
College admissions scandal fallout: Stanford students sue UCLA, USC and Yale - ilamont
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-college-admissions-scam-stanford-ucla-usc-lawsuit-20190314-story.html
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lgleason
I'm a little confused with this one. It would be one thing if these students
didn't make it into an ivy league college because of this....but they did. A
class action is good, but seems like it would be more powerful if it was
students who did not make it into and Ivy.

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SeanLuke
??? Stanford is definitely not an Ivy League school.

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mcguire
Stanford is ranked #7, following a tie between Columbia, MIT, U of Chicago,
and Yale at #3.

[https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-
unive...](https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities)

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praneshp
That's not what Ivy League means though, right?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League)

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Simulacra
Something else that's not mentioned here which I've seen in other coverage is
the issue of financial aid. Students who did not require financial aid were
given preference over more qualified students, simply because they could
afford the full ride in cash. Had I known this when applying for college, I
would've checked no on the financial aid intention.

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akhilcacharya
Someone at Stanford suing because they couldn’t get into Yale honestly sounds
post-satire.

Stanford is pretty universally considered better...and if it isn’t it’s the
same. This sort of lawsuit sounds insulting to people like me who had no
chance at any of the above.

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nafizh
Stanford is also included in the lawsuit. And it is not about getting
admission, it's about the application fee they paid without getting a fair
process. Read the article.

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debt
I mean in light of the scandal the fee seems mostly symbolic.

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wiggumspiggums
I like that these students are making a statement and trying to put pressure
on universities to have greater integrity and accountability for making
admissions truly merit based.

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pyronite
This hardly seems right – UCLA, USC and Yale are victims of the bad actors
involved just as much as the students are. I haven't seen any indication that
the colleges involved were aware this was happening in a way they overlooked.

You can file a lawsuit for anything in the United States. I would love to hear
how this lawsuit isn't frivolous or (at worst) searching for a payday.

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will_brown
>I haven't seen any indication that the colleges involved were aware this was
happening in a way they overlooked.

No doubt the colleges involved are aware when someone is admitted whose
credentials don’t measure up. That’s not something the colleges can bury there
head in the sand about. We are talking about billion dollar institutions with
entire admissions departments that pride themselves on a standard of
student...you can’t just say in some instances rouge actors took bribes to
allow students in school and no one knew anything about it.

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daseiner1
The whole scandal is around faked credentials – faked sports accomplishments,
fake standardized test scores. The schools, from what I’ve seen, were kept
totally out of the loop.

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will_brown
That’s not at all what I read, for example:

>Singer used the foundation to collect payments from parents and pay bribes,
court records show.

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DoubleCribble
What standing could these students possibly have? They didn't get in to all
the colleges they wanted to because the admissions process wasn't "fair"? It
never was fair nor does any admissions office I've ever heard of claim to be.

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dragonwriter
> What standing could these students possibly have?

The fact that they paid for something, via the application fee, that was
advertised with features it doesn't have, and the fact that there are consumer
protection laws that call that a deceptive trade practice and provide a remedy
for it. (Also, the lawsuit is much broader than the universities and includes
claims, including civil RICO pclaims, against the parties more directly
involved in the core bribery scandal.)

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DoubleCribble
What features didn't the application process have? Every college I've ever
seen advertises "diversity" in their admissions process. If we peek under that
diversity umbrella, we can see: Legacy, Donors Kids, Athletes, Full-Tuition
Payers, Hard-Luck-Feel-Good-Stories, Employees' Children, Political
Backscratching & everyone else.

Please show me one college that says "we _only_ use this list of criteria to
determine admission". None do because they need the wiggle room for the
aforementioned higher-value candidates. New buildings/NCAA titles/Sponsored
Chairs don't cost nothin'!

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dragonwriter
> What features didn't the application process have?

See Count II of the suit, commencing on p.21, and the preceding factual
allegations referenced within that Count.

[https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/03/Co...](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/03/College-Suit.pdf)

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DoubleCribble
You know that wiggle room I described? It's quoted right there in the linked
document.

1) Yale - "The Admissions Committee then factors in student qualities such as
motivation, curiosity, energy, leadership ability, and distinctive talents."
[Ed. Note distinctive talents - includes being related to someone who paid for
that new building on campus. Having your family name on a campus building is
quite distinctive, or so I presume]

2) Stanfurd - "Remember, however, that our evaluation goes beyond any
numerical formula. There is no minimum GPA or test score; nor is there any
specific number of AP or honors courses you must have on your transcript in
order to be admitted to Stanford." [Ed. Note: the evaluation goes beyond a
numerical formula because it also includes who your parents are and how your
enrollment will affect football season ticket sales]

3)G-town - "Georgetown maintains a holistic review process..." [Ed. Note:
because holistic includes the whole Legacy thing]

4) UCLA - "These select applicants are the ones who would contribute the most
to UCLA’s dynamic learning environment;" [Ed. Note: Is that a double entendre?
You be the judge!]

etc., etc.

In summary, this lawsuit is DOA.

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jkravitz61
It would be very poetic if it turns out that one of these students actually
had their test scores flipped by their parents without their knowledge.

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moftz
Most schools require the organization that administers the exam to send the
official scores. I can't imagine any school worth going to would allow for
self-reporting of scores. It seems like the guy in charge of all of this had
everyone from the exam proctors to heads of athletic departments to look the
other way or just out right lie. I would be extremely pissed if I had been
given an SAT or ACT by either of those two exam proctors, my college would
instantly have a good reason to be suspicious about my exam scores.

I doubt these kids did any of the actual college application. If you are
paying that much to get your kid into school, you are paying for someone to
fill in the app, take the exams, write a bogus personal statement, and to pay
off anyone to vouch for the lies. It's probably very turn key, you write a
check and your kid gets an acceptance letter in the mail 6 months later. I'm
sure these kids aren't in regular highschool either, they probably have
"tutors" faking homeschool transcripts and credits for them. I wonder how well
these kids do in college if they had to fake their application so badly.

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neonate
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