So what I am wondering is if these kids don’t have the scores to get in, how do they survive college? Do their parents pay people to take tests for them? Do they then get them tutors?
Many selective colleges are harder to get into than stay in.
Good point.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/us/college-cheating-papers.html
Fascinating article about “contract cheating.” Here is one quote of interest:
“Mr. Loller said he had worked with some colleges that have students who have never shown up for class or completed a single assignment. “They’ve contracted it all out,” he said.”
There’s always some super easy major and the kids settle for lower grades.
It is likely that many the most selective colleges are easier to graduate from than to get admitted to. Note that colleges known for much higher rigor (e.g. Caltech) do not appear to be targets of this scheme. Since the “fake athlete” cheaters get in by recruited athlete admissions, that presumes that their academic qualifications were within the range that the colleges were willing to accept for athletes, meaning that athletes within that range were expected to be able to handle the academics and graduate.
Some of the students/parents were accused of cheating on the tests or scores but some were only accused of falsifying the applications with the sports embellishments. I’ve not seen anything that Lori’s kids didn’t have the grades and scores to get into USC, just that the parents wanted a ‘sure thing’ so paid the ‘donation.’
Singer did have legit clients, like Phil Mickelson’s daughter, who took the tests, wrote the essays, and got into college on their own.
Do Caltech coaches have any pull with admissions, the way the Ivies and USC and UCLA do? I don’t think so.
That would make the entire scheme pointless there. For the cheat to work, the school has to give coaches a huge amount of influence over admissions.
Coaches at schools like Caltech, Mudd, MIT have a small amount of pull (it ups your chances, but there is no guarantee of admission), but students still have to have the same academic qualifications as any other admitted student. As other have said, at some colleges, the hard part is getting in, after that, there’s often a cushy major the students can skate through. (Allegedly, Olivia Jade wasn’t a stellar student in high school, so I’d be curious to see how she was doing at USC.) At the tech schools, with their first year cores, there’s nowhere to hide.
To be clear, at least for MIT, some coaches have a small amount of pull. Other coaches say they have no pull at all.
One of the kids who got in as a water polo recruit… he knew what was going on, right? When his dad came home with the speedo and the water polo cap? He had to wear them and pose for the photo, right?
“That was unimaginably difficult, but the hardest moment came later,” he said.
"When I returned home, my son was standing in the kitchen with tears rolling down his face.”
“Why didn’t you believe in me?” he asked his father.
(quoted from LA Times)
Really?
@HiToWaMom I had to same thought on that part!
Well, he was an actual water polo player at his high school, but apparently ordinary enough not to be a legitimate recruited athlete. There was a star player with the same name at the same high school who was a legitimate recruited athlete, though.
I’m sure she’s a great student.
But come on, being Phil Michelsons daughter and taking lunches with board members and the development teams had no impact.
Brown for all of its excellence has always enjoyed the benefits of celebrity associations. And so do most schools. But to think she just out worked, outscored and out essayed all the other similar students isn’t realistic. It’s not proven that it’s not the case either. My gut tells me it helped. And maybe a lot.
It’s all part of the package.
Not the kid whose dad was just sentenced. He had no idea how to play.
The latest development…
“Former ACT/SAT test administrator flips, pleads guilty in college admissions scandal”
“Igor Dvorskiy, director of the Los Angeles private school at the center of the nation’s college admissions scandal, agreed to plead guilty to racketeering charges and cooperate with prosecutors, a reversal that could prove damaging to parents fighting charges.”
This is being aired on CNN tonight (9pm EST): http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2019/10/02/cnns-fareed-zakaria-examines-elite-college-admissions-from-the-inside/. Should be interesting
Also, the latest sentence was 5 months.
Doesn’t look good for those parents who pleaded not guilty…
Speak of…the publicity machine is working fast and hard for LL. Photo spread in People with her daughters, claims she thought her donation was same as for a library.