<p>I am really concerned about a friend of mine who is determined to forge his high school transcript and apply to his dream school USC with forged recomendations as well. He said he was inspired by a girl who did the same thing and got into Yale. Although the girl was later caught and is now in a heap of trouble, my friend is confident that he won't be caught. </p>
<p>He says that his grades are so bad and that his life is so hopeless right now that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by cheating. He is convinced that if he is caught then he's basically back to square one and would have ended up in a community college anyways. </p>
<p>Can you guys help me convince him that the consequences of forging transcipts and recommendations are very severe and that he's better off not doing it? He's convinced that he's so screwed up as it is with bad grades and guaranteed rejections that getting expelled from high school means nothing to him. I've tried to scare him by saying he could go to jail but I am not sure he would go to jail for something like this. Can he go to jail?</p>
<p>Tell him he's a moron and that cheaters are the lowest form of human life :)</p>
<p>Seriously though, ask him/her why (s)he can't just go to a normal state college/uni...... Or just let them do it and get caught, would be a good lesson for their life!</p>
<p>My friend is just in a very troubled mode right now. He's really one of the nicest people in the world but with the pressure of college applications and future success he's just all messed up right now. It's my duty as a friend to help him through this stuff he's going through.</p>
<p>He doesnt want to go to a normal state college because he feels like the only way to succeed is if he goes to an elite school.</p>
<p>I agree with Westchestermom. Explain to him that he just has to do well his first year in community college and then if his grades are good enough, he can transfer to USC or another good school. Tell him that this is much less risky and is much more likely to work! Best of luck</p>
<p>First off, your friend is frankly an idiot in the first place for even telling anyone that he's forging his documents for college. If he's brazen enough to lie on his app also leads me to believe that he'd be bold enough to cheat in college as well (assuming he gets there). The fact is that these things have a way of balancing themselves out, and if he's not qualified to be at USC (which he's obviously not) then he will ultimately fail there and in life for that matter until he assumes some sort of responsibility for his actions and develops even the smallest sense of morality. Here is a similar case (perhaps the same one he talked about?) that occurred at Yale some time ago. The gentleman was facing jail time but pleaded guilty and got off relatively light in my opinion. Consider showing this to your friend. Fraud and larceny convictions are crimes that will haunt you for the rest of your life, and certainly won't put you back at "square one".</p>
<p>Are your friend's grades really that bad? I mean, if he's pulling Bs or high Cs, you can explain to him that those grades are NOT the end of the world. Really, they're not. And I would talk to him about how going to an elite college isn't everything. There have been plenty of successful CEOs and world figures that didn't attend an elite college. He has the opportunity to really shine in his undergraduate work and then apply to a graduate program at an elite college. College, in the end, is what you make it, not what US News and World Report says or what his teachers say or what the people on this board say. If state schools are an option, he should go for them - if he feels that his potential just hasn't been shown in high school, he will embrace the opportunity to be a star at state school. After all, making the Dean's List every semester and keeping a 4.0 at a state school is definitely nothing to sneeze at. He can achieve the "elite" status without going to a $40,000 a year campus. Or if community college is the best thing with his grades, that's cool too. There's always a transfer option and he has the chance to start over new anyway. I know that's hard for an ego to take, but it will end up positively. </p>
<p>Cheating his way through the college application process will stay with him forever, in documentation, and in heart. If he gets caught, he will be in a far worse place than if he had just gotten rejected. I don't know what kinds of records that would be put on, but I'm sure it'd be mentioned somewhere and that will hurt him in the future. I hope he rethinks his decision to do this. Even if he did get away with it, I don't think he'll want to live the rest of his life knowing that he got into a college that he didn't deserve to get into. Doesn't he want to earn his way somewhere? To me, that's one of the best parts of college admissions - knowing that I earned my place at ____ university. He has to want that feeling too. </p>
<p>One of the posters is right - people need to learn things on their own. However, he's lucky to have a friend who is concerned about him. Best of luck to him and I hope the situation rights itself.</p>
<p>yes he will go to jail. the jail is called life.</p>
<p>you can lie and run now but you cant hide. bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do
watchagona do when the ad-coms come for you????</p>
<p>he will go down - and you have the power. now stop spreading this friend garbage and do the right thing. actually look all nice by warning him first - give him 24 hrs - then claim your trophy and put it under your ECs!</p>
<p>Going to a CC isn't as "horrible" as it seems to people like your friend - he COULD transfer to a good school if he works his butt off for a couple years.</p>
<p>i believe he will die if he works his butt off. There are currently no butt transplants. if he hacks it off in one lump he could get a colon bag and tough it out.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much. When I told him that jail time was a real possibily and he could face federal larceny charges he decided not to go through with it. I stopped him just in the nick of time because he already made copies at Kinko's.</p>