Anyone remember the famed high school to send underprivileged students from Louisiana to some of the best colleges in the U.S? Well there’s much more to the story.
For those who cannot get past the paywall, The school owners are accused of fraud.
Accusations include falsifying Transcripts, not paying teachers, having upperclassmen teach the lower classmen and physical and verbal abuse.
Some of the students that graduated and are now at elite universities have withdrawn from their institutions, with a special spotlight of the girl who was accepted to Wesleyan. She took a medical leave for mental health issues to the sheer rigor of her program.
It is sad for the kids. I saw the TODAY special on this awhile back and it seemed to go to be true then so it was no surprise when I heard this news. Couldn’t see real teaching and they were shown teaching themselves. The school falsified documents to get them in and then the kids cannot make it once there and leave for a variety of reasons mental health, stress, poor grades etc.
This is sad. Because of this over focus on race, and poverty, many students are accepted that have a sob story. Apparently this school made up the sob stories. If this is what Harvard, and other Ivy schools want, their value will go down. Admissions would be better if it was just random, instead of hyper focusing on race like this. The Harvard lawsuit, where is it at now?
I see students struggling to create a sob story. How about just telling a fun story? I am so done with the poor me stuff. And the student who was applying to Harvard was wearing a very expensive Harvard shirt before he got in. I never bought that stuff, and neither did my sons. so much for poverty.
The truth is that top schools are tough for the students who got in fairly. If a student isn’t prepared, it is probably going to be an unhappy experience.
@Coloradomama Your “I am so done with the poor me stuff” comment is extremely dismissive of the numerous students that overcome adversity you could never dream of in order to succeed. Your suggestion that it should “just be random” smacks of privilege, and is completely ignorant to the class- and race-based oppression that permeates America. The school falsified “sob stories”, yes, but these students also had top ACT scores and stellar (falsified) transcripts. To suggest that Harvard takes sub par students because they tell sob stories is ill-informed and disingenuous. There are two major tragedies to come out of this story. The first, obviously, is for the poor children who were victimized by this school. The second, though, is that it reinforces the racist narrative that black kids just aren’t cut out for top colleges.
@memeagles11@Coloradomama
To be fair they most likely had test scores equivalent to their black classmates(or even less due to their poor backgrounds) which may or may not (probably more likely) be equivalent to the 99th percentile of their white and Asain classmates. The school has a facebook page where they show the students SAT/ACT scores and so far I don’t see any 99th percentile scores.
With that said I think its tragic all around, but to be fair I indeed wanted to believe the beautiful story of the URM students in Lousiana when the story first broke, but I certainly was very spectacle when I first saw it. For a 16-year-old to get into Harvard raises suspicion, and I wonder how is he doing now?
But my main problem with this is the schools. The institutions are being disingenuous on the admissions process. They celebrate a “bootstraps” mentality when it comes to URM students (even if it’s a lie), but punish Asians with that same mentality. It’s gross all around and further, confirms their bias, which initially comes across as mainly in benefit of one group, but it’s starting to seem as if it’s actually against the other group.
With all that said I do hope holistic admissions stick around for a bit longer.
I do feel for the kids and parents an the staff/teachers at the school, but not for the adcoms that got duped by this. Shame on them for not having some skepticism on this, and well maybe give TM Landry credit for being shrewd enough to know what these adcoms want.
Such stories are really unfortunate. I remember reading about this school and their videos in Post few months back. It was clearly very positive story. Now we see the flip side that it was all a fraud.
Basically, admissions have been turned into a football game. Holistic admissions are a fair game - but I always wonder how they work in real life. I can’t decide if I like apple or an orange on a given day. Both are healthy choices. Without having some objective criteria - how admissions people could choose among a thousand different variables ?
Truth is - this school is caught by a journalist and students they mistreated. How do we know other private schools don’t operate on same model? Where is the truth ? Why can’t universities have a common standard on which to decide. All this mumbo-jumbo of holistic will obviously lead to hodgepodge of unfair decisions at the end. Fire College Board. Fire GPAs. Have some standards in place. Be objective. Be open and transparent. This will actually help rural and poor students. India and China have lifted millions out of abject poverty using some simple exams. Simplify the process instead of relying on false stories peddled by fraudsters like Landry.
memeagles11, you wrote “but these students also had top ACT scores and stellar (falsified) transcripts. To suggest that Harvard takes sub par students because they tell sob stories is ill-informed and disingenuous. There are two major tragedies to come out of this story. The first, obviously, is for the poor children who were victimized by this school. The second, though, is that it reinforces the racist narrative that black kids just aren’t cut out for top colleges.”
Since when is 29 on the ACT a top score? Apparently Harvard, Stanford and other schools did in fact grant them admission so the sob stories did help them to some degree. I agree with you that all of this is extremely unfortunate to the students both current and former, however I’m not entirely sure that those students who submitted their applications were true victims. Some of them must have known that their applications were falsified.
