His Father Paid $400,000 to Get Him Into Georgetown. Now He’s Suing the School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, he should not be able to keep the credits. He knew his application was fraudulent so he should not accrue any benefits as a result of the fraud - starting from the moment the fraud began.

This. If he knew, I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if most of the kids in these cases do realize that their parents paid bribes?

Even if they don't, coming down hard on the kids as well as the parents is the only way to stop this nonsense. Parents should be terrified of tanking their kid's future by pulling such shenanigans.

Like umm.. if you would cut a hole in the fence of a country club and push your kid in and send him to enjoy the fabulous banquet,
nobody would really mind, not at all. Especially when they found out that the privileged kid sneaked in without paying the "dues"
whichever the dues in each case are, in this case academic dues.

Please understand, I'm not at all defending the parents or the kids in these cases or saying they didn't do something terrible. I'm just wondering if the kids knew all along or figured it out once they got to school.

In this case, he must've known, given that he was supposed to be some kind of tennis star.

[Anonymous]

This is why colleges are in a hard spot. If they take action and expel, they will get sued.

If they don’t, it sends a wrong message and the public loses even more confidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if most of the kids in these cases do realize that their parents paid bribes?

Even if they don't, coming down hard on the kids as well as the parents is the only way to stop this nonsense. Parents should be terrified of tanking their kid's future by pulling such shenanigans.

Like umm.. if you would cut a hole in the fence of a country club and push your kid in and send him to enjoy the fabulous banquet,
nobody would really mind, not at all. Especially when they found out that the privileged kid sneaked in without paying the "dues"
whichever the dues in each case are, in this case academic dues.

Please understand, I'm not at all defending the parents or the kids in these cases or saying they didn't do something terrible. I'm just wondering if the kids knew all along or figured it out once they got to school.

In this case, he must've known, given that he was supposed to be some kind of tennis star.

If you read the charging documents you can tell this son was involved from the start. Some of the other kids clearly had no idea. That crazy lifestyle mother was doing everything she could to make her son think he was taking the ACT even though he wasn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if most of the kids in these cases do realize that their parents paid bribes?

Even if they don't, coming down hard on the kids as well as the parents is the only way to stop this nonsense. Parents should be terrified of tanking their kid's future by pulling such shenanigans.

Like umm.. if you would cut a hole in the fence of a country club and push your kid in and send him to enjoy the fabulous banquet,
nobody would really mind, not at all. Especially when they found out that the privileged kid sneaked in without paying the "dues"
whichever the dues in each case are, in this case academic dues.

Please understand, I'm not at all defending the parents or the kids in these cases or saying they didn't do something terrible. I'm just wondering if the kids knew all along or figured it out once they got to school.

In this case, he must've known, given that he was supposed to be some kind of tennis star.

All students have to sign their college applications stating that everything is true. This student claims Singer signed for him.

I'm not clear on how that could possibly work, especially since Georgetown isn't even on the Common App. If you sign your application and mail it to the college... how does Singer intercept and doctor it up and sign it? Of course if you don't fill out your own application at all...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, he should not be able to keep the credits. He knew his application was fraudulent so he should not accrue any benefits as a result of the fraud - starting from the moment the fraud began.

This. If he knew, I agree.

The best possible education you could give this kid is to cancel his credits.


Shame on those suggesting otherwise, I wonder if they would show the same sympathy for a less "relatable" issue of fraud...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, he should not be able to keep the credits. He knew his application was fraudulent so he should not accrue any benefits as a result of the fraud - starting from the moment the fraud began.

This. If he knew, I agree.

The best possible education you could give this kid is to cancel his credits.


Shame on those suggesting otherwise, I wonder if they would show the same sympathy for a less "relatable" issue of fraud...

Georgetown stripped him of his credits. Now they are suing, saying it is too harsh, will hurt him in the future and that it's actually the university's fault for not figuring it out in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going after the kids... really Jesuits... really?

