So true. They should spend some time on the current MIT and WashU threads. Heartbreaking for so many high stat kids.
I thought the U Pennsylvania coach’s basketball recruit scandal also put this on the fed’s radar.
It still feels odd to me that Singer seemed to be looking to provide easy targets. Are we supposed to believe that he ran an entirely upright and ethical college consulting business that never helped students set up charities or school clubs for the sole purpose of making their college application look better (or is that all legit in this system)?
But for a client whose kid was so successful as an instagram “influencer” (whatever that is) – an activity that was NOT set up for the purpose of looking good on a college application – he had to designate her an athletic recruit to have a shot at being admitted to a university that admits students with a relatively wide range of abilities when compared to other colleges like Yale and Penn who were also caught up in similar scandals.
@PragmaticMom it’s ok. Very hard to keep up with it all.
I just think the rankings and prestige and assumptions of superiority - that’s really only a group think illusion- that surrounds all of this, leads to too much pressure on kids and parents doing incredibly dumb things, such as this instance.
@observer12 According to US attorney out of the Boston office — this all came about via the unrelated stock case. A tip given in the hopes of leniency. I know nothing about UPenn.
@privatebanker I agree. It sends a message that those that don’t get into a T20 are somehow not as worthy. For some parents, it is all about appearances and keeping up with the Joneses and they will do whatever it takes. That’s really sad.
Yes - I just think there is a lot missing from this story. A stock case, and the guy implicated says “I paid some Yale coach to get my kid into college as a recruited athlete” and the feds thought there was a big enough crime that they decided to wire him up so they could arrest the Yale coach?
Or was this something that lots and lots of families have been taking advantage of for a long time and therefore the feds decided they would pull out all the stops to investigate?
@observer12 It would seem that the requested bribe of 450k and the Ivy League connection would be too hard to resist. Especially if the federal prosecutor went to another school after Yale said no. Payback is a …
@privatebanker said “I know nothing about UPenn.”
And that’s one of the shocking things. That story happened a year or so ago and involved two (now former) coaches there. In fact, just a few days ago the coach testified about how it worked. But no one seemed to care very much. Maybe because the kid who got the seat wasn’t a successful instagram “influencer” (whatever that is!)
Mine with 0.5% top academic and dreamy non academic accomplishments was accepted at some better colleges but outright rejected from USC, not even waitlisted. Everyone was surprised but we assumed it was because they don’t like to give too many National Merit Scholarships, who knew they prefer famous and incompetent frauds.
@CupCakeMuffins That’s not fair or nice to the other kids there.
Ha! But I still don’t quite get it. The coach calls a dad randomly and says “I’ll get your kid in if you pay me $450,000”? There is still something missing to this story. How would the coach know to even call this guy or even what his number is?
@observer12 I don’t know. But the people in Boston take their college stuff pretty darn seriously. It’s our number one industry. No way they looked the other way on this. Just no way.
@observer12. He had been introduced by someone else. And they were in the middle of negotiations when he was comprised in the European stock hustle.
He just kept the ball moving forward at the behest of the feds.
They met again at the Boston Harbor Hotel. He gave him 2k cash as a down payment. Then another 4K via wire a few weeks later. They wanted the coach on interstate wire and banking fraud and other charges. Once they had him they had it all.
I haven’t read enough to know how the original swindler was introduced to coach Rudy. I’m sure it’s out there.
How happy is Jussie Smollett right about now?
@observer12 These parents are CEOs, lawyers, doctors, financiers, etc. They’re not a bunch of unsophisticated who were conned by Singer. They’re willing partners in crime.
Tyler Bendis had a 4.0 GPA and “good test scores”. Nicholas Johnson had a 1500 SAT.
However, Kalea Woods, who did get into Stanford, had a 32 ACT and 2100 SAT.
The lawsuit itself demonstrates that the ACT and SAT scores may not have been the determining factor in admissions.
@privatebanker says “No way they looked the other way on this. Just no way.”
Funny because it sure seems like big time NCAA sports are rife with these kinds of incidents and the feds seems to leave all oversight to the NCAA. Do you think the feds investigate and wires up people every time they are told that a heavily recruited athlete is driving a very nice car (despite coming from a low-income family) or his parents have somehow moved to a new apartment right in the college town where he is attending?
Yes they just did. A bunch of coaches and shoe reps are going to jail.
They take away titles, ban programs for years and take away scholarships.
Coaches get a set number of recruits (2 - 3). 9 times out of 10 these recruits have lower - test scores / transcripts / essay quality. So these applicants are not competing with the general applicant pool. Only against 2-3 lesser qualified applicants. So the cheaters had no impact on the general Admissions Process.
While the headlines are more interesting with famous personalities and hedge fund billionaires, the big issue is the credibility of the standardized testing. Paying off a proctor? Paying others to take the test? How many other scams are other people able to pull off related to the tests?
As for the payments, let’s face it…privilege was merely out privileged. Bribing the tennis coach or the crew coach didn’t likely take a spot from an underprivileged kid. The crimes are disgusting and should be punished, but the potential issues related to testing validity have the potential to be much more pervasive.