<p>thanks to skp21 for providing the link:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Reed led a busy few years as Henson. She used Henson's identity to apply to two Ivy League universities -- Harvard and Columbia -- and the high school dropout was admitted by both.</p>
<p>"She was able to get some true identification using fake identification and she was able to take the SAT and GED in our victim's name and she used those to apply to Columbia,"
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Interesting, Sybbie. Thanks for the read. There was a man who did something of the same some years ago and was at Princeton for a while until the police caught up with him since he was wanted by the law for all sort of other things. A big embarrassment for Princeton, because he managed to play admissions for every hook they wanted to get in. Got full aid from them too.</p>
<p>This is creepy.</p>
<p>What is interesting is that Harvard tries to interview every applicant and goes to great lengths to do so, even for international applicants. Reed must have done a real snow job both on paper and in person. I also have to wonder about the recs, the transcipt, the GC report, etc...</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks for the link. That is quite an astounding story. And Harvard confirms that a person by that name attended for a while. (I have read that Harvard is very forthcoming with confirming the basic facts about whether someone has attended Harvard or not, because that is a very frequent claim made by liars.) </p>
<p>P.S. More links with more details: </p>
<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516600%5B/url%5D">http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516600</a> </p>
<p>Need to find out how she put together those applications ...and go into the "counseling" business. :)</p>
<p>What does this say about Harvard and Princeton, when a high school dropout can succeed?</p>
<p>Re: Post #7, it's not clear that she "succeeded," because there is no report here that she did anything other than attend for a short time.</p>
<p>If she spent two years at Columbia- that seems like more time than some legitmate students
She is obviously quite intelligent-this would also make a great essay topic!
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/18/missing.con.artist/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/18/missing.con.artist/</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
What does this say about Harvard and Princeton, when a high school dropout can succeed?
[/quote]
I assume you were implying a negative outcome ... but how about this ... Harvard and Princeton provide a nuturing compelling learning environment where bright students, even those with sub-standard educational backgrounds, can grow and succeed ... might that be the case?</p>
<p>Moreover, some students drop out of high school because they are bright and they find high school boring. "Drop out" doesn't equal "stupid."</p>
<p>As a high school drop out, I am 100% confident that I could "succeed" at any Ivy league school, anywhere, any time. I am also 100% confident that my applications would be rejected immediately, were I to actually attempt to apply (no academic credentials). </p>
<p>Having said that, in my experience, financial and other types of fraudsters tend to be freakishly smart. Some of them do slip up and get caught, but often not before they've caused unbelievable damage...</p>
<p>"What does this say about Harvard and Princeton, when a high school dropout can succeed?"</p>
<p>Grrr.</p>
<p>It says that you have a clean slate when you walk in the door, and from then on you can go wherever your talents and your work ethic take you.</p>
<p>(Like, hypothetically, into the Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Purely hypothetically.)</p>