Feds uncover large-scale college entrance exam cheating plot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It honestly sounds like the ringleader guy was taking advantage of gullible rich idiots during a time of anxiety. Outside of HYPS, none of these colleges are worth what they were paying, even if you have money to burn. USC? Georgetown? UCLA? NYU? Give me a break.

Oh cut it with the elitist snootiness. No these are not the tippy top schools, but they are all well known and very respectable. The people who paid these bribes were rich parents of ordinary kids who would never have been able to get into schools of this caliber on their own. These kids would have otherwise attended directional state university or it's private college counterpart.

[Anonymous]

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1106938458063298561.html

Hearing deep rumors of kickback schemes in the process of being exposed in the Brentwood/Beverly Hills schools. Under the surface. Feeder schools. Bribes.
People are quietly being fired or resigning now

I’m not going to be the one reporting it, but I have sources, and it’s happening
The college admissions scandal as we identify it now is it about to slow explode into the exposure of corruption in the feeder schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1106938458063298561.html

Hearing deep rumors of kickback schemes in the process of being exposed in the Brentwood/Beverly Hills schools. Under the surface. Feeder schools. Bribes.
People are quietly being fired or resigning now

I’m not going to be the one reporting it, but I have sources, and it’s happening
The college admissions scandal as we identify it now is it about to slow explode into the exposure of corruption in the feeder schools.

Many of these “rumors” sounds like wishful thinking. That scheming kid who took my DC’s place at Stanford will finally be exposed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It honestly sounds like the ringleader guy was taking advantage of gullible rich idiots during a time of anxiety. Outside of HYPS, none of these colleges are worth what they were paying, even if you have money to burn. USC? Georgetown? UCLA? NYU? Give me a break.

Oh cut it with the elitist snootiness. No these are not the tippy top schools, but they are all well known and very respectable. The people who paid these bribes were rich parents of ordinary kids who would never have been able to get into schools of this caliber on their own. These kids would have otherwise attended directional state university or it's private college counterpart.

That's not elitist, just a fact. USC, Georgetown, UCLA, NYU are fine selective schools, but they don't pop off the page. I know a lot of verifiable very wealthy and very connected people who have sent their kids to Pepperdine, Hobart and William Smith, Tulane, SMU, Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Miami-Ohio.

You really think anyone is more impressed that a bimbo went to USC instead of SMU? Not in the slightest. These parents are idiots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1106938458063298561.html

Hearing deep rumors of kickback schemes in the process of being exposed in the Brentwood/Beverly Hills schools. Under the surface. Feeder schools. Bribes.
People are quietly being fired or resigning now

I’m not going to be the one reporting it, but I have sources, and it’s happening
The college admissions scandal as we identify it now is it about to slow explode into the exposure of corruption in the feeder schools.

Many of these “rumors” sounds like wishful thinking. That scheming kid who took my DC’s place at Stanford will finally be exposed!

https://www.theonion.com/report-just-go-ahead-and-tell-yourself-bribery-is-the-1833263308?fbclid=IwAR0Ngz22L8RncFilOxG9s6Dgm2CpEMhwpdfaa5mGQ_JBzj1eAn4Z7XnT06I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It honestly sounds like the ringleader guy was taking advantage of gullible rich idiots during a time of anxiety. Outside of HYPS, none of these colleges are worth what they were paying, even if you have money to burn. USC? Georgetown? UCLA? NYU? Give me a break.

Oh cut it with the elitist snootiness. No these are not the tippy top schools, but they are all well known and very respectable. The people who paid these bribes were rich parents of ordinary kids who would never have been able to get into schools of this caliber on their own. These kids would have otherwise attended directional state university or it's private college counterpart.

That's not elitist, just a fact. USC, Georgetown, UCLA, NYU are fine selective schools, but they don't pop off the page. I know a lot of verifiable very wealthy and very connected people who have sent their kids to Pepperdine, Hobart and William Smith, Tulane, SMU, Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Miami-Ohio.

You really think anyone is more impressed that a bimbo went to USC instead of SMU? Not in the slightest. These parents are idiots.