My guess is there were red flags in the falsified transcripts. IMO…Harvard etc. didn’t do their due diligence. They should have checked out the (new, unaccredited) “prep school”. Also, the Harvard kid was 16…being young meant another challenge. I’m sure there were better candidates for Harvard.
Agree on the ACT scores…most candidates need near-perfect scores on SAT/ACT…but apparently not kids from this school. Hmmm.
I think it is entirely possible that these kids never saw their applications. Back in the day, I was a first-generation college student who had no clue or guidance about the college admission process. I never saw my high school transcript.
I bet these kids never saw their transcripts either. I also think it would be entirely possible for an adult to create the student accounts on the Common App and write all of the student essays without the kids having any idea this was happening. I think this scenario is more likely than these kids writing untrue essays.
@shuttlebus
I would agree, but one knows when they are a 4.0 student, and when they are not. @sunnyschool@bluering
Exactly, people are trying their best to undercut the importance of the lies they told, but that is why they got in. Most of those students scored between 29 and 31 on the ACT that isn’t particularly high and isn’t surprising if one is able to study non-stop for 2 or more years. Many black students with higher scores and non-falsified grades did not get in, and that is what some people are missing. The corrupt school robbed others.
The school profile suggests the 2017 average ACT for all students in the school was ~29. The few students who were accepted to highly selective colleges often had higher scores than the school average.
For example, the Landry student from the viral Harvard acceptance video that millions saw, appeared on Ellen, was praised by Michelle Obama, and was posted on this site was a 4.0 UW GPA valedictorian with a 34 ACT. His brother who was accepted to Stanford also had a 34 ACT. A 34 composite is a 99th percentile score. They didn’t get in because of just telling a “sob story” or because admissions were holistic instead of admitting based on stats. See https://kadn.com/opelousas-brothers-head-to-harvard-and-stanford-universities-story-behind-viral-acceptance-videos/ for specific numbers and more detail. They do have a “sob story” about their brother dying from an asthma attack. If this story is fake, it is done very well with false obituary reports, holding a funeral, getting other family to involved, starting the falsifications nearly 4 years before either student applied, etc.
However, based on the NYT article, it sounds like some of the Landry transcripts were falsified, and some students spent long hours prepping for the ACT during school hours instead of learning a standard high school curriculum. It’s unclear how much this applies to the few who were accepted to Harvard, Stanford, and the like. It sounds like Landry is an unaccredited small private high school that advertises non-traditional teaching methods, often without homework, and is run by a guy with a criminal history who admits to hitting students. It’s a sad story. Some persons in power who have the means to cheat for personal gain will do so.
@Data10
No one said these tests aren’t able to be gamed. A 34 is a great score, but is it great when you study for it for 2 years in lieu of actual coursework that you lied about taking? If one’s transcript is the most important part of the process then their lies got them in. I think one of the students were accepted to Bowdoin, a test-optional school… so a whole other can of worms.
@Data10 How many other applicants are denied admission from highly competitive colleges and universities despite having a 4.0 UW GPA and 36 ACT (not 34 ACT as the example you provided)? There are many students who achieve perfect standardized test scores, 4.0 UW GPA, with impressive extra curricular activities both inside and outside of school and year after year they don’t get in.
Why is it that when a poor black student gets a 34 ACT it’s news, but when a poor asian student gets a 36 ACT it is what is expected? Can someone please share their thoughts on whether or not you think this is fair?
I agree with emorynavy “Many black students with higher scores and non-falsified grades did not get in, and that is what some people are missing. The corrupt school robbed others.”
“I bet these kids never saw their transcripts either. I also think it would be entirely possible for an adult to create the student accounts on the Common App and write all of the student essays without the kids having any idea this was happening. I think this scenario is more likely than these kids writing untrue essays.”
In fact at least one student interviewed by NYT said this. Maybe more—I read this story yesterday and don’t remember exactly. If they were from families with experience in college applications I can see that. The school, which presents itself as being great at getting kids into college, tells them this is how it’s done.
I bet they were coached, though, to know they were “A students” or have X GPA…so that their stories were consistent in case they had a discussion with Admissions, or an interview.
The primary issue with the T.M. Landry scandal is not about ACT scores. That said, rejections from both groups you listed are more common that acceptances at HYPSM… because admissions depend on more than just ACT score. What made the acceptances a news story was the viral acceptance video with millions of views (copy is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsUQU3r2nsM ), not because the student was black and/or poor. I think the key reason why the video was popular is the surrounding students’ reactions. Sitting in the hot seat and waiting for the decision with the school watching gives a sense of pressure that is easy to empathize with; and when the crowd joins in to an uproar, mobs the student, and seems genuinely overjoyed for the student; it makes many viewers also feel good for the student.