Ivy Success sued for a $200,000 failed Ivy League guarantee

Parents Forum
1

<p>This is not exactly the publicity Robert Shaw expected for Ivy Success. </p>

<p>Of course, this may not be so surprising considering considering the "packaging at all costs" background of Shaw, who has advised bold chameleon moves such as asking a family to "get a place" in a blue-collar town near their home, having the girl transfer to the local high school to become the valedictorian, and suggesting an extracurricular makeover in the form of entering in Teen Pageants. See <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NjQ2ODE1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NjQ2ODE1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I only wonder if the legal documents were addressed to Robert Shaw or to Robert Hsueh, his former name! </p>

<p>
[quote]
NY College Admissions Consultant Is Sued</p>

<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/31/ap3973674.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/31/ap3973674.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>NEW YORK - A college applicant from Kazakhstan has sued an admissions strategy consultant, saying it flunked on getting him into an Ivy League school and then failed to refund a $200,000 fee.</p>

<p>The plaintiff, Daniyar Nazarbayev, "just wants his money back," attorney Sam Israel said Tuesday.</p>

<p>The lawsuit, filed Monday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleges that Nazarbayev's family contacted Ivy Success, of Garden City, N.Y., last year while he was in high school in Kazakhstan. It said the family agreed to wire $200,000 into a Hong Kong bank account after one of the consulting firm's partners, Robert Shaw, gave assurances the fee would cover a "complete strategy program" for admission to a "top-tier American university."</p>

<p>Shaw, following an initial meeting with Nazarbayev, informed a family representative that "Daniyar is not Ivy League material," the suit said. Rather than offer a refund, the company "retained the funds and simply left Daniyar to his own efforts," the suit added.</p>

<p>Nazarbayev, who now lives in an apartment on Wall Street, applied to Columbia University anyway and was accepted for the fall semester, the suit said.</p>

<p>A telephone message left at Ivy Success was not immediately returned Tuesday. The company's Web site describes it as "an admission stagey firm comprised of former admissions officers" from various prestigious schools.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Daniyar Nazarbayev is a relative of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev.</p>

2

<p>I guess he is Ivy league material after all?</p>

3

<p>Obviously, Ivy Success missed one large hoooooook.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The son of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Daniyar Nazarbayev has gone to contract to buy two apartments at the Cipriani residences at 55 Wall St. for $2.9 million and $2.1 million.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Cha-ching!! </p>

<p>Where does his spigget connect to the money tap?</p>

4

<p>It does make you wonder how he was accepted to Columbia.
If the parents could pay $200 k to Ivy Success perhaps they donated a building to Columbia.</p>

5

<p>If he is the same person, he won't need much financial aid at Columbia:</p>

<p>
[quote]
The son of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Daniyar Nazarbayev has gone to contract to buy two apartments at the Cipriani residences at 55 Wall St. for $2.9 million and $2.1 million.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Edit: Crossposted with Cheers. :)</p>

6

<p>Oh, I see Cheers has answered my question.
Ivy Sucess staff are probably kicking themselves.
What I want to know is why a president's son would feel he needed to pay a consultant to get into an Ivy? Just how low were that young man's grades and scores?</p>

7

<p>I doubt that Ivy Success would miss a hook that obvious. It may be more a case of they thought the hook was not big enough. Some schools will stoop only so low.</p>

8

<p>do you think this would have happened if he was an american citizen? did shaw think he was just going to get away with this?</p>

9

<p>My thoughts ran the other way. Hsueh knew where the spigget connected and he thought the Ivies would not touch that sort of money. Or he underestimated the size of the cash flow.</p>

<p>Whoops.</p>

10

<p>Well, a $200k donation to Columbia might not be enough these days. So they figured to "invest" the money where it might do the most good. Not very different from the way thousands of parents, invest in their kids, the big difference being in the amounts.</p>

11

<p>I think you all might be selling the applicant short. Just because SHAW said he "wasn't Ivy material", you are assuming he is a loser. He could be very capable, but for some reason Shaw didn't choose to "package" him. Don't take it out on the kid! He's in Columbia- yes, with a hook, but so what? I think you need to see how he does before you put him down!<br>
I can't imagine Shaw would have found MY son to be Ivy material, yet he is doing quite well!</p>

12

<p>I just have to wonder why anyone would pay $200,000 to "package their kid" for admittance to college. That is the cost of attending the school for all four years. I'm sorry, but maybe my perspective is "off". I think this whole thing is outrageous. But then, I don't have $200,000 of expendible income, and I used CC to help me in my DD's college quest:)</p>

13

<p>Thumper:</p>

<p>I'm with you. Maybe CC should advertise itself in countries like Kazakhstan. We discuss the importance of hooks and we even discuss Borat! And all for free!</p>

14

<p>Reply #8:</p>

<p>Question #1: No
Question #2: Yes</p>

<p>:)</p>

15

<p>if Shaw only accepts kids that are already "Ivy Material" up front, then what is he being paid for --and how can he brag of his success if the only students he takes on are those that might well get in without him? I mean --for an already-top student with creativity and excellent activities, the odds of getting into an Ivy are not astronomically small. They are in fact already pretty decent. So what is he being paid for. What a racket.</p>

16

<p>cloverdale-
You've got Shaw pegged to a tee. That is exactly what he does. Select the clients he can almost assuredly get in to a school they will probably get into anyway. May be silly to many, but , until this one suit (which he can no doubt pay back and make it go away), it has been good business for Shaw.</p>

17

<p>I heard a story, I wish I could remember where, in which a man insinuated he had an "in" with the admission office at Brown. It appears he didn't actually know anyone who worked at the Brown admission office, and indeed the story relates that the man would do absolutely NOTHING for his clients after they paid him thousands of dollars to increase their children's chances of getting into an Ivy League college. He offered a money-back guarantee: if your kid gets into Brown, he keeps your payment, and if your kid doesn't get in, he returns the payment. Some kids got in, honestly on their own merits, and he made income off of them without doing any work. </p>

<p>Nice work if you can get it. Not something that I would like to do, however.</p>

18

<p>Aren't Admissions Consulting Practices elaborate scams designed to separate desperate families who are afraid their child will have no college to attend from their money?</p>

19

<p>College admissions counselors have their place and are not all elaborate scams; but anyone who guarantees that you'll get into an Ivy by paying him $200K is definitely a scam.</p>

20

<p>
[quote]
Select the clients he can almost assuredly get in to a school they will probably get into anyway.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>How different is this from the "guaranteed Ivy admissions" option on CC (except for the fact I assume they actually do refund your money)?</p>