One of the saddest (and most puzzling) parts of the story is thinking about what a colossal waste of time her efforts were. There are so many more productive and interesting ways for a young person to spend their time and energy instead of scheming their way into a college with a fake identity.
Believing that a bachelor’s degree from an Ivy League college is somehow worth upending your whole life is just wildly misinformed (I think). What would the end game really be? Continuing on to graduate school or a profession as Katharina Lynn from North Dakota? Lying to any potential friends or potential romances throughout college and beyond? Getting married as Katharina Lynn? Giving up her high school friends and community eventually because she can’t introduce them to each other. Lying to potential employers and coworkers about her identity? Relocating to a new location and changing her name again after college where no one knows her as either her real identity or Katharina Lynn? Unless it really was a social experiment or some kind of prank, it just seems like it would be easier to just go to another college, work hard, and succeed there than believe Yale is going to be the golden ticket worth all that.