Feds uncover large-scale college entrance exam cheating plot

[Anonymous]

I just posted but am posting again. Imagine you are a kid who worked really, really hard throughout middle school and high school. You made sacrifices socially, economically, or whatever, to get the best grades you could. You studied like a maniac for the SAT, ACT, etc. You rewrote and rewrote and rewrote your college application essays. You did what you could to earn good letters of recommendation. You apply to schools, and you hope you have as reasonable a chance as anyone else, based on the school's admission stats. Then you are rejected from your top choices.

Then you find out your spot was taken because of bribes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sort of feel bad for the kids - in some cases they probably didn't even know this was happening, and now they are screwed.

That must be why the parents felt they had to bribe these kids into the schools...they obviously aren't bright enough to have figured out that their grades and test scores weren't exactly in line with what was typical with the schools. Or did they just think they were extra special?

After seeing Lori Laughlin's daughter's instagram, flaunting her wealth and all the sponsored posts, I have zero sympathy for her.

The one who could only get into Arizona State University? Disgusting. Wonder if she realizes now just how much mom sacrificed and paid for her?



After actress Lori Loughlin allegedly bribed her daughter’s way into college, the “Full House” star’s teen cashed in on her student status — despite admitting she was just going to school to party.

Olivia Jade Giannulli in September last year posted sponsored content on Instagram for Amazon Prime, featuring a photo of her in her new dorm room at the University of Southern California with the caption: “Officially a college student! It’s been a few weeks since I moved into my dorm and I absolutely love it. I got everything I needed from Amazon with @primestudent and had it all shipped to me in just two-days.”

So what is responsible for this brand of twit? Nature or nature?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG - Singer took the bribes and then told the parents they could deduct the bribes from their tax returns. OOPS.

They were funneled through a "charity."

You can't make this up.

OMG, this is tax fraud, too. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like there's a real viral marketing opportunity for ASU here. Hope they take advantage of it.

Arizona State?

I am not following.

The whole reason Lori Laughlin did this was so her daughter could go somewhere that wasn't ASU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heh if you have to cheat to get into UCSD that's really lame.

Awesome. Quote of the Year!

Actually it was USD - Univ of San Diego, the private Catholic college - which is even easier to get into than UCSD

AKA the "University of Spoiled Daughters"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to get the data on these kids and compare their success to the rest of the population in their respective schools.

They probably performed the same.

I also wonder how far back this goes. I'm sure some of the children who benefited have graduated already. What happens to their degrees? Do they get revoked/nullified/whatever you call it?

I'm pretty sure this has been going on for *years*. Rich people have their set of rules.

My boss's kid could not get into law school on his own. Boss donated $100,000 to Southern Illinois University School of Law and they still said "No." (And he was a trustee for SIU!) Boss then donated $1 million to Northern Illinois University and that did the trick. Kid got a law degree and a license and then proceeded to destroy the family law firm.

LOL that's funny

Didn't Kushner's dad pay to get him into Harvard? It was at least a $1M.

Kushner was a $2.5M donation, allegedly. But maybe that was for he AND his brother, who also went to Harvard? If yes, $1.25M per.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/10/4/harvard-to-the-highest-bidder-how/

Also note, Jared got an NYU JD/MBA, an elite T14 law program, and the president of NYU back then was a seedy guy his father knew, so I doubt Harvard was the only handshake. Jared never took the bar, as doing so is public information. Failing once twice three times would be quite embarrassing and truly expose his depth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actresses and chief executives are among 50 people arrested in a nationwide college admissions cheating scam, according to court records unsealed in Boston Tuesday.

Those indicted allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors said.

In most cases the students did not know their admission was contingent on a bribe, officials said.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/actresses-ceos-arrested-nationwide-college-admissions-cheating-scam/story?id=61627873

I think ppl who aspire single-mindedly to the Ivy league schools have a classic correlation not causation problem. Ivy league schools serve rich, connected students whose parents smooth their path to enrollment through years of coaching, test-prep and carefully selected activities (Lacrosse, squash anyone?!). Failing that, they outright bribe their kids' way in see above and this: https://www.philly.com/college-sports/jerome-allen-penn-bribery-fraud-testimony-20190312.html). Ivy league graduates become rich, elite adults bc of their family's wealth and connections, not their college degree (correlation not causation). Smart students who think the Ivy wand will magically make them rich and connected are kidding themselves.

You realize of course that only 1 of the 4 listed schools is Ivy. The other schools mentioned in the article are Texas and UCLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just posted but am posting again. Imagine you are a kid who worked really, really hard throughout middle school and high school. You made sacrifices socially, economically, or whatever, to get the best grades you could. You studied like a maniac for the SAT, ACT, etc. You rewrote and rewrote and rewrote your college application essays. You did what you could to earn good letters of recommendation. You apply to schools, and you hope you have as reasonable a chance as anyone else, based on the school's admission stats. Then you are rejected from your top choices.

Then you find out your spot was taken because of bribes.

I get your point, of course, but students who do all you describe aren't rejected from USC. The bottom 25% of USC isn't terribly impressive. Also, there's an argument that rich students and donations from rich families offsets financial aid peers. $500,000 donation is enough to give half-ride scholarships to a handful of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BOOM! Georgetown coach took almost $900k! One kid never played tennis at all.

https://www.justice.gov/file/1142876/download

123. Between approximately September 11, 2015 and November 30, 2016, KWF paid Ernst $950,000. CW-1 has advised that these payments were made in exchange for Ernst’s designation of the HENRIQUEZES’ daughter and several other students as purported tennis recruits, in order to facilitate their admission to Georgetown.

