Massive cheating scheme for elite college admissions, via ACT testing and fake athletic recruiting

justdoit19

Proud parent of an ANG, USNA X2, and a MidSib
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Apr 9, 2017
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I find this hysterical. Don't these people realize that for just a bit more than they paid, they could have bought a seat in the school for their kid through a 'donation'? No one ever said that actresses are bright.
 
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The thing that blows my mind are the coaches that accepted bribes at places like Yale Stanford USC and UCLA to gain admission. Putting them on the roster to get them in exchange for a bribe.

The sheer MAGNITUDE of who and how many it takes to pull this off is nuts. And since 2011!
 
It's hard to imagine how this happens. My school district has a magnet school that is ranked at or near the top annually and people whisper that students/parents cheat on the admissions requirements. If they are cheating, then the school is letting them skate through the four years. The numbers say otherwise. The graduation rate and college acceptance rate is 100 percent. Big name colleges. The average SAT is near perfect. A few years ago the admissions department was forced to open up seats in the name of diversity. The under-qualified kids were eaten alive. Apparently the faculty were not told to drop standards. I just checked their current demographics which shows 68 percent Asian, 21 percent white, and less than two percent black and Hispanic. The other indicator of success is the free and reduced meals and fees is less than two percent. Those of lesser means do not perform as well in school.

I finished my M.Ed. a few months ago and wrote a few papers which included demographics, low income students, English Learners, and the effect on learning in a general education classroom. A goal of administrators every year is to narrow the achievement gap. That's a noble goal of course, but when the methods of narrowing the gap include bringing the top performers closer to the lower performers instead of bringing the lower ones up, something else must be figured out. It's difficult these days to talk about that without somebody invoking Brown v. Board, but I believe the system must change to where the hard chargers take one path and those less qualified take a path with less rigorous academics. Students would still have equal opportunity to excel in their journey through high school. Pressure would be taken off educators to slow down instruction in order to bring along the slower students. An alternative path to four years of high school might be at grade 10 when students go the vocational route and learn a trade. After two years, the student graduates with a high school diploma and continues learning the trade in a journeyman program and receive pay and benefits. The student who took the academic path is better prepared for college since he/she sat in classes with rigorous instruction.

I teach in career and technical education, formerly vocational education, and that type of student has kept me employed for 12 years. Most of my students though will not go to college, yet they are required to sit through four years of math, English, and social sciences. Anyway, speaking of students, I am at work. Rant off.
 
It's hard to imagine how this happens. My school district has a magnet school that is ranked at or near the top annually and people whisper that students/parents cheat on the admissions requirements. If they are cheating, then the school is letting them skate through the four years. The numbers say otherwise. The graduation rate and college acceptance rate is 100 percent. Big name colleges. The average SAT is near perfect. A few years ago the admissions department was forced to open up seats in the name of diversity. The under-qualified kids were eaten alive. Apparently the faculty were not told to drop standards. I just checked their current demographics which shows 68 percent Asian, 21 percent white, and less than two percent black and Hispanic. The other indicator of success is the free and reduced meals and fees is less than two percent. Those of lesser means do not perform as well in school.

I finished my M.Ed. a few months ago and wrote a few papers which included demographics, low income students, English Learners, and the effect on learning in a general education classroom. A goal of administrators every year is to narrow the achievement gap. That's a noble goal of course, but when the methods of narrowing the gap include bringing the top performers closer to the lower performers instead of bringing the lower ones up, something else must be figured out. It's difficult these days to talk about that without somebody invoking Brown v. Board, but I believe the system must change to where the hard chargers take one path and those less qualified take a path with less rigorous academics. Students would still have equal opportunity to excel in their journey through high school. Pressure would be taken off educators to slow down instruction in order to bring along the slower students. An alternative path to four years of high school might be at grade 10 when students go the vocational route and learn a trade. After two years, the student graduates with a high school diploma and continues learning the trade in a journeyman program and receive pay and benefits. The student who took the academic path is better prepared for college since he/she sat in classes with rigorous instruction.

