for display only
Big Blue Interactive The Corner Forum  
Back to the Corner

Archived Thread

NFT: Admissions cheating scandal question

NoPeanutz : 3/14/2019 10:20 am
Why did these guys pay thousands, or millions, to a consultant to cheat for them to fool the admissions committees?
Why wouldn't they have just donated the money directly to the universities? That would have been 1000% above board and legal (although sleazy).

Is it really true that a $500,000 tax-deductable donation wouldn't get my kid into USC? Disclaimer, I do not have $500k, or any college-age children, so I honestly have no idea.

One friend of mine pointed out that one of the accused, I think, paid $6M. Endowing a chair at Yale costs $3M. You can't tell me that putting your name on a chair wouldn't send his kid's application to the top of the pile. Am I missing something here?
Pages: 1 2 <<Prev | Show All |
RE: RE: Sure, but it's bribery either way  
Knineteen : 3/14/2019 2:11 pm : link
In comment 14336797 NoPeanutz said:
Quote:
It's bribery. But only if you ignore the fact that Harvard and USC are private clubs. They can admit anybody they want, for whatever reason. Even $$$.

Perhaps someone more educated can help me here, but for private institutions, why does the government care about those who lie on their admissions applications? Shouldn't applications be vetted by the institutions themselves?
RE: RE: RE: Sure, but it's bribery either way  
family progtitioner : 3/14/2019 2:14 pm : link
In comment 14336851 Knineteen said:
Quote:
In comment 14336797 NoPeanutz said:


Quote:


It's bribery. But only if you ignore the fact that Harvard and USC are private clubs. They can admit anybody they want, for whatever reason. Even $$$.


Perhaps someone more educated can help me here, but for private institutions, why does the government care about those who lie on their admissions applications? Shouldn't applications be vetted by the institutions themselves?


It's beyond applications, though. I believe they also cheated on the SAT and ACT.
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Mike Francesser mentioned this the other day  
Knineteen : 3/14/2019 2:15 pm : link
In comment 14336844 bigbluehoya said:
Quote:
I guess I don't disagree. My angle was admittedly thoeretical. The reality of the situation is that the cesspool of higher ed endowment and lack of cost structure makes the money going into the school basically indistinguishable from the money going into the shady individual's pocket.

Truthfully, I think the entire industry is one big fucking scam. Even my cable bill doesn't have such irresponsible annual increases in cost.

$1.56 trillion in student loan debt and it's only going to get worse.
RE: RE: RE: Sure, but it's bribery either way  
Jim in Fairfax : 3/14/2019 2:20 pm : link
In comment 14336851 Knineteen said:
Quote:

Perhaps someone more educated can help me here, but for private institutions, why does the government care about those who lie on their admissions applications? Shouldn't applications be vetted by the institutions themselves?

Because it wasn’t just application fraud. Their ACT/SAT scores were fraudulent; in some cases a test taker was paid to take the test in the student”s name. Additionally, coaches were bribed to give students athletic placement in sports they had never played.
RE: RE: RE: Sure, but it's bribery either way  
Vanzetti : 3/14/2019 2:22 pm : link
In comment 14336851 Knineteen said:
Quote:
In comment 14336797 NoPeanutz said:


Quote:


It's bribery. But only if you ignore the fact that Harvard and USC are private clubs. They can admit anybody they want, for whatever reason. Even $$$.


Perhaps someone more educated can help me here, but for private institutions, why does the government care about those who lie on their admissions applications? Shouldn't applications be vetted by the institutions themselves?


They take tons of federal money in the form of financial and various grants.That gives the government the authority to the ntervene. It’s the same reason Title IX can be enforced, along with Department of Education policy.


Who is to judge what constitutes a qualified candidate?  
BurberryManning : 3/14/2019 2:26 pm : link
Quantifiable metrics? Intangibles? And why should a private school care about how anyone else perceives their admission practices? If their admission practices lead to a poor student experience, weak student body, etc then the market will ultimately dictate a decline in prestige, placement, etc. If a private school decides to supplement a relatively homogenous admittance of +4.0/1600s with some athletes, legacies, deep pockets, etc then I don't expect to see much of an issue and I didn't see an issue as a student.

I'll also be happy to raise my hand as someone who graduated from one of the schools mentioned, donates (albeit on a vastly smaller scale), and assists in recruitment capacities with an absolute intention on looking to leverage any bit of advantage to have my children gain admittance when their times come. I paid my way, full boat, and earned every bit of my degree and look to prosper during my lifetime for the express purpose of giving my children the privileges that I didn't enjoy. I'd prefer to put my children in a position to succeed at a more advanced stage than I began, and with less obstacles. Isn't that one of the purposes of life universal to most? Of course, there is a difference between cheating and using the accepted channels to advance those interests.

Is it fair to leverage wealth and social capital to help your children gain an edge? I won't debate the morality but it's a part of life and its part of the goal seek for many, whether it be via monetary inheritance or a business or real estate or whatever it may be. If you don't want your children to be left behind then compete and win today so that they are set up for tomorrow.
RE: Who is to judge what constitutes a qualified candidate?  
family progtitioner : 3/14/2019 2:45 pm : link
In comment 14336895 BurberryManning said:
Quote:
Quantifiable metrics? Intangibles? And why should a private school care about how anyone else perceives their admission practices? If their admission practices lead to a poor student experience, weak student body, etc then the market will ultimately dictate a decline in prestige, placement, etc. If a private school decides to supplement a relatively homogenous admittance of +4.0/1600s with some athletes, legacies, deep pockets, etc then I don't expect to see much of an issue and I didn't see an issue as a student.

