<p>Periwinkle, I see your point, and it may in fact BE “the way it’s done” in this family’s circle, among wealthy international families, or even among the extremely wealthy in general. But they have to recognize that it’s not the intention of the system. IMO, they know it’s dishonest but justify it by telling themselves just what you said: everybody does it. And, possibly, by telling themselves that they are entitled to breaking the rules to compensate for the points they lose as a result of racism or some other perceived unfairness inherent to the system. But those rationalizations do not make it right. What they did shows a real lapse of integrity.</p>
<p>It reminds me of things like students copying old lab reports, making take home tests a group effort, etc. The former was common in the esteemed institution of higher education where I earned my undergrad degree; the latter is “the way it’s done” by about half of the students in a graduate program I’m finishing up. People justify it by saying everyone does it, or that they don’t really need to actually understand the material of course xyz, because it’s not directly related to their chosen career path…etc., etc. Even these things are wrong, in my view, and what the Chow family did was far more calculated and on much grander scale. No sympathy from me!</p>
<p>ExieMIT - I, too, often think that if I just had a bit less integrity, how easy it would be to make a ton of money. And in school, I would have had a lot more time for EC’s, if I hadn’t had this nosy superego relentlessly staring down at me all the time. Just out of curiosity, in your experience as an interviewer, how rampant do you think cheating/misrepresentation is, in the application process. Is “everybody doing it”?</p>