We don’t know if the tutor will be believed but it is not the best course of action to continue to present a plagiarized essay as yours and lie through your teeth that it isn’t when you are caught out. This will always be over your head. They will kick you out of school at any time they determine that there is an issue. They will rescind your diploma in the future if at any time they determine there is an issue.
This is simply not true and a gross misrepresentation of a good prep school. My dd attended a boarding school and the daily life was not at all about ‘getting in.’ It was about achievement and a full life of all the academics and EC that you were motivated to pursue, and the close advising and mentoring to help you with your choices. There was one meeting with College Guidance in spring of junior year. You wrote your own essays, although there were a couple of hour long sessions where your group was working on mini answers to prompts to get the juices flowing. She passed her essay around to the GC and a teacher but only rec’d feedback/praise, not editing. The closest to editing was me as a parent. If anyone had more they used outside help and she never knew anyone who did.
Maybe there should be a thread where the SAT and ACT cheaters and the essay cheaters can commisserate. Maybe they can invite the people who falsely claim to belong to a minority group that they do not belong to, to join them as well.
I am not a lawyer, but if you really want to discuss this issue with a non-lawyer then sure.
The reason I didn’t address the issue of whether or not a crime was committed is that I think it is extremely extremely unlikely that any prosecutor would bring a charge. The civil fraud issue seems to be the most practically relevant. However, if the OP is willing to go to the police and confess to what he did then there are at least a few possible criminal charges that might be relevant …
Federal wire fraud - the OP almost certainly used a computer to transmit the application, and the data transmissions almost certainly crossed state lines even if the college was in the same state that the applicant lived in.
Conspiracy to commit fraud - a conspiracy was definitely formed and the OP definitely took an overt act by submitting the application.
Other State charges - would depend on the state. I don’t think there is a relevant statute in NY but I don’t know about other states.
The question is whether or not there was an attempt to gain something of value from the college. I would say that if a financial aid application was filed then that would very likely pass this test. Does the offer of admission itself have value? If the student enrolled then you could argue that the college has lost a year’s tuition revenue by not admitting another genuinely qualified student instead. Pre-enrollment is trickier … not sure. You might argue that an offer to enroll has value since people are willing to pay $60K/year to enroll, but the college might also have a duty to mitigate this damage.
So I think you might be able to call what the OP did a “crime” even if it is incredibly unlikely a prosecutor would charge it.
Having said all this, it seems that if the OP went to the police then the incident report would be essentially a confession to possible civil fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud. In some states this would be public record, and almost certainly if charges were brought against the blackmailer then all of this would become public record. I don’t know whether or not you think this constitutes “some kind of trouble”. But if the OP wants to make a full public confession then this would be one way to do it I guess.
You do not deserve to go to any college at this time. I wouldn’t want you going to any school with my children. Work for a while and try to find a moral compass. Apply to school when you have some integrity.
There’s someone else would would suffer damage if this student got admitted based on the fraudulent application - the next in line for admission who got rejected.
I cannot tell you how good this makes me feel…that it’s not all of them! I have quite a few friends with kids at several exclusive prep schools in MA and nearby, and they’re pretty braggy about the help their kids get. (As in my poor kids are highly disadvantaged in the public school system). I will have to assume they’ve been exaggerating! One friend was very specific about the frequent meetings going over apps and essays, though, and I really do believe her.
Maybe it’s a school-by-school thing. A very high percentage of kids from these schools go on to ivies, and it’s something the schools are (rightly) proud of.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I believe the OP, who has yet to return, BTW, has received some solid advice and there is nothing more to be said on the topic. If others wants to continue the OT conversations re: civil vs. criminal law, they can start a new thread. Closing.