From the affidavit
@CountingDown Yes, there is a process to become eligible for NCAA Division 1 sports - you can do it online, but there are academic parts that have to be completed.
You may find the majority of that 800 families was lower level, cheaper cheating (say “just” a fake score, rather than creating a fake athlete profile and bribing coaches)
^^^Yes, makes sense. But in the press conference they said this is just the tip of the iceberg
I feel like this will lessen the blow if not admitted to any of three mega-reach schools in 2+ weeks. 1540 SAT, 34 ACT, All-State Orchestra, never-anything-less-than-an-A, etc., but all good regardless of what happens. Oh, and eight 5’s on all eight AP’s. Just grateful to have opportunities regardless of what they are.
Yes, @ChemEBoy the odds are stacked against you as illustrated by this case.
@“Cariño” , I don’t see why teachers and guidance counselors can’t be corrupted. It seems that many people can be corrupt if the price is right. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything now.
^ Yes, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a lot of college decisions coming out a little later than expected. Every college is going to want to review their decisions (especially sports recruits and legacies) carefully to cover their tushie this round.
@damon30 Believing in 100% holistic admission policies reminds me of Chamberlain proclaiming “Peace in our time” 
“There has to be some satisfaction at Northeastern: this school has officially arrived
(And I say this as the mother of a Northeaster grad, so not poking fun. Well, just a little.)”
@katliamom, Sorry to burst your bubble…
From the NYT’s:
“Correction: March 12, 2019
An earlier version of this article erroneously included three schools among the colleges and universities where coaches were ensnared in a test and admissions scandal. Coaches at Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern University were not among those included in the indictment.”
@Groundwork2022, problem is most if not all athletes are admitted in the EA/ED rounds. Still there are probably some rescinds coming down and it will be interesting in how they are handles. Rescinding without hard evidence on a particular student may be difficult, and like the story says the student may not have been a willing participant.
This is disgusting. And not surprising. Wow. Just wow. I look forward to seeing the full list of potentially 800 families that participated.
This is a legal thing and my knowledge of this is suspect, but here is my explanation of what the lawyers might say. Their client Caplan was set-up two different ways: First, the government witness advised him to take a criminal action that he wouldn’t have taken on his own. Second, the government created the conditions for a crime that wouldn’t have happened if the client had simply acted without law enforcement intervention. So whether this will be a compelling entrapment argument to a judge or jury, or whether this will be seen as more like a “Bait Car” cop show sting is something I don’t know because I’m not a lawyer.
I’m late to the conversation but I don’t get how the college board didn’t flag these just jumps in test scores? Wouldn’t it be fishy all coming from the same testing sites?
IMO, all these students should have their acceptances revoked, even the ones who claim they didn’t know what their parents were doing since they were still admitted under false pretenses.
Also don’t get how the ADs didn’t catch this. They were at best sleeping on the job or at worst, complicit.
Lots of athletes go thru RD. Don’t know overall %'s (or even if they exist), but many schools with big time sports don’t even have ED/EA, like USC and the UCs. Not to mention those who are slotted and don’t get in ED or EA…from the Harvard lawsuit data we know only 86% of athletes who ‘committed to the process’ were accepted…that’s probably about 30 students athletes per year from just one D1 school, many of whom will catch on somewhere else in a later round.
There have been celebrities/famous or wealthy people who seem to have been able to get their kids into top schools for decades. Nothing new but maybe will now be more scrutinized. Celebrity dazzles and money talks!
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But Northeastern is involved in this scandal - one of the parents charged in the cheating scandal didn’t pay for the doctored test scores, but instead helped get someone else’s kid in to Northeastern
- CW-1 initially e-mailed Masera instructions to invoice MANUEL HENRIQUEZ and another parent $75,000 each for the ACT scheme. CW-1 has advised law enforcement agents, however, that in lieu of paying for the cheating, MANUEL HENRIQUEZ agreed to use his influence at Northeastern University, in Boston, Massachusetts—where he is an alumnus and former member of the Northeastern University Corporation, one of the university’s governing bodies—to help CW-1 secure the admission of an applicant to that school.
- In an e-mail exchange on or about October 20, 2016, CW-1 sent MANUEL HENRIQUEZ a copy of the Northeastern applicant’s college entrance exam scores and application. MANUEL HENRIQUEZ responded, “Thank you and I will reach out Monday.” Two days later, CW-1 e-mailed Masera instructions not to invoice MANUEL HENRIQUEZ, noting: “There will be a hold on Henriquez. I am doing a deal with them – tell you soon.”
- On or about October 26, 2016, in an e-mail to a senior development officer at Northeastern University, MANUEL HENRIQUEZ described the Northeastern applicant as an “excellent candidate for the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.” MANUEL HENRIQUEZ then e-mailed CW-1: “Just confirmed with the university, have [the applicant] file [early decision] normal channels to get into the systems and make sure his application is complete. Then the folks I connected will flag it.”
- On or about November 1, 2016, MANUEL HENRIQUEZ met with the applicant in Atherton, California, and thereafter relayed details about the meeting to his contact at Northeastern. MANUEL HENRIQUEZ then followed up with CW-1: “I liked him very much,
and just informed the school according[ly]. It is now in their hands, and they understand he is looking for [early decision], and I will reinforce early next week.”
105. MANUEL HENRIQUEZ repeatedly followed up with Northeastern officials in Boston about the applicant’s candidacy. The student was ultimately admitted to Northeastern. The applicant’s parents paid CW-1 $250,000 after he was admitted.
I think teacher’s recommendations would be very easy to corrupt. You just need one teacher who can be compromised, and a sack of cash.
Although based on the indictment and the charging documents, it sounds like almost anyone can be bought.
I don’t understand why a rich family would want to put their kid at a top college when in all likelihood their kid would do well without going to that top college. For example, that Loughlin lady’s daughter, what did she gain by going to UCLA and getting bad grades (probably) instead of some easy to get in college?
“Nobody cares about the USC crew team or Georgetown’s tennis team.”
Spoken as someone who obviously doesn’t follow Crew. You can have your indignation overthis situation without being flippant or dismissive of other people’s dreams/aspirations.