@ucbalumnus You are correct the former CEO of PIMCO who retired in 2017.
Still shocking to me that at that level of connectivity (unrivaled access to the development officers and endowment teams at these schools) and obvious educational opportunities for child x, that he had to resort to such a low-end cheating scam.
And like child x couldn’t have done wonderfully well wherever they landed?
How about using the million dollars to help them set up some good not for profit helping others or a company. Those things could get them legitimate hooks and some experience in life.
@Nobord- “Wealthy” btw is code for well-connected, typically full pay kids of college-educated parents, usually private schooled or top publics, not just regular middle class rich who have a good car and a house. RICH. And usually, though not always, brainless, clueless and lacking total work ethic for the foreseeable future."
You are simply wrong in your generalization. Spend some time with kids on these campuses and you will realize just how wrong you are…in the interim how about not disparaging broad swaths of people that are hard working, smart and in many cases trying to improve the world while fully aware of how blessed and fortunate they are.
Not sure of what the basis for your hate is but it sounds like personal disappointment. Good luck moving past it.
There is more than one way for kids to lose the birth lottery. I imagine most of these kids have already been taught how money can buy anything or fix anything. It’s the life they know. No one has taught them otherwise. Now they’re going to be shunned by, oh, pretty much everyone. One has to wonder how they’ll fare in life.
After the first job, does anyone care or notice one’s college GPA more than one’s college? Even if the student may have gotten a better GPA at CSULA than UCLA (not necessarily assured), as long as the student can graduate from UCLA, many people would consider the prestige value of UCLA to override any possible GPA difference.
The cheating on SAT/ACT in this case may be the most flagrant part of the scheme, but it’s actually a small part of the overall scheme by its perpetrators. They knew all they needed to do with respect to the tests was to get their kids’ scores in the range of their target colleges. In fact, they didn’t even want their kids’ scores too high to become suspicious. They knew how to play the “holistic” game and how the opacity of the admission process would mask their kids’ inadequacies.
My 17 year old recently spent extensive time with kids at two expensive/prestigious prep and boarding schools. The kids confessed that 1) they had accommodations without needing them; 2) “almost everyone” at their school had them too; and 3) the school teaches you what to do to help you get the accommodations. My kid’s from a public school and was appalled.
I think the College Board should be investigating what percentage of these elite schools have kids with accommodations. Do they all have the same therapist verifying their need?
I read that Huffman’s daughter’s SAT scores were raised approx 400 points over the previous year PSAT scores.
Is that 400 point jump an acceptable jump if the scores were measured over two years rather than one?
Wouldn’t be surprised if the testing companies start testing in larger facilities with multiple randomly-assigned proctors rather than using any volunteer proctor parent in the local high school. My kid’s high school used volunteer parents and school personnel. I volunteered once. Who knew I could’ve actually gotten paid!
Does seem like there is a systemic issue at USC. Indictments against Senior Athletic Director, water polo coach, 2 former women’s soccer coaches as well as current Wake Forest coach Bill Ferguson who was formerly at USC.
School has had the reputation as the “University of Special Connections”. Administration needs to respond aggressively to restore credibility.
Regarding jail time, the ringleader, William Singer, is facing sentencing guidelines of 16 to 20 years in prison (188 to 235 months). (The maximum possible is 65 years, but he is unlikely to receive that.) The Stanford sailing coach is plea bargaining for 1.5 years in prison. These are in addition to their financial penalties.
I’d be mad if I was Lori … having to pay $500,000 for the same result as Felicity’s $15,000 contribution. But I guess Lori got the bigger tax write off!
I am trying to figure out where the tape recording conversations came in from Singer.
Reading some of the transcripts lets me believe he called several of them well after the fact, and told them heads up, his charity is being audited, so if you get questioned about the money you gave me to pay the fake test taker/proctor and/or the coach, just say it was a charitable contribution, right?
Or was some of it a simple phone tap that they got a judge’s order on when they found probable cause through some other means?
Years ago I corresponded with a well-known provider high-priced college admission advising about my daughter’s chances & scores, and right off the bat the suggestion was made that maybe I could get my daughter tested for a math LD to get more time. I wasn’t buying --so yes, fake accommodation-seeking among the wealthy is a thing. (Just because DD is no math whiz didn’t make her LD – I’ve worked with kids who are LD in math so I know the difference).
Part of the problem is that the tests are designed around time limits – the whole point is that most test-takers won’t have time to complete, so that’s how the high scorers are sorted out from the lower scorers. The tests are normed against that assumption. And yes, some students really do have significant learning disabilities and do legitimately need accommodations – but the problem is that just about every student would do better without time limits. So really it’s a failing of the testing system itself, and one reason why test prep can be so effective. (Test prep gives practice that will help increase speed, and the test prep outfits all teach short-cut strategies that will provide a faster way to answer questions that fall into many common patterns).
