UMC suburban college student lied about background to become prestigious Rhodes Scholar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here you go.

https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/letters/penns-treatment-of-mackenzie-fierceton-has-been-shameful
.

Many of the questions being raised here have been addressed in great detail in a letter to the editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education, written by MF’s 2 senior faculty advisors at Penn, Anne Norton and Rogers Smith. (See link.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we talk about lying in this case, it is necessary to keep in mind that Penn has also been repeatedly lying and that Penn is also very carefully choosing their words. They have high powered lawyers representing them, who are master wordsmiths working diligently to protect their client’s interests. It’s not like UPenn and their representatives are truth seekers in this process.

Fair enough.

And whether Mackenzie Fierceton made up a story full of woe-is-me and pathos to get attention and to get a lot of potential educational debt paid off in the most drama llama way possible, in part by appropriating the experience of other lifelong underprivileged kids both by lying and by exaggerating (and by those carefully chosen words) -- that is an entirely separate question.

We can talk about both. Sure. But let's not pretend that one excuses the other, especially not the egregious one.

Again, I suggest reading the link in my previous post. The idea that MF is a manipulative serial liar is a tale being spun by certain people at Penn. the Philadelphia Inquirer article which attracted all of the attention from people in St. Louis included embellishments and misrepresentations created by the reporter herself. MF isn’t the only one motivated to create a piece of creative writing to serve their own interests. Reporters do it all the time to get “a good story”. The reporter did it in this case and leaves the responsibility for her inventiveness in the lap of the subject of this story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn’t Questbridge have egg on their face too? Questbridge for Penn is literally a $300,000+ scholarship!

No because they helped an abused minor who has no family get an education. She is more likely to help fix the foster care system than some lax bro going to Wall Street.

The only people I know who are Questbridge scholars are dirt poor Black and Hispanic kids — not “lax bros” and not rich girls who grew up in mansions and $30k day schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm team sketch, based on the details out there so far. Also mentally filtering all the news articles, which always slant in some way, and don't always capture the full "truth" of any situation, no matter who it being written about. Mackenzie was a top student, an athlete, supposed to be 5'10" (that's tall), class president, driven, fully privileged and had strong conflicts with the mom. Her father is or was an actor. She obviously has some of mom's academically driven characteristics. What about the dad's?

Scenario: Something flared up with the mom & kid goes ballistic. Kid decides she'll show her. She's got it all covered & doesn't need a damn thing from mom, ever again. And basically, that was accomplished. Until she took it too far & got caught.

5’10”, sporty, and in her physical prime but thrown down the stairs by a meek old mom? Riiiight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read most of this thread but I just want to say that, with Questbridge, I wonder if the high school doesn't have some blame. My kid was an abuse survivor and included that in their college essays years ago. The MCPS guidance counselor called me and verified the information. In a way, I was thankful because he later told us that several of the colleges called to verify the information also.

I posted this. Just to clarify, he didn't just verify with me. He actually called the elementary school to verify it.

My hunch is the more elite schools on her Questbridge list smelled the fictitious crap from a mile away. Only Penn was duped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two articles I’ve read made references to living with friends and on friends’ couches, presumably rich friends from her private high school.

Where is the proof she actually lived in random foster homes?

It’s in UPenn’s legal documents which have been submitted in response to MF’s lawsuit against the university. They name the 3 foster families with whom she lived and the one with whom she continued to live in her senior year after she left the foster care system. I believe that the UPenn response document was linked earlier in this thread.

She lived with 3 totally random Foster families in 1 year? Or she was technically in the foster system and crashed at 3 rich private school friends’ families homes? She herself admitted to staying at friends’ homes — why and how would a nearly 18 y/o woman with options to stay in rich friends’ homes ever live in a random foster home? It’s illogical. And she can’t name any of her alleged foster siblings from that year. It doesn’t pass the smell test.

Yes, she lived with 3 foster families where social services placed her and continued to live with one of them for another year after she left the foster care system.

This is simply an established fact that you’re arguing against. This fact has been verified and reported by UPenn itself. Wgphat interest would they have in misrepresenting this fact? The fact that she would occasionally crash at the home(s) of some friends is also nothing suspicious. High school kids do it all the time.

Furthermore, she wasn’t “nearly 18” when she was placed; she was barely 17. No one has said that she can’t name any of her foster siblings. You’ve got that one wrong. Check the facts. She refused to name them. That’s a totally different thing.

I don’t know what smell test you’re using, but you can only use logical deduction when you’re plugging actual facts into your deductions, which you’re not doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read most of this thread but I just want to say that, with Questbridge, I wonder if the high school doesn't have some blame. My kid was an abuse survivor and included that in their college essays years ago. The MCPS guidance counselor called me and verified the information. In a way, I was thankful because he later told us that several of the colleges called to verify the information also.

I posted this. Just to clarify, he didn't just verify with me. He actually called the elementary school to verify it.