Well of course they don't pop off the page, but these kids probably wouldn't have been able to get into pop off the page schools even with fake SAT scores or as athletic recruits. And yes USC and Georgetown are much higher regarded than Pepperdine, Tulane, and SMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the ACT/SAT cheating part was done is crazy. Mark Riddell, a 36 year old Harvard grad, would fly in to one of the cheating test sites in Texas or California. The students were told to tell the testing people they had to take the test there if they were not from the area that they had a bah mitzvah or something. Mark Riddell would either take the test for them, sit with them and tell them the answers while they took it, or change the answers for it. He did this for multiple tests including the subject tests.

Also applications were faked with made up sports and ethnicities. The girl who got into Georgetown had him take her tests and got a fake tennis history made up.

I hope they release all 700 names. Just follow the money. Most of the students knew. Also I don’t think future students should have to take these standardized tests. They are paying College Board for a test that only measures how well you can cheat.

This shows that colleges don't really verify these activities.

And this seems to be the craziest part of this story! Taking this logic to the extreme, why do colleges ask for transcripts, while they just should take the applicants' word for it.
Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1106938458063298561.html

Hearing deep rumors of kickback schemes in the process of being exposed in the Brentwood/Beverly Hills schools. Under the surface. Feeder schools. Bribes.
People are quietly being fired or resigning now

I’m not going to be the one reporting it, but I have sources, and it’s happening
The college admissions scandal as we identify it now is it about to slow explode into the exposure of corruption in the feeder schools.

Many of these “rumors” sounds like wishful thinking. That scheming kid who took my DC’s place at Stanford will finally be exposed!

https://www.theonion.com/report-just-go-ahead-and-tell-yourself-bribery-is-the-1833263308?fbclid=IwAR0Ngz22L8RncFilOxG9s6Dgm2CpEMhwpdfaa5mGQ_JBzj1eAn4Z7XnT06I

This is hilarious, but someone was passed over in favor of that scheming kid, and it is not improbable that it was a stronger candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the ACT/SAT cheating part was done is crazy. Mark Riddell, a 36 year old Harvard grad, would fly in to one of the cheating test sites in Texas or California. The students were told to tell the testing people they had to take the test there if they were not from the area that they had a bah mitzvah or something. Mark Riddell would either take the test for them, sit with them and tell them the answers while they took it, or change the answers for it. He did this for multiple tests including the subject tests.

Also applications were faked with made up sports and ethnicities. The girl who got into Georgetown had him take her tests and got a fake tennis history made up.

I hope they release all 700 names. Just follow the money. Most of the students knew. Also I don’t think future students should have to take these standardized tests. They are paying College Board for a test that only measures how well you can cheat.

This shows that colleges don't really verify these activities.

And this seems to be the craziest part of this story! Taking this logic to the extreme, why do colleges ask for transcripts, while they just should take the applicants' word for it.
Ridiculous.

No. They relied on their own staff—the coaches—to verify this. It’s reasonable to expect that your coach wants excellent athletes on his/her team and can vet this. Instead, these coaches broke that trust with their employer. This scam happened because there were coaches that were in on the false records, not because they were tricked by fake stats.

As for transcripts, they are coming directly from the school, not the applicant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the ACT/SAT cheating part was done is crazy. Mark Riddell, a 36 year old Harvard grad, would fly in to one of the cheating test sites in Texas or California. The students were told to tell the testing people they had to take the test there if they were not from the area that they had a bah mitzvah or something. Mark Riddell would either take the test for them, sit with them and tell them the answers while they took it, or change the answers for it. He did this for multiple tests including the subject tests.

Also applications were faked with made up sports and ethnicities. The girl who got into Georgetown had him take her tests and got a fake tennis history made up.

I hope they release all 700 names. Just follow the money. Most of the students knew. Also I don’t think future students should have to take these standardized tests. They are paying College Board for a test that only measures how well you can cheat.

This shows that colleges don't really verify these activities.

And this seems to be the craziest part of this story! Taking this logic to the extreme, why do colleges ask for transcripts, while they just should take the applicants' word for it.
Ridiculous.

No. They relied on their own staff—the coaches—to verify this. It’s reasonable to expect that your coach wants excellent athletes on his/her team and can vet this. Instead, these coaches broke that trust with their employer. This scam happened because there were coaches that were in on the false records, not because they were tricked by fake stats.

As for transcripts, they are coming directly from the school, not the applicant.