Some of these were even more recent!!! O.O

Defendant JANE BUCKINGHAM is a residentof Los Angeles, California. BUCKINGHAM is chief executive officer (“CEO”) of a boutique marketing company based in Los Angeles.33.In or about June 2018, BUCKINGHAM agreed to make a purported charitable donation of $50,000to KWF,in exchange for which CW-1arranged to have CW-2take the ACT on behalf of BUCKINGHAM’s son at the Houston Test Center the following month.

1634.Thereafter, CW-1 made arrangements with Williams to to allow CW-2 to purport to proctor the ACT for BUCKINGHAM’s son.In return,CW-1promised Williamsthat he would send her money to “go on vacation.”35.

In a call with BUCKINGHAM on or about July 10, 2018, CW-1explained, in substance,that CW-2would not require all of the extended time BUCKINGHAM’s son had been granted to take the ACT.The following is an excerpt from the conversation, which was intercepted pursuant to a Court-authorized wiretap.

The lovely Mrs. Jane Buckingham -




https://www.instagram.com/janebuckingham/?hl=en

And that's the lovely Mrs. Buckingham's cheating offspring
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs10WE6nufF/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Felicity Huffman's husband (not indicted) was chatting about how 'difficult' the admission process was just two months ago. Guess its pretty hard to wipe your tears with hundreds of thousands as you cut a check.

https://people.com/movies/felicity-huffman-william-h-macy-stressful-college-admission-bribery-scandal/

We’re right now in the thick of college application time, which is so stressful. I am voting that once she gets accepted, she maybe takes a year off. God doesn’t let you be 18 twice. I know from casting, if you need a 25-, 26-year-old actress, there are a lot of them out there and they’re really good. But if you need a 15-, 16-year-old actress, it’s tough. Sofia looks young. I think this is an opportunity for her. But it’s just my opinion, and we’ll see what she wants to do, what Felicity thinks and how the chips fall. My daughter Georgia, she’s interested in politics, political science and pursuing that. She’s in a very academic school and killing it.

Hmm, is she really killing it? Maybe they are greasing some palms there, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love to get the data on these kids and compare their success to the rest of the population in their respective schools.

They probably performed the same.

I also wonder how far back this goes. I'm sure some of the children who benefited have graduated already. What happens to their degrees? Do they get revoked/nullified/whatever you call it?

I'm pretty sure this has been going on for *years*. Rich people have their set of rules.

My boss's kid could not get into law school on his own. Boss donated $100,000 to Southern Illinois University School of Law and they still said "No." (And he was a trustee for SIU!) Boss then donated $1 million to Northern Illinois University and that did the trick. Kid got a law degree and a license and then proceeded to destroy the family law firm.

LOL that's funny

Didn't Kushner's dad pay to get him into Harvard? It was at least a $1M.

Kushner was a $2.5M donation, allegedly. But maybe that was for he AND his brother, who also went to Harvard? If yes, $1.25M per.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/10/4/harvard-to-the-highest-bidder-how/

Also note, Jared got an NYU JD/MBA, an elite T14 law program, and the president of NYU back then was a seedy guy his father knew, so I doubt Harvard was the only handshake. Jared never took the bar, as doing so is public information. Failing once twice three times would be quite embarrassing and truly expose his depth.

If Harvard admissions costs 1.25 million a student & they have a huge endowment, think of all the schools you could get into with a 250-500k donation. Even Brown’s endowment is 10% of Harvard’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the downside of holistic admissions. Too easy to manipulate the results.

Yet another reason why schools should no longer be allowed to offer preferences or scholarships to athletes.

It wasn't just athleticism. These parents paid people to take the SAT and ACTs in place of their kids and submit those scores in the admissions packet.

They'll get them on all counts of fraud.

Look, colleges have been known to drop students if they do something inappropriate during their senior year of High School. This is outright fraud on the part of the students and their families. The students know they didn't take the SAT or ACT and yet mysteriously got a great score; the students know they don't play certain sports and yet are getting accepted due to their sports performance.

And then what happens when those amazing athletes show up?

No way schools didn't realize something fishy was going on.

The college coaches were in on it, per the indictment. Admissions relies on the coaches.

[Anonymous]

It seems the Asians are the only ones who are actually relying on merit to get into elite colleges.

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile Asian-American kids that are well qualified being rejected. Make Asians Great Again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Felicity Huffman's husband (not indicted) was chatting about how 'difficult' the admission process was just two months ago. Guess its pretty hard to wipe your tears with hundreds of thousands as you cut a check.

https://people.com/movies/felicity-huffman-william-h-macy-stressful-college-admission-bribery-scandal/

We’re right now in the thick of college application time, which is so stressful. I am voting that once she gets accepted, she maybe takes a year off. God doesn’t let you be 18 twice. I know from casting, if you need a 25-, 26-year-old actress, there are a lot of them out there and they’re really good. But if you need a 15-, 16-year-old actress, it’s tough. Sofia looks young. I think this is an opportunity for her. But it’s just my opinion, and we’ll see what she wants to do, what Felicity thinks and how the chips fall. My daughter Georgia, she’s interested in politics, political science and pursuing that. She’s in a very academic school and killing it.

Her daughters are cute. They didn’t need college with mom’s connections in the industry.

Seriously. This thing is whole is so stupid and pointless. They could've gone to regular, maybe not super prestigious colleges and then have fine acting careers. Now -- seriously, who is going to admit the older daughter? And the younger one's reputation will probably be tarnished due to the actions of her mom and sister.