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<p>I don’t know. They were charging for room and board, too. On the other hand, the profit margin for the “consultants” would be highest if the consultants did nothing. Perhaps they were the US contact for the school, should anything go wrong, such as flu or an accident? Somehow they were able to sign the kids out for vacations. I feel terribly for the sons, because I could quite believe they had no choice but to obey their parents’ orders. </p>
<p>I suspect the Chows were not the only victims of this outfit. It seems too detailed to be a trap for only one family. I posted the link to the IECA’s statement because I know people sometimes find their way to CC for help. It’s like trying to figure out whom to tip. (by the way, one can Google that!) </p>
<p>@ExieMIT, Like that article? I’ve got more! Let’s see (rummages), hmmm… how about this: [At</a> New York?s Private Schools, a Tutor for Every Class - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/education/08tutors.html?pagewanted=all]At”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/education/08tutors.html?pagewanted=all), and [Riverdale</a> Country School in Dispute With Tutoring Company - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/nyregion/riverdale-country-school-in-dispute-with-tutoring-company.html]Riverdale”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/nyregion/riverdale-country-school-in-dispute-with-tutoring-company.html). In the school’s defense, how can a school fight such unethical behavior on the part of “tutors,” while not harming the students? (I use quotation marks, because by my lights, that isn’t tutoring. That’s outright cheating.) Again, I could quite believe the children aren’t allowed a choice by their parents. (You can call me a soft-hearted person.) Essays written by such tutors won’t show up on Turnitin, because it’s originally done by the tutor. Even writing essays under the guidance of tutors who know “what Teacher A likes” hands a huge advantage to a student, let alone the advantage of having the class notes and readings from previous years. And if parents won’t 'fess up to the use of tutors, the arms race continues. It’s a shame, because it sounds like a really wonderful, life-changing course, if a student’s allowed to tackle it unfiltered, without the fear of earning a B+.</p>
<p>I’ve been googling and following the case, too, since I read Periwinkle’s OP. While I like to think I’m not so naive as to be surprised by actions like those of the parties in this suit, I can’t help but think my interest has now become a bit prurient… each new item I find or post I have read makes me a little bit queasy, but I can’t seem to stop peeking.</p>
<p>I agree that nobody wins, not only in this case, but in the system that encourages cheating on such a grand scale. It’s not new, for sure, except that the global electronic component seems to make it even easier for parents and kids to cheat. </p>
<p>Eyes wide open, but still distressed.</p>
<p>What a disgusting saga. I feel very, very sorry for the kids, but no one else. The parents victimized? “We’ll pay you a boat load of money to cheat and beat the system for us.” Please excuse my legally unsophisticated take, but they were simply out cheated by the head cheater in a game they knew all along was cheatin’.</p>
<p>Honoraryamom, I assume that’s why Zimny felt he was safe, as people taken in by conmen are embarrassed to admit they fell for the offer. However, I do feel that holisitic admissions, as practiced in the US, are very, very different from the systems in other countries which determine university admissions through the results on One Big Test. I think it may appear to those outside the system that the game is rigged, and that “everyone does it.” I’m not stating that “the game is rigged,” but I can understand that it might seem that way from the outside, especially if one keeps running into billionaires in one’s social circle with Ivy-enrolled progeny. (For a full description of and debate on the effect of holistic admissions, search the Parents Forum on CC for “holistic”.)</p>
<p>ExieMITAlum, more articles on tutoring in New York.</p>
<p>Parental demand: [Tales</a> Out Of School<a href=“Includes:%20SSAT%20tutoring,%20SAT%20tutoring,%20College%20application%20essay%20advice.”>/url</a></p>
<p>Tutoring to keep one’s child in his school: <a href=“At Private Schools, the Risk of Being ‘Counseled Out’ - The New York Times”>At Private Schools, the Risk of Being ‘Counseled Out’ - The New York Times](<a href=“http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban/education/features/1510/]Tales”>Tales Out Of School - Nymag)</a></p>
<p>I’m laughing and crying at the same time. It’s not just consultants. When I was managing a large department at a local corporation, I would find some of my employees working on their children’s school assignments during their breaks and lunch hours. When I asked why they’d say “Well, my DS has so much to do, he just can’t get it all done.” Then they wonder why their kids crash and burn at college.</p>