I'll also be happy to raise my hand as someone who graduated from one of the schools mentioned, donates (albeit on a vastly smaller scale), and assists in recruitment capacities with an absolute intention on looking to leverage any bit of advantage to have my children gain admittance when their times come. I paid my way, full boat, and earned every bit of my degree and look to prosper during my lifetime for the express purpose of giving my children the privileges that I didn't enjoy. I'd prefer to put my children in a position to succeed at a more advanced stage than I began, and with less obstacles. Isn't that one of the purposes of life universal to most? Of course, there is a difference between cheating and using the accepted channels to advance those interests.

Is it fair to leverage wealth and social capital to help your children gain an edge? I won't debate the morality but it's a part of life and its part of the goal seek for many, whether it be via monetary inheritance or a business or real estate or whatever it may be. If you don't want your children to be left behind then compete and win today so that they are set up for tomorrow.


That's all fine and trying to help your kids succeed is a universal truth that exists in all societies except some mythical utopia. However, what these parents did for their kids, whom already had all of the advantages in life as kids of wealthy parents, was outright fraud and cheating. They deserve all of the scorn and any legal punishment coming.
RE: RE: Who is to judge what constitutes a qualified candidate?  
Jim in Fairfax : 3/14/2019 2:53 pm : link
In comment 14336956 family progtitioner said:
Quote:
In comment 14336895 BurberryManning said:


Quote:


Quantifiable metrics? Intangibles? And why should a private school care about how anyone else perceives their admission practices? If their admission practices lead to a poor student experience, weak student body, etc then the market will ultimately dictate a decline in prestige, placement, etc. If a private school decides to supplement a relatively homogenous admittance of +4.0/1600s with some athletes, legacies, deep pockets, etc then I don't expect to see much of an issue and I didn't see an issue as a student.

I'll also be happy to raise my hand as someone who graduated from one of the schools mentioned, donates (albeit on a vastly smaller scale), and assists in recruitment capacities with an absolute intention on looking to leverage any bit of advantage to have my children gain admittance when their times come. I paid my way, full boat, and earned every bit of my degree and look to prosper during my lifetime for the express purpose of giving my children the privileges that I didn't enjoy. I'd prefer to put my children in a position to succeed at a more advanced stage than I began, and with less obstacles. Isn't that one of the purposes of life universal to most? Of course, there is a difference between cheating and using the accepted channels to advance those interests.

Is it fair to leverage wealth and social capital to help your children gain an edge? I won't debate the morality but it's a part of life and its part of the goal seek for many, whether it be via monetary inheritance or a business or real estate or whatever it may be. If you don't want your children to be left behind then compete and win today so that they are set up for tomorrow.



That's all fine and trying to help your kids succeed is a universal truth that exists in all societies except some mythical utopia. However, what these parents did for their kids, whom already had all of the advantages in life as kids of wealthy parents, was outright fraud and cheating. They deserve all of the scorn and any legal punishment coming.

And since they’ve been brought up on federal charges, the answer on who will judge them: a federal court.
yep  
giantfan2000 : 3/14/2019 2:55 pm : link
Quote:
.Which is maybe why USC is a special case. 1st, maybe the acting or drama program that the kids wanted to go to is extremely selective...
2nd


also the USC School of Cinematic Arts is one of the hardest schools to get in country to get into

it has an acceptance rate lower than Ivy League schools between 2-5% acceptance. Depending on the track -- the screenwriting section has only accepts 30 students per year from 1500 applicants
GW Bush graduated from Harvard & Yale ! ...  
Manny in CA : 3/14/2019 5:20 pm : link

180 IQ ?

Hmm. Don't think so, but family has plenty of money (earning VIP student status). That's how you do it the "honest" way. Here's the link ...

https://www.quora.com/As-George-W-Bush-managed-to-graduate-from-both-Yale-and-Harvard-does-this-mean-these-universities-have-much-lower-standards-than-is-generally-claimed-Or-did-he-just-get-a-lot-of-help

My daughter, who is super-motivated, is going to Yale.  
81_Great_Dane : 3/14/2019 11:08 pm : link
I went to SUNY Albany (hence my handle, I'm an '81 Great Dane). She has levels of help available to her I couldn't even imagine. For example, each student is assigned a personal librarian, who will be with that student throughout their time at Yale to help with research. It's not 1:1, each librarian has lots of students, but the student has the same librarian all the time so there's someone who understands what they're working on and what they're looking for.

We've had deaths in the family, she's had a concussion, she had a stalker, and at every stage there have been people she could call to help accommodate her problems. In my time at SUNYA, as far as I could tell I was pretty much on my own.

Basically, once you're into Yale they will go to great lengths to help you get through it. I think part of that is because they figure that during admissions they identified you as someone they want in their community now and for the rest of your life, and it's bad for them if they turn out to be wrong about that. Once you're in, they want to keep you in.

Students do transfer, drop out and flunk out but if you want to finish, they go to great lengths to help you, even if it's just with a "Gentleman's C."
Pages: 1 2 <<Prev | Show All |
Back to the Corner