<p>She probably just graduated this past spring, took the bar in July and probably will not start working until sometime this month. I wonder how her past will play out in the character and fitness portion of the bar? Stay tuned.</p>
<p>Hmmm Buried in the fine print of the College Boards press release for SAT 2011, is the statement There are more high-performing students among the class of 2011 than ever before. Actually, the percentage jump of high scorers is higher than expected even accounting for the increase in total students in the group. If you look at the fine print in the 2011 SAT total group report and compare numbers from the 2010 total group, there seems to be an increase of 20 percent of test takers who are citizens of another country. Please, don’t get me wrong, I am extremely reluctant to impugn international students as individuals or as a group, and it is not my intent to sound discriminatory in any way, but a question is begged here. In my mind, College Board has some explaining to do about how the pool of international students embedded in the 2011 college bound seniors differs in their score ranges from U.S. students. Since the vast majority of international students are full pay to U.S. colleges and universities, might one wonder if there is some looking the other way going on in terms of vetting the credentials of these students, including their test scores? There have been major press reports on packaging international students for application to US colleges is this one more piece of the cheating puzzle that needs a little more scrutiny?</p>
<p>Re: the above law firm jokes - best laugh I’ve had all day - thanks, I needed that!</p>
<p>Colleges are casting their own vote and increasingly it’s thumbs down. The number of accredited colleges that don’t require all or most applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores has grown to about a third, according to FairTest. That includes prominent New England liberal arts schools such as Smith College, Bowdoin College, and Bates College, as well as Wake Forest University.</p>
<p>I’ll say one thing. My youngest kid doesn’t have world beater grades and her SAT’s are good but not great, but she sure as heck never cheated on anything. I can’t decide if the pressure to succeed has become so much that the kids are cracking… or if the pressure to succeed has become so much that the parents aren’t teaching that the way you get there is MORE important than where you end up.</p>
<p>What a waste. These kids could have done just fine without cheating.</p>
<p>From the article:</p>
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<p>The attorney for the defendents is arguing that this shouldn’t be in the criminal justice system because it is “only” cheating on tests, not taking drugs or anything “criminal.”</p>
<p>but the test takers are being charged with fraud, etc… I think it’s a huge crime, since the patriot act to use fake ID. They face up to four years in prison.</p>
<p>The ones who hired them are being charged as juveniles and face misdemeanor charges.</p>
<p>Interesting interview on local NYC last night wondering how the kids got $3500 to pay the test taker. Implication was the parents should get pulled into this. Not a bad suggestion.</p>
<p>This is happening in my area but my HS is not involved at this point.</p>
<p>I was absolutely shocked to see a Catholic school involved but not the yeshiva (disclaimer: I am a yeshiva graduate but not NSHA). When I was in HS, yeshiva boys stole a number of Regents’ exams; I believe they were caught because one of the tests they stole was the Hebrew Regents. I got out of taking not only Hebrew but bio and geometry that year.</p>
<p>We house hunted in Great Neck. The broker took us to see the HS’s. I said that we could not move there because obviously the taxes must be awfully high to support all of the teachers with their Lexi, Infiniti, Mercedi, etc. in the parking lot. The broker looked at me and said: “This is the student lot!” Needless to say, we did not move there.</p>
<p>It’s a very competitive SD academically. </p>
<p>I actually wish they would publish the names of the accused kids so that the innocent kids don’t have to suffer. Right now, every kid from each of those schools is suspect.</p>
<p>I’m glad they got busted…hopefully the college board will find ways to revamp their test security. it is extremely easy to have someone else take the test for you. Getting a good fake ID is not hard and with the ability to take the tests at other schools it makes it extremely easy to not get caught.</p>
<p>I remember back in h.s. that there was a guy in my class that we all suspected had paid someone to take the test for them…the guy was a hard working smart student that was in the top 10%, good ECs, etc. but was not a good standardized test taker. He was consistenly scoring ~1250 (out of 1600) on his own during our test prep sessions but then miraculously pulled a 1550 on his actual test. A few years later at an informal reunion we heard from one his best friends that he had indeed paid someone to take it for him. I guess this again comes down to the question that has been posed above about the pressure that some students are under to go to a top school. This kid in particular was Asian and had tiger parents that basically had told him that they would not pay for college if he did not get into a top 10 school. He subsequently attended Yale and did well there and now he works for a top management consulting firm (i.e. Bain, BCG, McKinsey, etc.). Go figure…</p>
<p>^That story is disgusting (of the cheater who got into Yale, that is). These kids should go to jail… Take the last example. In the grand scheme, they could be stealing millions and millions of dollars from others. Not to mention a slew of other things.</p>
<p>The “adults” that took the tests for the kids should be charged with identity theft, fraud, and whatever else. The kids that paid them to take the test are kids, and are stupid, but should not go to jail. They should, however, have to notify their colleges volunterily, and with detail, about the incidents and and have their scores recinded.</p>
<p>I dont think anybody will actually end up being charged with anything. How exactly can anyone prove anything? They cant prove that they used a fake id…they cant even prove in the court of law that someone else took the test for them. In the end the scores will probably just be canceled, thats all.</p>