“Zhao said he quickly grew to love the Harvard fencing team, and added that he bought airline tickets for seven or eight fencers with frequent flyer miles to go to China with his sons early in each of their Harvard careers.”
Hello??? NCAA? That team should be gone.
So this crazy rich Asian parent has a pattern of showering gifts on his favorite fencing team, hmm… that should be illegal!
Article re: potential California legislation in light of the scandal.
Call me naive: When phony “athletes” arrive on campus and don’t join the various teams, no one ever discovers their bluff? No one back home from their high school might be following that particular team due to interest in the college sport and can’t help noticing supposed recruit is not a member? No parent from that high school casually asks S or D how X is doing, if there happen to be 2 admits from the h.s. to that campus? (Etc)
This is the one whose wife said she didn’t want to do this. The guy was the most skeptical, cautious, worried of the bunch. It sounds like Singer was getting frustrated with reassuring him that everything would be okay. The Feds controlled everything - from the ACT approval of accommodations to the bank account that the check was deposited in.
His daughter is a high school junior. How does she apply anywhere now?
@epiphany: Who would even know they are a fake recruit?
@lkg4answers: Well, he is a lawyer.
But his wife is an heiress. He couldn’t just have donated several million somewhere to get his kids in (corruptly but) legally?
Exactly. I’m guessing a local private school would love a seven figure donation. St. Johns? Endow a professorship at Fordham Law?
But more importantly, with all of that cash, why does kiddo ‘need’ to attend a brand name school? Is it just for bragging rights at cocktail parties? Or how about send kid off to a private school in Europe? (That sounds impressive to me, but then I’m not a 1%'er.)
Wasn’t there at least one case where they had to concoct a story to tell a high school counselor who found out that the student was being recruited for a sport not played at the high school?
However, some may have gone unnoticed, perhaps because the counselors may not have known about the fake athletic recruiting or assumed that the student had some other way in like development/donor path, or had academic credentials that made the possibility of admission at least somewhat plausible (even if unlikely).
Perhaps to give the kid a veneer of achievement, so that, when s/he is given a job through connections that s/he would otherwise have no chance of getting on his/her own merits, being qualified and competitive for getting the job is at least somewhat plausible to others.
@TheBigChef I don’t think Mad Dog’s daughter should be mortified, disappointed yes. I’m not sure about Holy Cross but BC has had large increases in total applications the past few years. Comments on many top school threads show students surprised to be denied and waitlisted from multiple colleges this year. One student 0 for 6 in UC colleges with stats qualifying them for acceptance. Mad Dog’s daughter was accepted at Wake Forest.
My daughter would be horrified if I went on the radio and discussed all her rejections to colleges.
@bluebayou, @ucbalumnus got it.
Also, all the prestigious unis in Europe are public (all the privates in Europe are no-name academic lightweights that cater to rich American kids looking to party in Europe). Furthermore, while it isn’t extremely difficult to get in to, say, St. A’s (just 5’s on relevant AP tests will do for a full-pay American):
No, the private American elites are far more corruptible.
And I’m not talking about St. John’s or Fordham.
7 figures likely does the trick at an Ivy. 8 figures definitely would.
I still see a big difference between donating $5 million to the college, and paying $1 million to a coach. The former is actually helping other kids - because of that donation, 3 kids with median income or below can now afford to attend the college. The latter is helping only themselves and the admissions person, and is harming the rest of the student body. Since, on average, a poor kid who attends a selective school moves into the upper middle class, the donor is, essentially, getting some kids out of poverty with their donation. That alone is worth a slot at a selective college, IMO.
If you mean http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/2134443-waitlisted-rejected-everywhere-unlucky-or-stupid.html , the student applied to what was probably an all-reach list of UCs based on recent past admission rates by GPA and the fact that s/he was applying for CS (a more competitive major) (see reply #5).
Probably not. However Mad Dog is far from the first parent to embarrass his kids. But Kiera Russo would probably prefer that than seeing her name listed on Wikipedia under “2019 college admissions bribery scandal” for the rest of her life. And if she’s really upset, Mad Dog makes enough coin to buy a really nice apology gift. 
“Since, on average, a poor kid who attends a selective school moves into the upper middle class, the donor is, essentially, getting some kids out of poverty with their donation.”
I find this difficult to believe. Out of poverty to the upper middle class? Difficult to think this could actually be. The selective school cache simply cannot be that transactional, not with the world of real people in play. Doors don’t swing wide open (for everyone) simply because of Selective School X’s name, and there is nothing which suggests kids from the selective schools work that much harder than the kids from all the other schools.
Then there’s the whole ability to firmly ensconce oneself into the pool of the upper middle class.
Completely. I actually think it’s kind of irresponsible for anyone – a parent, a student, a college – to claim that admissions to an elite academy translates to admissions to elite society. Two different entities, folks. And assuming one equals or overlaps with the other is fraught with problems. And this would not be a problem, practically, if things like career opportunities were accessed in a “pure” kind of way. They are not. These, too, in addition to special admissions, are often most directly reached (paradoxically) through side or back doors, which are better oiled at the hinges than the front door. VIP at Company X knows colleague from Company Y who can Make It Happen for recent graduate (own S or D) from an elite undergrad, grad, or professional program. The interview process is merely a formality. I have seen this in action.
Looks like the older Harvard brother was a legit fencer – was on the team for four years and had a winning record in matches. Was a team captain and second team all Ivy one year.
The younger brother was also a fencer. News reports say he is now a college sophomore. So he would have graduated HS in May 2017.
The house was bought in May 2016. When the younger kid would have been finishing HS junior year. And about four months from when he would be applying to colleges. Younger kid does not appear to be listed on the fencing team roster for frosh year or soph year.
Maybe the rich dad made other big donations to Harvard, which helped the little bro get into Harvard. But I’m guessing the younger bro got a fencing tip even though he wasn’t good enough to fence at the college level.
@MWolf, the only difference I see is $4 million dollars.
Totally get what your saying though . Like “Here is $5 million dollars to do whatever you want with. On my way out I will take the preprinted acceptance letter for my child.”
I would think that with any big donor that “X” amount goes automatically to a fund for people that need the help paying for tuition. I hope when judgments come down some fund is set up for the less fortunate to be able to pay their tuition.