<p>Yep - distressing for sure. If I had fewer ethics, I could pay off my mortgage by being a consultant. But I wouldn’t last. Clients would send me into orbit. A good friend of mine is a brilliant IB trained science teacher. The school suggested that parents of a student flunking in another class, hire her as a tutor. They did, but insisted that she come to their house rather than drive the student to hers. So she doubled her rate to $100 to compensate for the 30 minute drive. The mother balked and complained. When my friend arrived at the near palatial estate, she was ordered to enter through the servants door in the back. The girl was resistant to tutoring and demanded the tutor do her work for her. My friend - who has children of her own - declined. After a while, the spoiled kid began to improve her grades. Then the father, coming home early, asked my friend why she was entering through the back door. Once he heard the story, he blew a gasket.</p>
<p>Likewise, I had a mother insist she was too busy to bring her student to my Exeter interview and insisted I drive 40 minutes to meet her son at his school. The kid answered his cell phone throughout the interview, seemed disinterested, and at the end asked “So am I getting in or what?” You don’t need to guess what I wrote on my report. I did, however, suggest to Exeter that if the student was a practical joke, the school had just paid me back in spades for every prank I pulled when I was on campus.</p>
<p>So now I’m in MIT interview mode and the horror stories are far worse than the ones above. Which is why we do them in person - the kid who shows up, doesn’t always match the one on paper with the glowing grades and recommendations. Although my husband got lucky when vetting candidates when he stumbled on a teacher’s report that read “Don’t know why this student asked for a recommendation. Lazy, unmotivated, doesn’t do his own work.” I can only wish teachers would be more forthcoming on everyone.</p>
<p>@Periwinkle, </p>
<p>I got to the part about the Clinton essay and the Tisch letter of recommendation and nearly fell out of my chair. Thanks for the levity. It shouldn’t be as funny as it is. I think my husband and I should start writing articles about our experience. Although I don’t think anyone would believe us. 
I’m sending him the link right now.</p>
<p>Periwinkle, I see your point, and it may in fact BE “the way it’s done” in this family’s circle, among wealthy international families, or even among the extremely wealthy in general. But they have to recognize that it’s not the intention of the system. IMO, they know it’s dishonest but justify it by telling themselves just what you said: everybody does it. And, possibly, by telling themselves that they are entitled to breaking the rules to compensate for the points they lose as a result of racism or some other perceived unfairness inherent to the system. But those rationalizations do not make it right. What they did shows a real lapse of integrity.</p>
<p>It reminds me of things like students copying old lab reports, making take home tests a group effort, etc. The former was common in the esteemed institution of higher education where I earned my undergrad degree; the latter is “the way it’s done” by about half of the students in a graduate program I’m finishing up. People justify it by saying everyone does it, or that they don’t really need to actually understand the material of course xyz, because it’s not directly related to their chosen career path…etc., etc. Even these things are wrong, in my view, and what the Chow family did was far more calculated and on much grander scale. No sympathy from me!</p>
<p>ExieMIT - I, too, often think that if I just had a bit less integrity, how easy it would be to make a ton of money. And in school, I would have had a lot more time for EC’s, if I hadn’t had this nosy superego relentlessly staring down at me all the time. Just out of curiosity, in your experience as an interviewer, how rampant do you think cheating/misrepresentation is, in the application process. Is “everybody doing it”?</p>
<p>I think it happens a lot more than the public thinks, but I don’t think everyone is doing it. My husband and I have developed strategies for catching applicants in a lie: about their EC’s, their reading, etc. </p>
<p>But I think some schools do it too. There is at least one elite private school in my area that I think rigs their student’s resumes to match a successful applicant from years ago. It’s almost a game for them. So I ask for a lot of information (in different ways) about books the student reads, parent support, current events. And I don’t do my interviews the same way twice to prevent students from the same school from coaching each other. You’d be surprised how many straight A, perfect score kids barely know who is President. Or tell me about a great book they read, but then can’t summarize it or remember the details. Or give me details about homework and other academics. The generic “off the rack” replies are often dead giveaways. </p>
<p>On balance, I see enough great kids from ordinary families (rich and not) who get high marks for allowing me to see them warts and all. Most schools don’t want perfect students, they want imperfect ones passionate about learning so there is room for growth.</p>
<p>Hence my amusement when a student admitted he’d done EC’s just to get them on his resume but didn’t really enjoy them. His parents had told him what he needed to do to get into an IVY and he just did it.</p>