In the fake athlete cases, the parents and Singer went to great lengths to keep the kids’ high school counselors out of the loop because the counselors knew they were not recruited athletes. The article in today’s Post says Georgetown “stumbled” onto problems with the tennis coach through routine conversations with high school counselors. So admissions officers should contact high school counselors to verify that applicants for athlete slots truly athletic recruits. Coaches might say that counselors can’t evaluate athletic ability, but if a student is legitimately being recruited as a major college athlete he/she would share that information with their school counselor, it would be common knowledge at the school, and the student would almost certainly be recruited by more than one college, so if the counselor knows nothing about athletic accomplishments, then they probably do not exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the ACT/SAT cheating part was done is crazy. Mark Riddell, a 36 year old Harvard grad, would fly in to one of the cheating test sites in Texas or California. The students were told to tell the testing people they had to take the test there if they were not from the area that they had a bah mitzvah or something. Mark Riddell would either take the test for them, sit with them and tell them the answers while they took it, or change the answers for it. He did this for multiple tests including the subject tests.

Also applications were faked with made up sports and ethnicities. The girl who got into Georgetown had him take her tests and got a fake tennis history made up.

I hope they release all 700 names. Just follow the money. Most of the students knew. Also I don’t think future students should have to take these standardized tests. They are paying College Board for a test that only measures how well you can cheat.

This shows that colleges don't really verify these activities.

And this seems to be the craziest part of this story! Taking this logic to the extreme, why do colleges ask for transcripts, while they just should take the applicants' word for it.
Ridiculous.

Colleges check transcripts because it's ridiculously easy for them to do so. The transcript is right there along with the application. They don't verify activities because that would take actual work on their part. Think about Howe many application they have to go through. They don't want to spend time making phone calls and web searches to see if the kid really did play travel soccer or was President of the French Club. I have always suspected that it would be extremely easy to fudge extracurricular activities when applying to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How the ACT/SAT cheating part was done is crazy. Mark Riddell, a 36 year old Harvard grad, would fly in to one of the cheating test sites in Texas or California. The students were told to tell the testing people they had to take the test there if they were not from the area that they had a bah mitzvah or something. Mark Riddell would either take the test for them, sit with them and tell them the answers while they took it, or change the answers for it. He did this for multiple tests including the subject tests.

Also applications were faked with made up sports and ethnicities. The girl who got into Georgetown had him take her tests and got a fake tennis history made up.

I hope they release all 700 names. Just follow the money. Most of the students knew. Also I don’t think future students should have to take these standardized tests. They are paying College Board for a test that only measures how well you can cheat.

This shows that colleges don't really verify these activities.

And this seems to be the craziest part of this story! Taking this logic to the extreme, why do colleges ask for transcripts, while they just should take the applicants' word for it.
Ridiculous.

Colleges check transcripts because it's ridiculously easy for them to do so. The transcript is right there along with the application. They don't verify activities because that would take actual work on their part. Think about Howe many application they have to go through. They don't want to spend time making phone calls and web searches to see if the kid really did play travel soccer or was President of the French Club. I have always suspected that it would be extremely easy to fudge extracurricular activities when applying to college.

What is going to be fall out? Colleges will now admit more from schools where they know quality of schools and the Hs counselors especially if the admissions directors have a relationship with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It honestly sounds like the ringleader guy was taking advantage of gullible rich idiots during a time of anxiety. Outside of HYPS, none of these colleges are worth what they were paying, even if you have money to burn. USC? Georgetown? UCLA? NYU? Give me a break.

Oh cut it with the elitist snootiness. No these are not the tippy top schools, but they are all well known and very respectable. The people who paid these bribes were rich parents of ordinary kids who would never have been able to get into schools of this caliber on their own. These kids would have otherwise attended directional state university or it's private college counterpart.

That's not elitist, just a fact. USC, Georgetown, UCLA, NYU are fine selective schools, but they don't pop off the page. I know a lot of verifiable very wealthy and very connected people who have sent their kids to Pepperdine, Hobart and William Smith, Tulane, SMU, Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Miami-Ohio.

You really think anyone is more impressed that a bimbo went to USC instead of SMU? Not in the slightest. These parents are idiots.

