Soon after Michele, Maya, Nancy H. Kim '00 and Alexis N. Todor '00 crammed into the third floor of Holworthy Middle, the Class of 2000 also started to recognize Maya's famous face. "I think like every fifth person I met, was like, 'Hey, are you that girl from the magazine?'" Maya says with a laugh.

During her senior year in high school, Maya didn't think much of the fact that a reporter was interviewing her every few months to take her pulse on the admissions search. And despite a photo shoot, "It didn't seem like that big of a deal, really," Maya recalls. "I sort of thought that it was going to be a small article in the back of the magazine."

When the story was published, her parents--both educators--made copies for friends and family, but the Turres were a little troubled by the implication that Maya's multi-ethnic background helped secure her admission. (Maya's mother is black and American Indian, and her father is Italian and Mexican.)

"I'm sure it was considered, but I felt that there were a lot of other reasons that I got in that were omitted," Maya says, pointing out that the reporter didn't mention her perfect score on the Math IIC subject test, or her 780 on the writing test. "I'm not saying it was purposely done. It was just sorta a little bit careless, I think."

Van Nuys High counselor Susan Kim says Turre was not the only standout student in her class, but she certainly deserved her acceptance. "She has done so much more than can be expected of one person," Kim says. Yet as a Korean-American, Kim worries that "you really have to be a superboy or girl as an Asian applicant to be accepted." And with Harvard's record 16,500-plus rejections this year--including all of Van Nuys High's applicants--getting into Harvard isn't any easier, Kim fears. From the counseling office at Van Nuys, she says: "I'm asking you. What does it take to clinch the admission?"

Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70-'73, Harvard's director of admissions, emphasizes that it is not unusual for a particular high school to have a dry spell. Her office admits applicants, not schools.

Maya's resume glittered: number 10 in her high school class, an accomplished violinist and tennis star, summers at enrichment programs and volunteer work--elements in an imprecise formula of high scholastic and extracurricular achievement.

The other three were deserving of admission, Maya says, but she suspects that they each may have been missing something in the final analysis. Mira's academic record was a notch below. Anna and Parham lacked dazzle in the "activities" department. Of course, to this day Maya still remembers the B that kept her from matching Anna's GPA. That was part of their school's culture. Van Nuys bred competition.