Silicon Valley area.
Absolutely! And even if they werenât so varied, who would believe that a high school kid published 5 research papers in a period of 10 months? Many professors couldnât pull that off even with a research program of grad students and postdocs.
These arenât peer-reviewed journal publications, either. Itâs a pay-to-publish place based in Malaysia. I can smell the BS from here. Seems difficult to believe the admissions office wouldnât have picked up on that.
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Iâm not going to reread the article, but did the students include these âarticlesâ on their college apps? I would assume they did, as otherwise, what was the point? If so, then that would be grounds to have their admission rescinded. But, if they didnât, then it might be a matter of keeping a closer eye on any of their future work.
With respect to the kids in high school, I would imagine that an act (or several acts) of academic dishonesty in high school would be enough for them to be on a no-go list of colleges, if the colleges are wise enough to create such a list of students who have been caught plagiarizing or doing other âwrongâ things (as this type of plagiarism, unless submitted for a school project, would not fall into the high school disciplinary record).
The DP article says it unclear whether they did or not. The BioDent program at Penn is very selective. Hard to imagine why the student wouldnât include those âcredentialsâ on the app.
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Surprisingly it appears thatâs the case. And not just at UPenn.
So many high school kids are publishing research papers and we know there are companies that place students with professors and/or get their names added to publications - all for the right fee. And the reason such services exist is because it works. AOs seem to lap it up, and applicants with research publications seemingly get a boost.
To be clear, I do believe there are some kids that genuinely conduct and publish research but Iâd think thereâs a good chunk out there thatâs fake or plagiarized and flies under the radar.
So, to me the real concern is not about kids who got outed by politically motivated adversaries - but that they (or others) feel the need to publish multiple research papers.
Even though some students paid for the opportunity, these are real research papers, completed with real profsâŠsome of very high standing (Assuming itâs thru one of the legit companies).
Privileged? Absolutely. Lesser in terms of research? Nope.
Not my words at all. In fact I acknowledged that there are kids doing real research.
My point is, there are also others like the students cited in this article who may not have really done the work. And my larger point was about students (not all, but some/many) seeking such opportunities not out of genuine research interest but because they feel the need to check a box.
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Totally agree many students participate in research (and many other activities) to check a box/assist with college admissions, and thatâs understandable IME.
Fair to infer that research is moving the needle, with Penn (for example) specifically citing in this yearâs press release that nearly 1/3 of admitted students participated in academic research (during a pandemic no less).
https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/admission-decisions-for-the-class-of-2026
The article also indicated that almost 40% of students had a job in high school, which means that more than 60% of U. Pennâs entering freshman class has never had a job. That right there helps illustrate the economic spread at many of the Top X colleges, as most high school students I know have had a job, at least for spending money, if not in order to help contribute to household expenses (even privileged activities like paying for their own gas). The majority of the incoming class has never had that experience.
This made me so sad to read. There are thousands of students each year who are rushing through their childhood and youth, trying to âadultâ as soon as possible. They are leaping into a rat race when, for many and perhaps most, this is a time designed for them to have few responsibilities and to explore the world and themselves, to dabble and discover new interests. These students will have decades upon decades to labor through life, and some of them, wonât make it to retirement (statistically). And I donât know, but Iâm doubtful that students who were in the race to make it to the Top X schools will then turn the spigot off and start relaxing and fully enjoying college (though certainly some will, I hope). Unfortunately, I think there are too many who are going to just continue running in the rat race.
I do know that there are students who are doing research and the many activities that got them to the Top X institutions because they truly love them. But I doubt that the majority of students are doing the majority of their activities because of genuine desire, rather than to check a box. My comments above are about the box checkers.
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Perhaps they and their upper middle class (high income labor class) parents realize that there is a lot more room for downward class mobility than upward class mobility for them (starting from the upper middle class), and that trying to go to an elite college is an attempt to avoid such downward mobility?
South Korea and nepotism are practically synonymous.
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Iâve seen post like this⊠https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/tv4ttd/international_college_admissions_is_paytowin/
However the reddit post is about international students but, an organized (4000) petition⊠
Nepotism is common in US undergraduate college admissions. Probably a majority of private and more than a quarter of public colleges consider legacy in admissions.
Sure, nepotism exists everywhere. My statement is still true.
It turns out that the new justice minister in South Korea isnât the only one being accused of nepotism. Both the education minister and health minister nominees for the newly elected government withdrew this month because they used their positions to help their children in school admissions or scholarships.
What do these 4000 people want Penn to do? Give the place in the class to them/their children?
I think people can care about transparency and fairness and abhor corruption whether it directly impacts their own children or not. In fact, I hope most people do.
In this case, it sounds like political payback is involved, but still - if a university brags about admitting the best and the brightest on the basis of their original research, their admissions procedures are called into question by this. As an institution m they should want to investigate.
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I really donât care how the petition started. The allegations of plagarism seem solid and I am surprised there isnât more of an uproar about it. I live in the Bay Area where the students are from and have not come across any news regarding this. It is really sad students feel the need to fabricate research and think they can get away with it. Colleges and universities should really take a close look at admissions process and how this influences students to cheat.
Maybe there is more chatter about it among immigrants and expats from the Republic of Korea.
Perhaps there a significantly more of that, if colleges looked a little more closely, rather than waiting until someone with other motivations (political payback or whatever) digs deeply while doing opposition research. But then if there is enough of it to be found, it could be quite a bit more embarrassing for the colleges.