I teach in career and technical education, formerly vocational education, and that type of student has kept me employed for 12 years. Most of my students though will not go to college, yet they are required to sit through four years of math, English, and social sciences. Anyway, speaking of students, I am at work. Rant off.
I agree with your comments. Although they dont say it, Mediocrity by all seems to be the goal. That way everyone is equal. I remember either reading a book or possibily seeing it on TV, but it was the future where it was against the law to excel so for example they had a ballet where the ballerina's legs where tied down with bricks so that she couldnt leap higher than anyone else. Of course that is a exaggeration, but you have to wonder where our society is going when those who are the top achievers are looked at negatively
 
It's hard to imagine how this happens. My school district has a magnet school that is ranked at or near the top annually and people whisper that students/parents cheat on the admissions requirements. If they are cheating, then the school is letting them skate through the four years. The numbers say otherwise. The graduation rate and college acceptance rate is 100 percent. Big name colleges. The average SAT is near perfect. A few years ago the admissions department was forced to open up seats in the name of diversity. The under-qualified kids were eaten alive. Apparently the faculty were not told to drop standards. I just checked their current demographics which shows 68 percent Asian, 21 percent white, and less than two percent black and Hispanic. The other indicator of success is the free and reduced meals and fees is less than two percent. Those of lesser means do not perform as well in school.

I finished my M.Ed. a few months ago and wrote a few papers which included demographics, low income students, English Learners, and the effect on learning in a general education classroom. A goal of administrators every year is to narrow the achievement gap. That's a noble goal of course, but when the methods of narrowing the gap include bringing the top performers closer to the lower performers instead of bringing the lower ones up, something else must be figured out. It's difficult these days to talk about that without somebody invoking Brown v. Board, but I believe the system must change to where the hard chargers take one path and those less qualified take a path with less rigorous academics. Students would still have equal opportunity to excel in their journey through high school. Pressure would be taken off educators to slow down instruction in order to bring along the slower students. An alternative path to four years of high school might be at grade 10 when students go the vocational route and learn a trade. After two years, the student graduates with a high school diploma and continues learning the trade in a journeyman program and receive pay and benefits. The student who took the academic path is better prepared for college since he/she sat in classes with rigorous instruction.

I teach in career and technical education, formerly vocational education, and that type of student has kept me employed for 12 years. Most of my students though will not go to college, yet they are required to sit through four years of math, English, and social sciences. Anyway, speaking of students, I am at work. Rant off.
I agree with your comments. Although they dont say it, Mediocrity by all seems to be the goal. That way everyone is equal. I remember either reading a book or possibily seeing it on TV, but it was the future where it was against the law to excel so for example they had a ballet where the ballerina's legs where tied down with bricks so that she couldnt leap higher than anyone else. Of course that is a exaggeration, but you have to wonder where our society is going when those who are the top achievers are looked at negatively

Yes, that Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"...if you read it, you will see that a lot of it is coming true already. Sad.
 
I got a text from a friend today with a link to the article. "Xxxxxx's wife is one of those involved." High profile California sophisticates. How could they be expected to show their faces around LA with a kid going to Cal State Fullerton? How could an Anesthesiologist in Winetka show his/her face around town with a kid at Illinois State?

In today's culture, it is so easy to see why this occurs and so easy to see why @Devil Doc 's two track system will never work in the US, although I wish it would. Parents of means can't bear the thought of their kids taking "a path with less rigorous academics." HS honor rolls usually include half the class.

So glad to be past this. I can now just watch with amusement.
 
I hope they all get nailed.

Coaches, yes.
Counselling service, yes.
Bribing Parents, NFW. That's not the way the world works. If you can pay a $50k to have someone take an ACT/SAT for your kid, you will pay anything to stay out of jail and get your name cleared.

Our best hope is that the "Foundation" is a 501 3(c) and that those idiots included their "contributions" in their itemized deductions.
 
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In the press conference he said these are current/recent situations. These kids are AT the schools presently. Cannot imagine. What happens to the kids awarded admission via illegal tactics? I would think expelled?
 
I was horrified to see my own alma mater, Wake Forest, named as one of the “elite schools.” Evidently the head volleyball coach accepted “donations” in exchange for characterizing certain candidates as recruited athletes, for sports camps, etc. He’s out on admin leave, and I wouldn’t expect him to have a job, plus whatever criminal activity gets upheld. Argh.

The post above made me think about the kids themselves. If they have a shred of decency, they will be mortified. If they are like their parents, they will simply regret being caught.
 