My hunch is the more elite schools on her Questbridge list smelled the fictitious crap from a mile away. Only Penn was duped.

Who’s more elite than Penn and Oxford?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm team sketch, based on the details out there so far. Also mentally filtering all the news articles, which always slant in some way, and don't always capture the full "truth" of any situation, no matter who it being written about. Mackenzie was a top student, an athlete, supposed to be 5'10" (that's tall), class president, driven, fully privileged and had strong conflicts with the mom. Her father is or was an actor. She obviously has some of mom's academically driven characteristics. What about the dad's?

Scenario: Something flared up with the mom & kid goes ballistic. Kid decides she'll show her. She's got it all covered & doesn't need a damn thing from mom, ever again. And basically, that was accomplished. Until she took it too far & got caught.

5’10”, sporty, and in her physical prime but thrown down the stairs by a meek old mom? Riiiight.

Her mom was neither meek nor old. It’s not a feat of strength to push someone down the stairs. You’re just making crap up, doing the same thing you’re accusing her of doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn’t Questbridge have egg on their face too? Questbridge for Penn is literally a $300,000+ scholarship!

No because they helped an abused minor who has no family get an education. She is more likely to help fix the foster care system than some lax bro going to Wall Street.

The only people I know who are Questbridge scholars are dirt poor Black and Hispanic kids — not “lax bros” and not rich girls who grew up in mansions and $30k day schools.

Now we’ve established that your experience is limited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we talk about lying in this case, it is necessary to keep in mind that Penn has also been repeatedly lying and that Penn is also very carefully choosing their words. They have high powered lawyers representing them, who are master wordsmiths working diligently to protect their client’s interests. It’s not like UPenn and their representatives are truth seekers in this process.

Fair enough.

And whether Mackenzie Fierceton made up a story full of woe-is-me and pathos to get attention and to get a lot of potential educational debt paid off in the most drama llama way possible, in part by appropriating the experience of other lifelong underprivileged kids both by lying and by exaggerating (and by those carefully chosen words) -- that is an entirely separate question.

We can talk about both. Sure. But let's not pretend that one excuses the other, especially not the egregious one.

Again, I suggest reading the link in my previous post. The idea that MF is a manipulative serial liar is a tale being spun by certain people at Penn. the Philadelphia Inquirer article which attracted all of the attention from people in St. Louis included embellishments and misrepresentations created by the reporter herself. MF isn’t the only one motivated to create a piece of creative writing to serve their own interests. Reporters do it all the time to get “a good story”. The reporter did it in this case and leaves the responsibility for her inventiveness in the lap of the subject of this story.

Sure. And Mackenzie Fierceton, being the paragon of stalwart honesty that she is, immediately went to pains to correct those misleading stories, right? And never referenced the article without making clear that someone else had written a fanciful story full of lies -- certainly never listed it anywhere without being at pains to make sure everyone reading knew it was full of lies. Right?

[Anonymous]

Penn and Questbridge are staffed by total idiots who thought a real poor foster kid was somehow on full scholarship all her life in the ritziest private schools in St Louis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read most of this thread but I just want to say that, with Questbridge, I wonder if the high school doesn't have some blame. My kid was an abuse survivor and included that in their college essays years ago. The MCPS guidance counselor called me and verified the information. In a way, I was thankful because he later told us that several of the colleges called to verify the information also.

I posted this. Just to clarify, he didn't just verify with me. He actually called the elementary school to verify it.

My hunch is the more elite schools on her Questbridge list smelled the fictitious crap from a mile away. Only Penn was duped.

Who’s more elite than Penn and Oxford?

HYPSMC and Oxford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Penn and Questbridge are staffed by total idiots who thought a real poor foster kid was somehow on full scholarship all her life in the ritziest private schools in St Louis.

I'm sure we agree that other people being total idiots doesn't justify lying to them in order to take their money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm team sketch, based on the details out there so far. Also mentally filtering all the news articles, which always slant in some way, and don't always capture the full "truth" of any situation, no matter who it being written about. Mackenzie was a top student, an athlete, supposed to be 5'10" (that's tall), class president, driven, fully privileged and had strong conflicts with the mom. Her father is or was an actor. She obviously has some of mom's academically driven characteristics. What about the dad's?

Scenario: Something flared up with the mom & kid goes ballistic. Kid decides she'll show her. She's got it all covered & doesn't need a damn thing from mom, ever again. And basically, that was accomplished. Until she took it too far & got caught.

5’10”, sporty, and in her physical prime but thrown down the stairs by a meek old mom? Riiiight.

Her mom was neither meek nor old. It’s not a feat of strength to push someone down the stairs. You’re just making crap up, doing the same thing you’re accusing her of doing.

A bio I saw says the mom graduated from college in the early 80s? That makes her 55 to 60 years old when the incident occurred? That is old and weak compared to a physical prime 5’10” teen athlete.

[Anonymous]

This girl is a psychopath. Big time.
And I agree, the story is embarrassing.