Well of course they don't pop off the page, but these kids probably wouldn't have been able to get into pop off the page schools even with fake SAT scores or as athletic recruits. And yes USC and Georgetown are much higher regarded than Pepperdine, Tulane, and SMU.

I doubt USC is much higher regarded than SMU or Tulane, especially outside Southern California. IT was not that long ago when 1050 SAT score and the ability to pay full tuition practically guaranteed you admissions.

The real story, however, is that it was totally irrelevant to these rich kids and their parents whether little darling went to USC or Pepperdine or some hick college. Their outcome in life would be exactly the same. They don't need the hypothetical (and greatly overstated) hooks and connections that comes with a more prestigious school. Those kids were set for life. Guaranteed a lifetime of multi-million dollar mansions and flying only first class and parties and fancy clothes and idleness. GUARANTEED. So.... why did these idiotic parents risk prison over faking SAT scores? That is the intriguing part of it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It honestly sounds like the ringleader guy was taking advantage of gullible rich idiots during a time of anxiety. Outside of HYPS, none of these colleges are worth what they were paying, even if you have money to burn. USC? Georgetown? UCLA? NYU? Give me a break.

Oh cut it with the elitist snootiness. No these are not the tippy top schools, but they are all well known and very respectable. The people who paid these bribes were rich parents of ordinary kids who would never have been able to get into schools of this caliber on their own. These kids would have otherwise attended directional state university or it's private college counterpart.

That's not elitist, just a fact. USC, Georgetown, UCLA, NYU are fine selective schools, but they don't pop off the page. I know a lot of verifiable very wealthy and very connected people who have sent their kids to Pepperdine, Hobart and William Smith, Tulane, SMU, Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Miami-Ohio.

You really think anyone is more impressed that a bimbo went to USC instead of SMU? Not in the slightest. These parents are idiots.

You are the idiot! And you have not had a college age child. You are also ignorant of job placement and graduate school acceptance or alumni earnings. What popped out the page 30 years ago has changed and honestly you overall facts are wrong. If you talking about movies, Wall Street, law medicine PHDs. When your kid or maybe grand kid ends up at some crappy school you may realize things have changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It honestly sounds like the ringleader guy was taking advantage of gullible rich idiots during a time of anxiety. Outside of HYPS, none of these colleges are worth what they were paying, even if you have money to burn. USC? Georgetown? UCLA? NYU? Give me a break.

Oh cut it with the elitist snootiness. No these are not the tippy top schools, but they are all well known and very respectable. The people who paid these bribes were rich parents of ordinary kids who would never have been able to get into schools of this caliber on their own. These kids would have otherwise attended directional state university or it's private college counterpart.

That's not elitist, just a fact. USC, Georgetown, UCLA, NYU are fine selective schools, but they don't pop off the page. I know a lot of verifiable very wealthy and very connected people who have sent their kids to Pepperdine, Hobart and William Smith, Tulane, SMU, Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Miami-Ohio.

You really think anyone is more impressed that a bimbo went to USC instead of SMU? Not in the slightest. These parents are idiots.

Well of course they don't pop off the page, but these kids probably wouldn't have been able to get into pop off the page schools even with fake SAT scores or as athletic recruits. And yes USC and Georgetown are much higher regarded than Pepperdine, Tulane, and SMU.

I doubt USC is much higher regarded than SMU or Tulane, especially outside Southern California. IT was not that long ago when 1050 SAT score and the ability to pay full tuition practically guaranteed you admissions.

The real story, however, is that it was totally irrelevant to these rich kids and their parents whether little darling went to USC or Pepperdine or some hick college. Their outcome in life would be exactly the same. They don't need the hypothetical (and greatly overstated) hooks and connections that comes with a more prestigious school. Those kids were set for life. Guaranteed a lifetime of multi-million dollar mansions and flying only first class and parties and fancy clothes and idleness. GUARANTEED. So.... why did these idiotic parents risk prison over faking SAT scores? That is the intriguing part of it all.

At our private w very wealthy families - some are listed in Forbes - they all want HYP, Stanford, Ivies, Duel, Top 20 even though little Johnny or Susie are set for life. They have the wealth, now they want the “pedigree”. Why did Jobs kid want to go to Stanford? Also they want to make sure little Johnny and Susie mix with the right crowd and marry into the right crowd.