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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether she’d got into an Ivy or not is speculation, she got it for 100% free! Plus a free master’s degree and free study abroad semesters. That’s like $400,000.

What is so interesting to me is that she must have covered her bets by applying to the other highly regarded Ivys. And they either rejected her (maybe they smelled a rat), or they accepted her but she chose Penn. She's a manipulator for sure, but Penn is highly complicit in all this to be sure.

She was a QuestBridge applicant, you rank 10 colleges when you submit the Questbridge app. It's separate from common app. It's like tinder, the top school on your list that wants you, you hear back from. I doubt Penn was her #1, the higher ranked Ivies and Stanford smelled the B.S. Nobody in foster cares in at an elite day school for 4 years.

[Anonymous]

She sounds brilliant but mentally ill.

She would make an incredible actress as it sounds like believed the complex web of lies she weaved.

[Anonymous]

Definitely crazy to not realize she would be caught eventually ….


When British businessman Cecil Rhodes died in 1902, his fortune was used to establish the Rhodes scholarship, which brings outstanding students from around the world to study at the University of Oxford in England, generally for two years. Students from any academic discipline are selected on the basis of intellectual distinction, as well as the promise of future leadership and service to the world.

According to the Rhodes Trust, the overall global acceptance rate stands at 0.7%, making it one of the most competitive scholarships in the world. An early change was the elimination of the scholarships for Germany during the First and Second World Wars.

Some prominent American Rhodes Scholar include:

• Edwin Hubble.
• Dean Rusk.
• Lord Howard Florey.
• James William Fulbright.
• Bill Bradley.
• Bill Clinton.
• Strobe Talbott.
• George Stephanopoulos.


List of all Rhodes scholars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I imagine in 60+ pages that the below was discussed already, so I apologize in advance if it was...

The mother's account of what occurred that night sounds absolutely RIDICULOUS (gum stuck in her hair, so we decided to remove it while standing on the staircase?!?).
I have no doubt that Mackenzie went through something traumatic that night, whatever it was that happened.

However, its been proven by the investigation that Mackenzie heavily embellished her injuries on her essays (ie; she had no breathing tube, she had no braces (as she had no broken bones) her feeding tube was due to "behavioral" issues and it thre feeding tube wasn't medically necessary, etc).

There was one red flag that stood out though...

When I was in high school, a close friend of mine in went through something similar.
So many families in our school stepped up and sent letters to the court requesting to assist in any way they could & they offered for her to live with them and become responsible for her.

The family court went so far as to offer the families that applied, the same amount of money that a foster family would receive monthly for her food, housing clothing, etc (none of the families that applied took them up on their offer though).

From that terrible evening & for the next 3 months, she lived with my family (my parents, myself (16) twin sisters (13) & brother (10).

We shared my room, she slept in my bed right next to me, and she truly felt like another sibling to everyone in the house (which was the close knit support she needed after going through such a traumatic event).

Ultimately, her case workers thought that it would benefit her to have a space that was all her own... her own room, where she could just be.

Unfortunately, with 4 kids already, we couldn't provide that for her, so, she went to permanently live with another close friend who lived down the street.
It worked out perfectly, because our friend is an only child so they were better equipped to give her the individualized attention & support that she really needed, which ended up being the best place for her to heal & thrive at her own pace, comfortably, and in peace.

I so admire the way that all of our parents banded together the way that they did, because it was always about what was in HER best interest.

I mention my friend, because the case worker and family judge assigned to her case, were thrilled that so many families wanted to take her in & become responsible for her -- they made it abundantly clear that they without a doubt did not want to place her in the foster care system.

They went as far as to run background checks on every parent or adult living in the potential homes, because they so wanted to keep her out of the system.

That being said, we were a solidly working class neighborhood, mostly blue collar workers, not wealthy by any means, but what our town lacked in monetary wealth, we made up for with an abundance of love & rallying support for everyone in the community.

The judge did make a point of telling all of the parents, that they would exhaust every resource possible before even contemplating putting her in the foster care at the age of 16/17.

So, I find it curious that in neither the solidly middle/upper class community where she lived, nor at the elite private school she attended, that none of Mackenzie's extended family, friends/parents of her friends, stepped up to offer to take her in... even temporarily?

Rather they would allow her to enter a foster care system, which is widely known and habitually accused of being untrustworthy, broken, abusive and in DESPERATE need of reform?

It makes me wonder why nobody else... friends nor family, would step in to take her in?

