Poor K. Cohen - Her prodigy is another Blair Hornstine

Parents Forum
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<p>We read the accolades and the references to Katherine Cohen's high powered -and high priced- jockeying. I am wondering how long it will take the Franck Eggelhoffer of admissions to delete the references! I am also wondering what's up with those cheating New Jersey girls and Harvard. </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=170380%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=170380&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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[quote]
A recently-published novel by Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan ’08, “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,” contains several passages that are strikingly similar to two books by Megan F. McCafferty—the 2001 novel “Sloppy Firsts” and the 2003 novel “Second Helpings.” </p>

<p>At one point, “Opal Mehta” contains a 14-word passage that appears verbatim in McCafferty’s book “Sloppy Firsts.” </p>

<p>In that example, McCafferty writes on page 6 of her first novel: “Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart. Guess which one I got. You’ll see where it’s gotten me.” </p>

<p>Viswanathan writes on page 39 of her novel: “Moneypenny was the brainy female character. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: smart or pretty. I had long resigned myself to category one, and as long as it got me to Harvard

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<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512968%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512968&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>The Crimson article contains a link to another Crimson article which includes a long series of examples of, um, "similarities" is I believe the polite way they put it. Sort of like smacking you in the face with a frying pan, is more like it, I think...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512965%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512965&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Maybe she's one of the, "if I change a few words it's not the same as copying" types? :eek:</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I am also wondering what's up with those cheating New Jersey girls

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<p>Hey, take it easy there Xig....:)</p>

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<p>I'm sure there have been case of accepted/students who have plagiarized or had a lot of similarities to works of other authors at all the other Ivies and universities and colleges in the world. Just Harvard's bad luck two of theirs was so widely publicized.</p>

<p>Pity...I was lookin' forward to buyin' this book when I get my booty to the US. I wonder if they'll pull it off the shelves and stop printing it.</p>

6

<p>I wonder how many other "sources" will be discovered for this "author's" much-heralded novel.</p>

7

<p>I actually checked this book out of the public library just to see what I did wrong (as you can see from my thread about Chicago vs. Wellesley vs. Hopkins, I have learned a lot in recent weeks!). The first chapter was cute, and then the plot and writing were so bad that I could not continue. If this is any indication of what publishers think people want to read, we are all in trouble.</p>

8

<p>The author reports that she wrote the book under a tight deadline, churning 50 pages a week while trying to study for her finals. While she may suffers from hubris to have thought she could do it all, her editors clearly cared more about speed than quality. We know she had a deadline to meet. But what was their rush?</p>

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<p>One would also have to wonder if the people responsible to shell out $500,000 actually read other books, or at a minimum books sharing an identical genre or theme. The financial backers of the publishing company must shudder at the management's financial lack of responsibility, and, to a certain degree, their integrity. </p>

<p>As far as the "author", there are no excuses. Rather than count her blessings for having the extreme luck to deal with very gullible editors/publishers who did not not catch the early signs of "borrowed" material, she simply compounded the problems by pushing plagiarism to new limits. Did she forget she was supposed to write a ... novel or did she truly believe that an idea is novel if she stole it first? </p>

<p>Lastly, this also reflects on the unbelievable market appeal of the Harvard name and mystique. Would this book even exist if Opal had decided to apply to Michigan State or Connecticut College?</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I'm sure there have been case of accepted/students who have plagiarized or had a lot of similarities to works of other authors at all the other Ivies and universities and colleges in the world. Just Harvard's bad luck two of theirs was so widely publicized.

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<p>I'm not so sure it's bad luck. I see a cause and effect. Harvard, and its peers, wants to recruit kids who will "make a difference" - stand out nationally. Guess what, some "stadnouts" cut corners (i.e. cheat, break rules etc.). This is no different from stardom in baseball (steroids, anyone), finance (Enron, perhaps? and many others) or, indeed, scientific research, where the cheaters have frequently been at the most prestigious, pressured institutions.</p>

<p>So why did Harvard have the "bad luck"? Perhaps because its pursuit of such excellence leads it to put the most weight on activities that are also most prone to cheating.</p>

