College Entrance Scandal

[Benzgirl]

I was surprised nobody has mentioned the indictment yet. At least one student is involved in Greek Life. Olivia Jade Giannulli's daughter is either an Alpha Phi or Kappa at USC. I've seen conflicting information on the chapter.

[ForeverRoses]

I am sadly not surprised by any of this.

[andthen]

I'm not surprised by this either, but it certainly brings a new level of helicopter parenting.

[AZTheta]

@Benzgirl, I think you typed too fast. Lori Loughlin & Mossimo Giannulli's daughters are Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose. Both daughters are USC Kappas.

Charlotte Todd, daughter of Todd & Diane Blake, is a USC Alpha Phi.

IF other affiliations are revealed, please update.

The BBC news feed has more. The trolling on social media is wild. Reportedly there are other offspring with Greek affiliations involved in this, and it's a hot mess IMO. Gonna see a lot of heads rolling (the USC employees who took the bribes just for starters!). And the admissions (as well as current status) of unqualified non-Greek students at USC is a list that will be interesting to peruse.

Watching to see if there will be other universities implicated. Am I too awful to hope Harvard and Yale are dirty? Yes I know that is petty; my "justification" is that I have a dog in that fight. Actually, we all do.

[Remiechi]

I think the older sister Bella is Greek at USC. The younger one, Olivia, made it clear on social media that academics are not her priority, and according to one publicized court document, she didn’t even fill out the common app herself, which makes me think she may have had very little knowledge of her parents’ behind the scenes schemes.
Does this mean she and her sister get expelled from the university?

[AZTheta]

@Remiechi, Olivia and her sister posed for rowing photos in support of their applications, although neither has any crew/rowing experience or interest. Going to be difficult to claim lack of knowledge.

Don't have any insight into how USC will handle these students' admissions or status. As we've seen from the current regime in Washington, money talks. Ethics and moral code be damned. How about an autographed Bible?

[DGTess]

Devil's advocate here ...

Really, what's the difference between an unqualified rich kid whose parents pay a coach, and an unqualified athlete whose sports alumnae pay the school?

When I first saw the stories, I heard only Harvard and Yale. Private institutions, who are free to do with their reputations whatever they like. After all, it's not like Boston University, whose graduates call their reputation into question. Then I saw the number of public, taxpayer-funded schools involved, and my perception changed.

But still - athletes do it; why not rich kids?

[navane]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

Watching to see if there will be other universities implicated. Am I too awful to hope Harvard and Yale are dirty? Yes I know that is petty; my "justification" is that I have a dog in that fight. Actually, we all do.

Everyone on my FB is focusing on and trash talking USC as if it were the only university implicated in this scandal. I'm assuming that's because the children of the two most recognizable celebrities on the indictment list went to USC; but, there were some 30 parents on the indictment list.

So far, in the articles I've read, these are some of the potentially affected universities: USC, UCLA, Stanford, Yale, University of Texas, Georgetown, Wake Forest, Northeastern University, University of San Diego, Chapman University, University of California Santa Barbara.

[BetaIotaDZ]

That ACT and SAT scores are now suspect due to this scam/cheating business angers me. Prosecute!

That wealthy parents do not get their children in private schools (USC is private) by simply making substantial donations surprises me.

Ivies have been notorious for admissions by donations. This was even before burgeoning population and renewed burgeoning economic disparity contributed to today's parental angst and the embarrassing behavior of some wealthy parents. And it makes the academic elitism claims of the Ivies kinda phunny.

Just checked out my next book club book and saw this quote on Good Reads: “You want to see a very bad man? Make an ordinary man successful beyond his imagination. Let’s see how good he is when he can do whatever he wants.”

[Remiechi]

Supposedly the SAT proctor changed a student’s answers after test completion? Unless the test was administered in a room with the proctor and student being the only ones there, it would be almost impossible to correct an answer sheet. It’s not like the proctors have an answer key. And aren’t the students required to seal their answer sheet in an envelope at the end of the test period? That would require the proctor to break the seal and go over the test question by question.
Wouldn’t it far easier to have someone take the test for the student, as William Macy’s fictional son in Shameless did?

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Remiechi

Supposedly the SAT proctor changed a student’s answers after test completion? Unless the test was administered in a room with the proctor and student being the only ones there, it would be almost impossible to correct an answer sheet. It’s not like the proctors have an answer key. And aren’t the students required to seal their answer sheet in an envelope at the end of the test period? That would require the proctor to break the seal and go over the test question by question.
Wouldn’t it far easier to have someone take the test for the student, as William Macy’s fictional son in Shameless did?

I'm trying to remember which news broadcast had it (WGN?) but they said that there was one guy who was literally taking the tests for people at $10K a pop. Not a bad day's work, if you care to be a criminal.

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by Remiechi

Supposedly the SAT proctor changed a student’s answers after test completion? Unless the test was administered in a room with the proctor and student being the only ones there, it would be almost impossible to correct an answer sheet. It’s not like the proctors have an answer key. And aren’t the students required to seal their answer sheet in an envelope at the end of the test period? That would require the proctor to break the seal and go over the test question by question.
Wouldn’t it far easier to have someone take the test for the student, as William Macy’s fictional son in Shameless did?

There is a lot of detail in the document linked below:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pres...42951/download

It is exactly as you describe, they found a way to have the student and the proctor alone in a room so answers could be changed, among other things.

The guy coordinating the scam raked in $25M from these parents. Truly unbelieveable! Well, maybe not! I suspect when you have that much disposable income, and no morals, you will spend it to ensure that your kids find success.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Devil's advocate here ...

Really, what's the difference between an unqualified rich kid whose parents pay a coach, and an unqualified athlete whose sports alumnae pay the school?

When I first saw the stories, I heard only Harvard and Yale. Private institutions, who are free to do with their reputations whatever they like. After all, it's not like Boston University, whose graduates call their reputation into question. Then I saw the number of public, taxpayer-funded schools involved, and my perception changed.

But still - athletes do it; why not rich kids?

Athletics are so ingrained in our society that we have come to expect schools to have winning teams every year - Alabama, Florida, Georgia anyone?

The financial gain from athletics is too powerful for a school to not try and make the investment. Winning schools attract more students, more students mean more tuition money.

Athletes are openly recruited by the school to attend. Athletes possess a physical talent that they leverage to be able to attend the school. And, there are penalties if schools violate the NCAA rules (think SMU).

Also, your point was litigated in Texas in 1996, https://law.justia.com/cases/federal...78/932/504514/

I think in this case, its the extent of the people who are involved that make it shocking. People who were trusted to maintain honesty and ethics in their academic jobs.

[bevinpiphi]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

There is a lot of detail in the document linked below:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pres...42951/download

It is exactly as you describe, they found a way to have the student and the proctor alone in a room so answers could be changed, among other things.

The guy coordinating the scam raked in $25M from these parents. Truly unbelieveable! Well, maybe not! I suspect when you have that much disposable income, and no morals, you will spend it to ensure that your kids find success.

They took advantage of accommodations for students who receive special education services, which infuriates me. People already question why some of my students (grade school, mind you) need accommodation on standardized tests for extra time, a scribe, and other accommodations.

[ChioLu]

Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy’s daughter, Sophia Grace, is a senior at a private high school in LA. Since acceptance letters/emails have gone out, anyone know where she was accepted?

Can (or should) Lori Loughlin’s daughters be expelled from USC since they didn’t get in on merits?

How is this different from Jared Kushner’s dad giving $2.5M to Harvard before Jared was accepted? Or Prez Trump’s dad giving money and using a family connection to get into Wharton?