That sounds like a great story. But I've seen many posts, in the foster care circles about Aunt's/Uncles/Grandparents refusing to take in their family members. These people will usually preface with their financial situation which is usually middle/upper-middle class and how an additional kid would throw off their family 'routines.'

I've also been in this situation, and no one offered to take me in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely crazy to not realize she would be caught eventually ….


When British businessman Cecil Rhodes died in 1902, his fortune was used to establish the Rhodes scholarship, which brings outstanding students from around the world to study at the University of Oxford in England, generally for two years. Students from any academic discipline are selected on the basis of intellectual distinction, as well as the promise of future leadership and service to the world.

According to the Rhodes Trust, the overall global acceptance rate stands at 0.7%, making it one of the most competitive scholarships in the world. An early change was the elimination of the scholarships for Germany during the First and Second World Wars.

Some prominent American Rhodes Scholar include:

• Edwin Hubble.
• Dean Rusk.
• Lord Howard Florey.
• James William Fulbright.
• Bill Bradley.
• Bill Clinton.
• Strobe Talbott.
• George Stephanopoulos.


List of all Rhodes scholars

And Pat Hayden - U.S.C. quarterback

And Mackenzie Fierceton -- so close -- but her story unravelled when people who knew her blew the whistle, exposing her real background.

[Anonymous]

She will go down in history as the Rosie Ruiz of Rhodes Scholarship history. Do you remember her? If not, look her up.

[Anonymous]

She is a kid. You have 60 pages of post about a girl who might have embellished her application.
So, ley me ask you, signing your kiddo to do a 5 months “voluntary work assignment” working with immigrant kids to reinforce their university application (while at the same time you are asking to build a wall) is fine, but this girl is a criminal. They irony. 😆😆😆

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is a kid. You have 60 pages of post about a girl who might have embellished her application.
So, ley me ask you, signing your kiddo to do a 5 months “voluntary work assignment” working with immigrant kids to reinforce their university application (while at the same time you are asking to build a wall) is fine, but this girl is a criminal. They irony. 😆😆😆

Who said she is a criminal? She filed the lawsuit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is a kid. You have 60 pages of post about a girl who might have embellished her application.
So, ley me ask you, signing your kiddo to do a 5 months “voluntary work assignment” working with immigrant kids to reinforce their university application (while at the same time you are asking to build a wall) is fine, but this girl is a criminal. They irony. 😆😆😆

Who said she is a criminal? She filed the lawsuit.

fraud. Her applications, including Questbridge, were fraudulent. Anyone can file a lawsuit. Anyone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She is a kid. You have 60 pages of post about a girl who might have embellished her application.
So, ley me ask you, signing your kiddo to do a 5 months “voluntary work assignment” working with immigrant kids to reinforce their university application (while at the same time you are asking to build a wall) is fine, but this girl is a criminal. They irony. 😆😆😆

Who said she is a criminal? She filed the lawsuit.

fraud. Her applications, including Questbridge, were fraudulent. Anyone can file a lawsuit. Anyone

I do think you represent the majority opinion. Recall how everyone came down so hard on Lori Laughlin? I hope she doesn't seek a jury trial.

[Anonymous]

I contend the foster angle was orchestrated by this ruthless striver from the very get-go. I think she researched that foster care was THE "hook" in elite college admissions and prestige scholarships. I mean it's not like she could make herself Black but she could make herself technically foster. This wasn't a baby when this was going down, she was a grown ass 17 year old woman, a private school lifer, the class president for Christ's sake, with access to a wealthy network of private school lifer peers and their families. The obvious and natural thing for her to do if things were testy at home would have been to "move out" and crash with a friend's family. Thousands of high school nearly and over 18 y/o juniors and seniors do this every year, it's not something that plays out in any court or foster system. You would only take it that far if you were playing an angle...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come all of her defenders ignore the part where she tried to scam more financial aid from Penn by claiming she supported a special needs half-sister who actually lives with her estranged dad?

Just in the interests of accuracy, the claim that she has a special needs half sister, according to UPenn, was made on her FAFSA application. On their own website, UPenn separates FAFSA, an application for federal financial aid from “Penn’s financial aid application, that determines eligibility for Penn funds” so, as a point of fact the purported claim of a half sister was not used “to scam more financial aid from Penn”.

I’m not justifying the claim if in fact she made it. Just saying that she didn’t scan Penn with such a claim and they can’t be viewed as an injured party by such a claim.

