<p>That is because the colleges weren’t notified, even when the students agreed to a guilty plea. Many were under 18 when the tests were taken, so were juveniles and will have sealed records.</p>
<p>I cannot quite possibly imagine in what sense of any reality anyone, with any morals, ethics or integrity WHATSOEVER would not consider this cheating. Really??? I could not care less what the high school, colleges, college board or anyone else says or does, the fact that people here on an anonymous board seem to think this is no big deal is sickening.</p>
<p>I read an excerpt of Sam’s interview. This is probably mean to say, but it’s a community sense of entitlement I see there. For instance, I ride the same train line that goes through Great Neck. One person from GN will get on and try to save a bunch of seats on a rush hour train. I make a point of going over and asking to sit in one of those seats, even if others are available. They get all bent out of shape until I offer to call the conductor to mediate. Then they move. After that, they talk about me in a foreign language. I smile secretly… I have now convinced a number of my friends to do the same thing. We get a delight out of busting up their thinking that they are the rulers of the universe. Someone needs to bust Sam’s thinking up - the IRS would be a great choice!</p>
<p>As for other comments on this thread - my D was a very mediocre HS student. It wasn’t until junior year that she decided that musical theater was not really what she wanted to do and actually began to work. She has “turned it around” in college - Honors program, Dean’s list, academic awards and the like - because she is doing what she enjoys now.</p>
<p>As for the prep courses, my son refused to take one because he claims it’s cheating! I told him everyone else took a course and he said if everyone else’s husband cheated on them, would it be ok if his dad did, too?</p>
<p>Whether or not he technically violated Emory’s honor code, every college should have rules that allow the administration to throw out a student for criminal activity.</p>
<p>(FYI - my son’s university honor code only applies within the county in which the university is located, or any location where you use your position as a student of that university to gain trust, such as saying - I’ll send you the money for the hotel tomorrow - you can trust me.)</p>
<p>My daughter is pretty sure he was expelled from Emory, but not 100% sure. BTW, she also said the rumor on campus is he was a transfer student, and had only been at Emory for a couple of months when this story broke. Regardless, they take the honor code seriously, and he is certainly someone they don’t want to claim.</p>
<p>^I agree. That would certianly stop cheating in the future. They should also expel those students who paid him to take the tests for them. They gained the entrance to college using false information. Sam did wrong but he at least got into college on his own.</p>
<p>A side issue…if the GPAs of these kids were really very low, how much do you think high test scores would help them? </p>
<p>I think that combo just makes a kid look bright but lazy.</p>
<p>A friend who is a LAC admissions officer once said not to bother with much retesting/prep when scores are much higher than the GPA would suggest.</p>
<p>Now if they had decent GPAs and were cheating to up the scores a bit, that I get (and by “get” I do not mean “approve”). But the article suggests they didn’t.</p>
<p>Sad. I seem to recall his father is an attorney, and no matter what type of law he practices, he must realize how foolish it was to let son do an interview before he finalized any plea bargain. What DA or judge is going to believe he’s learned anything from the experience when he shows no remorse on national TV? No doubt he can define “remorse” but does he know what it means? I don’t expect that deal to go through and wonder what the motivation was to do the interview - teaser to a made for tv movie, maybe, something along the lines of “Heartache in Great Neck: the Sam Eschagoff Story”. Ghost written, of course, in the spirit of continuity.</p>
<p>One small bit of comfort to me is that it’s clear this young man cannot hide his lack of integrity. He need only open his mouth and all is revealed and no matter what his test scores say, the young man is simply stupid.</p>
<p>He defrauded everyone that did not cheat. He is a disgrace and a bane of every institution he will be a part of. He is the antithesis of why this country is so great, and I can’t even fathom the imbecility that is required to defend his actions under any circumstance. </p>
<p>“I have never seen an honor code that would have governed the behavior of a student that took place outside of the school itself. (Well, maybe West Point, though I haven’t seen it.)”</p>
<p>My high school has this code, and I know that many, if not most, high schools do, too. I can’t see why colleges wouldn’t adopt a similar policy. If you go to a college, you represent them whether you are on campus or in another state.</p>
<p>Who’s defending him? He did a bad thing, and he’ll get punished for it. But don’t make it into something it is not. He didn’t make people homeless. He didn’t cheat people out of their lifetime of savings, package loans and securities that he knew were worthless, defraud people out of their homes. (I once lived near Great Neck. It is likely that at least some of the parents that paid the bill for the kids to have their tests taken did just that, and more.)</p>
<p>Your high school has an honor code that governs your test-taking behavior at your friend’s college? Or there is a college whose honor code governs behavior at one’s former high school? How interesting! Will wonders never cease!</p>
<p>“He defrauded everyone that did not cheat.”</p>
<p>They can bring a class action suit. Or swear out a criminal complaint. (But they won’t) Neither will the CollegeBoard (as far as I know). Neither will any of the colleges that accepted the students. Neither will his own college. I doubt Great Neck High School will. That’s why this is going to be settled with a plea bargain.</p>
<p>So his point is that he “saved” these kids. They might have had a horrible gpa, but with his ability to “give them” a high level SAT score, they can have a “totally” new lease on life. I can’t figure out if Sam E. is so naive or so stupid! He thinks he alone helped to save these kids. </p>
<p>Who wants to bet that these kids who had a “totally horrible gpa” in HS continued to have a totally horrible gpa in college? Either that or they paid someone to help them in college.</p>
<p>Really sad that he is saying these things on national TV and really seems to believe them, never mind that he profitted handsomely by committing criminal conduct that SHOULD be on his record as well as those he “saved” for the rest of their lives. ICK! Interesting that his attorney & dad would allow him to go on national TV & say these things–if I was judge in his case, I would NOT allow the plea bargain.</p>
<p>My suspicion is that if you were the judge in this case, you WOULD allow the plea bargain, because the legal theory behind the case is so flimsy, and a conviction would be far, far from certain. That’s why, I suspect, the father didn’t think there was any risk in Sam going on national tv.</p>
<p>I suppose in many minds, ANY publicity is GOOD publicity, so that he can next write his book & make a bundle? I guess folks can justify whatever they want to and see themselves in a positive light while helping themselves to some significant $$$$. ICK!</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is claiming that this kid should be treated like the prez of Enron. But, I also think it’s disgusting that his “punishment” is coaching SAT prep. I also think it’s pretty clear from the video that he has no remorse whatsoever.</p>