went to undergrad at Northwestern, which is how I first learned all about Chicago, Evanston, and how fucking hard it is to get into the prestigious school there.
Now, I don’t like to brag (just kidding), but when it comes to my brother, he’s easily the smartest human I’ve ever met. How we both started out in the same womb is beyond me. He took all honors courses and by senior year was well into college courses. He scored almost perfect on his SATs, was a National Merit Scholar finalist, and, naturally, was MVP of his football team.
In short, he’s the absolute worst person to compare yourself to.
But, since Aaron Samuels also got into Northwestern University at the exact same time as my brother, I had someone real to compare him to. And honestly? It makes no sense how Aaron got in.
According to PrepScholar, you need at least a 34 on your ACTs and a 4.11 GPA or higher. Which means you need to have pretty much all straight A’s as well as taken plenty of AP or IB courses. On top of all of that, you need to have lots of extracurricular activities to really wow the school.
And while Aaron is involved in soccer and swimming so his extracurriculars are solid, it’s pretty strange that he still managed to snag a spot at the university. His math course does not have the lofty AP or IB title. It’s just 12th-grade calculus. Cady, when drunk at her party, fesses up to the fact that she’s been pretending to be bad at math to talk to him, even going so far as to tell him he’s bad at math. This is coming from a junior to a senior who has, so it would seem, already taken the SATs and ACTs and is just about to apply to the school (whether it’s for early decision with a deadline of November 1st or regular admission with a deadline of January 1st). For all intents and purposes, he should, in theory, be much more mathematically equipped than a junior. Or at least not be called dumb by one.
The only other possibilities are that his parents know someone at the university. Considering that he lives in Chicago, it’s not a complete stretch. On the flip side, he’s stated that he lives with his mom and helps her. So, there’s a chance something tragic happened to his father or he’s a child of divorce, therefore upping his chance of acceptance even more (it’s sad but hey, I don’t make the college admission rules).
I’d also like to point out that Aaron didn’t even ask Cady out until she played dumb and asked for help with a factorial. If Aaron really is intelligent enough to go to Northwestern, and he’s trying to get into the school (since when they talked in October, he would have to at least be considering his application, if not already applied), you’d think he’d either be too busy to tutor her, or actually know what he’s talking about when it comes to math. Besides, shouldn’t he value people with just as high of an intellect as himself, not ask out some girl when she pretends she’s dumb at math?
It just doesn’t add up, and I’m not even as dumb as Aaron Samuels.
Obviously, the real reason he got into Northwestern is because everyone wanted him and Cady to stay together and live happily ever after. Even though, let’s be real. Just because he’s going to college in the same town as her, it doesn’t mean it’ll work out. College is college, and he’s already been screwed over one time too many. Let’s see what happens at the next slutty Halloween party that she can’t attend because she’s busy with Mathletes.
Besides, I have a feeling he just told Cady he got into NU but he’s really taking classes at the community college while balancing his job as a barista on the Northwestern campus. Kind of the same thing, right?.
Image via YouTube
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Rachel Varina
if it doesn't have snack or seats, i'm not there. hate mail/Sunny references can be sent to itsrachelvarina@gmail.com
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Counterpoint: a ton of idiots end up attending great schools.
A guy I played football with in high school could have had a full ride to NW if he would have gotten his ACT score up to a 19 (he didn’t). Not every one walking those hallowed halls is Will Hunting.
We had a lady at my church at home stand up as say that after four time her son finally received a 18 on the ACT. I was so shocked that she would announce that.
That’s the thing. Dude took the ACT more than once and couldn’t scratch out that 19. If I had a full ride to a school like NW on the line, I would have killed someone to make that score.
I would too man, but how dumb do you have to be that it’s hard to get a 19? You get like a 15 just for signing your name right.
A wrestler at my high school got a full ride to the University of Illinois in 2007. He had a 14 on the ACT.
Book learnin’ was not this guys fortè. That’s for sure.
Where he would join a top tier frat, make fun of Dillon in the TFM comment section, and hook up with girls just like the plastics for four more years.
And would have broken up with his high school girlfriend over Thanksgiving after he cheated on her at homecoming.
If he applied early decision, then it’s okay if he mentally checked out of math. If he was average in AB or BC calculus, but did well in AP Stats as well as other science and humanities AP courses, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be a worthy candidate into Northwestern, especially if he applied as a liberal arts major. Also, my school curved my BC calculus course so that it was almost impossible to get under a B, which in itself wouldn’t disqualify someone from Northwestern.
Maybe Aaron got into Northwestern’s J school and didn’t need to know math. Let all the Grandex staff know Mizzou was his final safety school after USC and Syracuse.
*Uncertified Journalism School
I bet he comes from money and his parents donate substantially to the school.
” I went on to get a degree in communications with a minor in skipping class and gaining 30 pounds on beer alone”
Same girl…Same
The end of that Gonzaga game was bullshit.
He clearly got recruited for either the soccer or swim team.
Surprised he wouldn’t have ended up at Illinois or Loyola Chicago in that case.
In that part of the world Michigan is where you would want to swim.
A lot of schools waive admission requirements for scholarship athletes as long as they’re deemed final qualifiers by the NCAA (it’s pretty low academic standards). Maybe he played soccer or swam for NW? Although tbh NW is probably NOT one of those schools