The crazy thing about this is that it wasn't just one scheme, there are several operations bundled up here: test modifications, substitute test takers, selling athletic tips and who knows what else. Some parents went way out of their way to keep their kids in the dark, while others were right there in it. It appears to be a broad trip through the seedier parts of major college admissions rather than the takedown of a kingpin. Sad news for all the qualified kids who tried playing by the rules.
 
What happens to the kids awarded admission via illegal tactics? I would think expelled?

I can't imagine the blow to their self-esteem. Isn't it enough that they have to carry around the success of their parents, feeling the weight of judgement by their peers who are off the Stanford and UCLA. Just imagine the shock of moving into the Freshman dorm at Cal State Northridge and having a roommate who receives a Pell Grant. It just isn't fair d@mmit!
They are the real victims.

Sorry, just playing Mark Geragos for minute.
 
I grew up in the Deep South in the 60s and 70s in poverty and was so bored and fed up with school that on paper, barely graduated high school. I calculated the number of credits needed to be free and sure enough, was the first ever high school graduate from my dad’s side of the family. I was far from dumb or stupid. Obviously long before the Internet, I worked on my education by reading my grandmother’s World Book encyclopedias. Like Forrest Gump ran, I read. I could tell you the GDP of Zimbabwe. I’d travel to the Mediterranean and I developed a hankering for the continent of Africa. I didn’t grow up in a family of hunters so didn’t quite get the killing of animals for sport. Sport to me was a lion vs man. A man without a firearm. I’d pay to see that.

My mom was a 15 year old kid when I was born. That was a long time ago and we didn’t have squat. My parents could hardly get me through high school. Not only could they not afford to cheat my way into a big time university, but I was not academically or otherwise prepared. I wrote in another thread that low income students perform at a lower level than those in a higher socio-economic status (SES). That was true then and true today.

I must admit to enjoying the recruiting ride with my son. He was a baseball and football stud. All this and all that. We had seats on the 50 yard line at Navy football games. Pre-game chats on the field with Coach Johnson. It didn’t work out though. USNA wasn’t a place to cheat your way in and he didn’t have a daddy who could pay his way in. He chased the sports dream for a couple years and earned his degree at his fifth school. He’s still a stud; still an athlete who humps a weighted pack up first sergeant’s hill on weekends for fun. He doesn’t have a ring from a big time school or parents who brag about accomplishments at Harvard or Stanford. His parents, especially his mom, do though brag about what a great young man he is. A professional warrior who gives a whole bunch to and about those he leads. Those young fellas he sends down range to blow up stuff and those he goes to bat for when they make the decisions that teenagers make that gets them in trouble. Cheaters ain’t cool.
 
I wrote in another thread that low income students perform at a lower level than those in a higher socio-economic status (SES). That was true then and true today.

So true.

Those with the means to do so spend thousands for SAT/ACT prep courses, and private tutors. I have to admit, our older son took a prep course although it only cost $90.00, I knew a couple parents that spent over 10K on tutors and private prep courses. Money has always been involved in college admissions, some hire private consultants to help advise the students on their applications and essay's, I have often wondered how closely they walk that ethical line. The people involved with this scheme took things to a whole different level simply because they had even better means to do so. I don't doubt they will find many more names to add to this case as time goes on.
 
I always assumed that Millionaires and Billionaires were giving colleges money for buildings and other big expenditures and this allowed their kids to get into college. I mean how would it look if a college with a building named after Du Pont or Rockefeller didnt allow the kids of these donors to attend the college. And you know what, i have no issue with it. They paid their way in and they had to pay more than most. Cheating on your SAT scores or bribing coaches so that they falsely choose non athletes is crazy
 
There’s a difference between ethical and criminal. What these people did is way beyond questionable ethics. But are they stupid??? Presumably not. But must be! HOW did they think they wouldn’t get caught eventually?? So strange. I can almost fathom one of these schemes. But there were 4 different crimes. At least. Involving so many people. Eventually there will be a slip up. And there was. Also can’t believe it took 8 years to crumble.

I guess money is the root of many evils!
 
The thing that blows my mind are the coaches that accepted bribes at places like Yale Stanford USC and UCLA to gain admission. Putting them on the roster to get them in exchange for a bribe.

The sheer MAGNITUDE of who and how many it takes to pull this off is nuts. And since 2011!
USC has been caught for this stuff before, especially with athletes. Bribery, buying athlete's parents a house and car, fixing state test score in the local database, etc... I am not surprised at all.
 
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