“I always thought a large donation and expensive test prep was the reason but now we know otherwise.”
Well, for most rich kids, that actually is the standard (legal) way in.
To be fair, @ProudOf2Kids, many 18 year-olds lack the ability to fully empathize with others. While others do and still benefitted from this scheme.
@PurpleTitan, you are spot on that I did view it with my “lens” of experience. And in this spirit, I will say that if Olivia Jade’s YouTube videos can be counted as a sample size of one, or a lens we can all view through, then she possibly becomes this scandal’s "Poster Child ". If she represents a larger sample of the involved individuals’ children, then I will restate my “lack of emphasizing” as a broader “spoiled child” getting ahead at the expense of others. But, I am probably correct that has been occurring for a long time, and these folks just got caught.
Interesting to look at the tax returns of Rick Singer’s 'Key Worldwide Foundation" and see who was paid and what schools received contributions.
That Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst is listed as an independent contractor to the Foundation and was paid $825k in 2016 and other large amounts in 2015 and 2014.
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-1603030
The small accounting firm that prepared the return ‘specializes’ in non-profits.
Singer is Bernie Madoff of College Admissions. Will spend his time in a nice country club jail dispensing advice to jail inmates on how to help their kids get into college. He had some guts though. Too brazen.
Gotta love this line
@Leigh22 I guess I should clarify. It seemed like for many kids, they didn’t even want to attend specific colleges; it was more like their parents who cheated to put their kids into the colleges they wanted their kids to attend. On the other hand, I know few wealthy families with very smart and bright kids who did not use money or time to help their kids with college admissions, and as a result, their kids got denied even as legacies. They are telling me “I feel bad because I could have helped my kid increase his chances.”
@NorCalmomof3 good points although re "who wouldn’t want Meg Whitman’s son, I recommend locating/viewing video of said scion fighting with Princeton professors over field use (among other shenanigans). Olivia Jade’s entitlement and waste, bad as it is, pales by comparison!
Wow… Finally read the whole thing.
So getting accommodations like 2 day act tests is hard and usually needs a long history of accommodations with LD. My son had a 504 and my daughter had an Iep. Expensive neuro-psych educational testing from elementary through high school. Proof of specialized tutors and testing every few years etc etc. Even with all this we had a hard time getting ACT extended time. We did finally get it but it took months to get and we finally talked directly with ACT. My son was the only kid at his school with extended time when he took the test. Slow processing as others have mentioned. He attempted the ACT without it but the speed was the issue even with working with a tutor on it. He pretty much got most of the answers correct but couldn’t finish the tests which resulted in a score not indicative of his ability. He need extra time. Once given of course the score jumped. Again don’t equate slow processing with ability. He was an straight A student with 6 AP his senior year plus Multivariate Calc 3. He is in a top engineering program. Some kids just need the playing field leveled a bit. Nothing more.
Also you can hire educational lawyers to get the accommodations but have no clue how they do it without years of proof?
Also someone mentions some kid that did well in math competition but got extended time. Your just not understanding his disability then. Even though it seems relative it’s not.
All I have to add is that it saddens me when people make decisions that are so awful that they ruin their lives. We only have one life to live, and I can’t imagine destroying mine and even worse destroying my child’s life. Anyway, this whole situation is pathetic, but it hardly surprises me.
I hope external links are OK, but if not, please moderate:
https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/a-satirical-application-inspired-by-college-cheating-scandal.html
It is cute and snarky, just what I needed while I process each new detail.
Wow, get this. One of the charged parent graduated from Stanford Graduate Business School, is head of some investment firm in Silicon Valley and is involved actively in the ethical investing movement. lol I guess ethics doesn’t come into play when it involves your kid. Man, oh man. It gives an entirely different spin on the LIBERAL education.
Just think of so many more people who were not caught like these people.
329 @Muad_dib The coaches do not have absolute authority to admit students. The students have to be admitted by the admissions office. I know of many recruits in my daughter’s sport that got denied by the admissions office to the chagrin of coaches. My daughter was a top recruit to an Ivy and was told by the coach that it was out of his hands once her transcript was submitted to the admissions office.
Let me start my post by stating that I do realize that some students need accommodations while taking standardized test. Now, time to vent…My daughter goes to a private school with an enrollment of 800. Most students use the same local college planner, including my daughter. He suggests to all of his students that they get tested for ADHD, informing the parents and students that they will get extra time on the ACT. The families that do this usually all get turned down the first time from the ACT board, but on the second try, GOLDEN! We did not have our daughter tested and stopped seeing this particular college planner. She scored a 34 with no extra time, but it ticks her off so much when her classmates get a 36 and are praised all over her school’s social media. Fun fact…1/3 of the junior class at her school receives accommodations! This is not only going on in my daughter’s school, but all of the local private schools. On the ACT, if you have an accommodation, you get an extra 20 minutes per session. I consider this cheating and only hope that more reporting is done on this aspect of the ACT test prep that many private schools participate in. Just one parent venting, sorry!
@websensation “It gives an entirely different spin on the LIBERAL education.” Please clarify.
So this scandal seems to cover less than 50 students, although we all expect there is a lot more of this type of fraud not uncovered yet. So I know I will sound naive here, but what does this tell our kids - it’s okay to cheat? These rich nutty parents in scandal have no care about values and are a disgrace to parenting.
I know my wife and I tried hard for 18 years to use aspects of my son’s life as teachable moments - the good and the bad. We want him to get into best college possible, but to us, it’s even more important that he develops character, integrity, honor, humility and a sense of decency. We hope we are successful as he leaves for college in September.
Unlike those in scandal, we pushed our son to achieve good grades, study hard for ACT and be involved in community and school - and it worked - he got into some excellent schools, and it made him a better person. We will be chatting this weekend with him about the scandal and be making clear that cheating is not the way to be successful.
Good luck parents out there trying to do the right thing - it’s not easy.
I heard it took about 200k to get a kid into Stanford… which I thought was cheap. now I know what they were referring to. bogus athletic recruit through the sailing team. lols.
Bill Gates apparently had to spend a little more when he funded a computer sci bldg at Stanford and voila his daughter goes to Stanford. nothing to see here… move along. lols.
If Bill Gates’ daughter is an undergraduate at Stanford, the Gates CS Building is older than she is. I thought I’d heard that Gates didn’t fund it though they hoped he would, but regardless, that building was not a cynical attempt to get a daughter admitted.
@girl19 sacramento area?
@ShanFerg3 : Good on your daughter, but the coach probably told you that b/c you didn’t grease the wheels and she got an offer of admission on her own merits. I have little doubt that the coaches involved in this admissions scam process shared their bribes with admissions. If not, how would these unqualified applicants get an offer of admissions from the admissions office? I am of the belief we are just scratching the surface with this issue.