11

<p>They ought to go back and check the essays that helped get her into Harvard.</p>

12

<p>It's hard to imagine what the author was thinking when she thought she could get away with this. It's so sad.</p>

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<p>NMD, we should also recognize that schools that attract the highest level of applicants are especially subject to be duped by glorified "packagers" such as Katherine Cohen and Robert Shaw. . </p>

<p>Such "experts" do not hesitate to reinvent candidates as long as there is sufficient money available as they know that the odds of their stratagems being discovered are very slim. With 20,000 applications to analyze in a few weeks, highly selective schools have no choice but to believe in the veracity of the information submitted. Amazingly enough, it is the brashness and arrogance of the "lucky" students that cause their ultimate downfall. </p>

<p>Flying too close to the sun or the limelight of success is indeed perilous, as the son of Daedalus found out.</p>

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<p>xiggi,</p>

<p>Agreed. You articulated a complementary/related issue to what I was mentioning. They all fit together. You go for the best, but some of the "best" turn out to be frauds. So this is new?</p>

<p>It reminds me of finance. The folks most susceptible to fraudulant money managers seem to be those looking for the absolute best returns.</p>

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<p>"as long as it got me into Harvard". . . The mentality I think is, anything is okay, cheating is okay, as long as it gets you where you want to go.</p>

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<p>This is sad and humiliating for the author. I feel sorry for her, even though I understand she is the one who chose to plagiarize and she deserves the recrimination and financial fall-out that is coming. The pressure of a $500K business agreement and the first year at Harvard and being 18 years old would be enough to make anyone try to cut corners. It was wrong, wrong, wrong. But not totally surprising. She really should have taken a gap year to write the book.</p>

<p>I do think this says something about the surreal effects of the Harvard name. No way in the world she would have pitched the book successfully by changing the university to Columbia or Stanford or UC San Diego, etc... </p>

<p>And yeah, don't publishers read other recent works in the same genre? This should have been caught well before publication.</p>

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<p>"The pressure of a $500K business agreement and the first year at Harvard and being 18 years old would be enough to make anyone try to cut corners. It was wrong, wrong, wrong. But not totally surprising."</p>

<p>I must respectfully disagree. The fact that more money is involved, and it's Harvard, does not make it more understandable. Would you "cut corners"--in other words, steal? I wouldn't, and I don't believe my kids would, either. STealing is stealing. She just had more to gain than most of us do.</p>

<p>My students don't go to Harvard, don't get 500K book deals, and didn't have the advantages that this young woman has had. They are first gen college students, low income, and URM, for the most part. They have had lousy HS educations. I have, sadly, had three definite instances of plagiarism this semester. All of these resulted in failing the assignment and a report to the dean. I do feel for these students--they have so much less resources than this young woman, and so much more to possibly lose--not half a million, but the chance to be the first in their families to graduate from college, and to join the middle class, if they continue this way.</p>

<p>They have different pressures from hers, too. No book deals, just 40 hour a week jobs, kids, sick parents, etc. Yet they still have to face the consequences for a bad decision. Many other students with similar pressures sit next to them in class and don't cheat.</p>

<p>So, like I said, call me hard-hearted, but I'm feeling worse for the young man I reported today, even though I know it's necessary for the integrity of the class and for his own education. I hope it's his only transgression, and that he learns from it. But for someone who has the world, and still cheats?--I can't feel bad at all.</p>

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<p>"But for someone who has the world, and still cheats?--I can't feel bad at all."</p>

<p>In total and complete agreement.</p>

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<p>Garland--I also hope your students learn from their mistakes--that cheating is not worth it. </p>

<p>I wonder what the author was thinking. I wonder if she had perhaps cut corners before and gotten away with it. That's what cheating does. It makes all of your past accomplishments questionable. It is not worth it.</p>

<p>Be sure to watch for the sequel:</p>

<p>"How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life . . . and Threw It All Away"</p>

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<p>Mstee--I do, too. We have a system whereby the first instance gets them a letter from the dean, but, if there's no more, it will stay off the record (though the F I give will stand). So there is quite an incentive to learn from the experience. If the student gets reported again, the penalties are much worse.</p>