I don’t agree. UPenn relied upon FAFSA in giving financial aid to the student. It’s “fruit of the poison tree”. So although FAFSA is separate it is a source heavily relied on by the college. It’s fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penn likely has enough on her to turn her into the feds for pell grant fraud and also admissions fraud, which could be used to strip her of all Penn degrees, not just the master’s. I wish they would. Why let this scammer defile the integrity of the institution.

But they didn’t do that, did they? Just proving that your “likely has enough” claim is full of crap.

She claimed a lawyer at Penn threatened to turn her in for pell grant fraud.

No one needed to “threaten her”. When it came out as fraud it was likely. That’s like saying when you get a traffic ticket you were “threatened” with courts and fines. She got caught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People sue because they thought it was a sure thing and they are enraged at someone taking it away from them. Someone has to pay, and it isn't going to be them.

Until, of course, it is. Suing = discovery.

Letting the sun shine on it would be the perfect defense, except for the fact that the sun is shining on the lies. And the truth is an absolute defense to libel claims.

+1

I think there is an element of magical thinking going on in both cases.

I actually think she sued, knowing she’d lose, to make Penn look bad. Just look at all the dirty laundry she’s aired! The wrongful death suit got way more publicity this way than it did on its own. Penn’s admissions practices look shoddy, and its lauded class mobility stats look to be cynically manipulated. And anyone with aspirations to be a Rhodes scholar knows now, as they didn’t before, that Rhodes must look on applicants supported by Penn with deep distrust.

And what does she lose? An MSW? Does she even really care about reforming foster care? Probably not.

Even assuming she gets nothing from the lawsuit, she walks away with a bachelor’s from an Ivy League university (summa!). Changes her last name again — she’s already had three — and disappears into a sea of Mackenzies.

Whatever the official fee arrangement, you know she’s not paying the bill for the lawyers. When the court rules against her, she’ll just add the judge/jury to the list of people who victimize her. And she never has to apologize. From her point of view suing is win/win, even given a 100% chance that she loses in court.

I think Penn comes out looking good here, not bad, other than highlighting its ludicrous first-generation definition. But otherwise I agree with you.

I do not think Fierceton will be able to easily escape this for employers that actually do proper reference checks. But you are right she will probably change her name again.

Perhaps, but it highlights that Penn was sloppy with the initial admissions check and bought the whole "I'm a victim" story without checking. And then went on to put her in a Master's program. AND support her for the Rhodes.
The Higher Ed Community is watching because there has been far too much emphasis put on identity politics, victim stories, "I have overcome" stuff and not enough on academic achievement. Many feel this to be the case. And here Penn is caught being duped not once, but thrice or maybe even more times by this young woman.[b]

What are you talking about?

It sounds like you have a real axe to grind with Penn based on your comments.

This girl graduated from high school as student body president, straight A student, captain of her lacrosse team, she won a leadership award her senior year, made all-district on her varsity soccer team, played basketball, ran cross-country, and earned a third-degree black belt in taekwondo.

A math teacher praised her “impressive depth of understanding,” and a history teacher marveled at how she “excelled in all classes and all activities.”

She would have been accepted to Penn regardless of her sob story, based on merit alone.

And if the "the Higher Ed Community is watching"... good!

She would've gotten in on "academic achievement" and didnt need the "I have overcome" stuff.

That doesn't make Penn look bad at all... but it does say something about her character.

At a very small very expensive private school many students have similar achievements. Schools heap them in to boost their school. Many of her cohort who were honest about their achievements DID not get into Ivies OR Penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How come all of her defenders ignore the part where she tried to scam more financial aid from Penn by claiming she supported a special needs half-sister who actually lives with her estranged dad?

Just in the interests of accuracy, the claim that she has a special needs half sister, according to UPenn, was made on her FAFSA application. On their own website, UPenn separates FAFSA, an application for federal financial aid from “Penn’s financial aid application, that determines eligibility for Penn funds” so, as a point of fact the purported claim of a half sister was not used “to scam more financial aid from Penn”.

I’m not justifying the claim if in fact she made it. Just saying that she didn’t scan Penn with such a claim and they can’t be viewed as an injured party by such a claim.

I don’t agree. UPenn relied upon FAFSA in giving financial aid to the student. It’s “fruit of the poison tree”. So although FAFSA is separate it is a source heavily relied on by the college. It’s fraud.

This. She lied on the FAFSA. Colleges rely on it (or CSS) to decide how to deal with your EFC (Expected Family Contribution). Presumably her EFC was zero or very low so Penn coughed up big bucks to help her. That's called fraud.