This student KNOWINGLY sent false information as part of his application. If he genuinely did not realize (at age 17 or 18) that that was FRAUD, then he was NOT qualified to attend any university in this country.

The universities need to do the right thing here and rescind the admission of any student who KNEW about the false information on their applications, even if the student claim that they were too naive or dense to realize that it was FRAUD.

Good kids at age 17 or 18 know right from wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going after the kids... really Jesuits... really?

This student KNOWINGLY sent false information as part of his application. If he genuinely did not realize (at age 17 or 18) that that was FRAUD, then he was NOT qualified to attend any university in this country.

The universities need to do the right thing here and rescind the admission of any student who KNEW about the false information on their applications, even if the student claim that they were too naive or dense to realize that it was FRAUD.

Good kids at age 17 or 18 know right from wrong.

True, but there are gray areas here. I recall from my own high school days (many decades ago now) that some kids do embellish, exaggerate or outright lie on elements of their applications to make themselves look more competitive. Should anyone who makes any misstatement on an application have their credits voided? A classmate of mine who was on the tennis team said he was tennis team captain and got into Harvard. No one else from our school was applying to Harvard so he knew he wouldn't get caught. He's now a successful surgeon. If I tattle on him would Harvard need to rescind his degree due to false statements?

[Anonymous]

His defense is that it's the university's fault because it should have known that he was lying on his application? That's ridiculous. And this isn't a life sentence--he's not going to prison, he's being kicked out of school. Which he deserves. He should get the credits for the classes he took, but otherwise, I'm not sympathetic. If he has a hard time getting admitted into another school because he's a liar--well, maybe he shouldn't have lied. People talk about how poor people need to learn to take responsibility for their choices, well, so do rich people, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going after the kids... really Jesuits... really?

This student KNOWINGLY sent false information as part of his application. If he genuinely did not realize (at age 17 or 18) that that was FRAUD, then he was NOT qualified to attend any university in this country.

The universities need to do the right thing here and rescind the admission of any student who KNEW about the false information on their applications, even if the student claim that they were too naive or dense to realize that it was FRAUD.

Good kids at age 17 or 18 know right from wrong.

True, but there are gray areas here. I recall from my own high school days (many decades ago now) that some kids do embellish, exaggerate or outright lie on elements of their applications to make themselves look more competitive. Should anyone who makes any misstatement on an application have their credits voided? A classmate of mine who was on the tennis team said he was tennis team captain and got into Harvard. No one else from our school was applying to Harvard so he knew he wouldn't get caught. He's now a successful surgeon. If I tattle on him would Harvard need to rescind his degree due to false statements?

Probably not. The article talks about how students who have graduated are more complicated, because they did all the coursework and earned the degree, even if they got there by fraud. So the schools aren't sure what to do with them. But if you get caught before you graduate, all bets are off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His defense is that it's the university's fault because it should have known that he was lying on his application? That's ridiculous. And this isn't a life sentence--he's not going to prison, he's being kicked out of school. Which he deserves. He should get the credits for the classes he took, but otherwise, I'm not sympathetic. If he has a hard time getting admitted into another school because he's a liar--well, maybe he shouldn't have lied. People talk about how poor people need to learn to take responsibility for their choices, well, so do rich people, right?

Agreed. The kid is suing because he knows he's not going to be able to transfer to a Georgetown caliber school (with a 3.1 GPA), and he's making a Hail Mary lawsuit pass.

[Anonymous]

Now if the dad had cut the 400k check straight to Georgetown this kid would be wined and dined by the development office. The whole thing is sick and corrupt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now if the dad had cut the 400k check straight to Georgetown this kid would be wined and dined by the development office. The whole thing is sick and corrupt.

Yup. It's illegal bribery to get an unqualified kid in vs. legal bribery to get an unqualified kid in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His defense is that it's the university's fault because it should have known that he was lying on his application?