<p>
</p>
<p>Graduating seniors just do not have that sort of tenure-track faculty level academic CV - several books in process, invited talks, academic administrative service and course development.</p>
<p>I’ve read a lot of CVs over the years and this one certainly struck me as odd. Obviously in reading this one I had the benefit of already knowing this guy was a total fraud but even so even without further investigation several things just didn’t seem right (regardless of if they were even real to begin with):</p>
<ul>
<li>Right from the start the third line suggests that he studied at Lincoln College, Oxford but the program he cites is actually conducted by Middlebury College in Vermont which happens to run a class in the UK using facilities at one of the Oxford Colleges. The course may have taken place there but that certainly doesn’t justify suggesting that you’ve been educated at Oxford when in reality all you did was took a course that took place in Oxford in rented conference facilities.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve seen this sort of things a few times on CVs with things like these Oxbridge academic programs–similar idea, it’s a 3rd party summer course that uses rented facilities at Oxford/Cambridge… fine, a great chance to spend some time abroad, but please don’t try and suggest on your CV that you actually studied at these universities as an actual student there. That’s going to make me very suspicious of anything else you say… </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Citing ‘Old English’ as a language your fluent in? Please. </p></li>
<li><p>Claiming to be an established author but have no published books–with six books either ‘in progress’ or ‘under contract.’ That just doesn’t make sense and again gives me the impression that something just isn’t right there… Based on the his earlier embellishment of some time spent in Oxford I’m already very suspicious of the way he’s presented this too. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Obviously it’s easy to say so now, but even if I did decide to put such a CV through to an interview stage I’d have some seriously probing questions to try and figure out what’s going on in some of the situations outlined above. It appears that ultimately this guy was just so arrogant that he didn’t even see how silly some of the things he was putting forward actually were.</p>
<p>I want to apply for a job as a fact checker at Harvard. Think it needs one? I could use all the time I spend on CC working for Harvard instead.</p>
<p>Now, had he faked his way into Wellesley or Smith, that would have been a story!</p>
<p>^ xiggi…LOL</p>
<p>Not trying to defend the guy but if he did in fact maintain good, solid grades at Harvard…that’s amazing IMO. How Harvard got duped is sad and makes you question the admissions process.</p>
<p>BTW, iirc this isn’t the first time someone got into an “elite” school by faking his/her way in right?</p>
<p>Okay…I am dying to know where his parents were through all of this. Didn’t they wonder how junior got into Harvard? Didn’t they at least give his application the once over for spelling errors?</p>
<p>The average gpa at Harvard is about 3.6 so it’s open whether a) he’s really different from some Harvard students because they admit a lot of minority and rich kids who otherwise don’t qualify and b) grades in many courses reflect more than taking that class.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Um, I took “Old English”–ie; Anglo Saxon–as an undergrad. (At Harvard Summer School, as a matter of fact.) It certainly is unusual for an undergrad to be really expert in it, but not beyond the bounds of possibility if they went to the right school.</p>
<p>
He got in as a transfer student. It doesn’t surprise me his parents weren’t involved with the application, though you would think they might have known about the Bowdoin expulsion. This guy seems like such a compulsive liar however, I imagine they were just as much in the dark as anyone else. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he was able to get decent grades at Harvard. Harvard has stated that SAT scores in the 600 range in math and CR are more than adequate to handle the Harvard curriculum. Back when I was a student there I thought it was fairly difficult to get A’s consistently, but very easy to get B’s. </p>
<p>It’s disappointing that Harvard didn’t check into an application that looked too good (if his later resume is any indication of his modus operandi.) And it would be interesting to know just how he faked his SAT score report (assuming he did.)</p>
<p>More info…[Harvard</a> Faker Calls Self “Sententious, Crypto-tendentious, Slightly Pedantic” | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/5/18/wheeler-school-high-caesar/]Harvard”>Harvard Faker Calls Self "Sententious, Crypto-tendentious, Slightly Pedantic" | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>Gotta love the e-mail!</p>
<p>Wheeler’s parents ratted him out after he applied to Yale:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>“I was just knocked silly by this,’’ said one Harvard professor, speaking on condition of anonymity, who likened Wheeler’s fabrications to a scenario from the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley.’’ “There’s something that’s pathological there. And it’s something that seems to me that needs care and clinical treatment, rather than incarceration.’’</p>
<p>Shocking, outrageous, offensive as this young man’s alleged crimes may appear, I tend to agree. Mental illness may present at this age and it is sad.</p>
<p>Actually, if you read the NY Times coverage, his parents didn’t really rat him out. </p>
<p>Apparently, in his Yale app, Wheeler listed the name of the high school he had really attended. He claimed he was val of the class of 2007, had perfect SATs, and listed a transcript containing lots of APs. </p>
<p>As part of routine procedures, Yale admissions called the high school. The high school told Yale that Wheeler graduated in '05, was not valedictorian, didn’t have perfect SATs and the AP couirses he claimed he took weren’t offered by the high school when he was a student there. </p>
<p>Yale admissions then called the Wheeler residence. The phone was answered by one of his parents. The caller said (s)he needed to speak to Adam to ask him some questions about discrepencies. At THAT point, his parents spoke to him and advised him to stop the fabrications.</p>
<p>
Why not both?</p>
<p>In today’s NYTimes. It mentioned, “Mr. Wheeler’s life of deception would not have stopped if it were not for his parents,” said the DA. But the story doesn’t elaborate about their role beyond that.
[quote]
<a href=“Campuses Ensnared by ‘Life of Deception’ - The New York Times”>www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/education/19harvard.html?scp=1&sq=ensnared%20by%20deception&st=cse]
[/quote</a>]
</p>
<p>Yes, it does. There’s more than one article:</p>
<p>[Lingering</a> Questions Over Deception at Harvard - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Lingering Questions Over Deception at Harvard - The New York Times”>Lingering Questions Over Deception at Harvard - The New York Times)</p>
<p>And see also the article linked above:<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/5/18/wheeler-school-high-caesar/[/url]”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/5/18/wheeler-school-high-caesar/</a></p>
<p>This is so unfortunate. If he had the brains to pull this off, imagine he had used those neurons for good things. Imagine what he could have done.</p>
<p>From The Choice:
I wonder if his parents even realized the extent of his crime, or the subsequent charges and of course the press on this topic.</p>
<p>I am dissapointed that Harvard didn’t catch this fabrication earlier but I hope students realize that schools <em>do</em> check. Two liberal arts schools to which one of my kids applied (Skidmore and Vassar) actually contacted her guidance counselor to verify details on the application. They were all true and she was accepted by both schools. </p>
<p>As far as everyone who says he earned such high grades at Harvard-- who is to say he earned them? His record suggests that perhaps he cheated his way through Harvard. My kids always complained that a number of “top students” from their high schools cheated their way through school. I do think it’s more common than many of us parents believe.</p>
<p>Old English, aka Anglo-Saxon, is uncommon but studying it is certainly not unheard of. It’s a common course in British universities and is the language of Beowulf. It was “Classical Armenian and Old Persian” that made me laugh. Who knew that Armenian even had a classical period?</p>