Falsifying background information, making fake patents to get into US universities

 Falsifying background information, making fake patents to get into US universities

Many students make up touching stories in their essays, spending thousands of dollars to forge patents to "polish" their college applications.

Last week, the story of University of Pennsylvania student Mackenzie Fierceton, 24, who lost his prestigious Rhodes scholarship because of allegations of fabricating his background, went viral.

In the essay, she claimed to be the first person in her family to go to college in order to take advantage of the US schools' policy of finding students from poor backgrounds, in families where no one had ever gone to college. But in reality, both her mother and grandfather attended college. Fierceton also shared details of her abuse by her mother, but the allegation was denied by authorities.

Fierceton is not the first and only case to do so. It is not unusual for students to fabricate essays to get the attention of top schools.

Some students revealed they had "published" novels or memoirs when in fact their parents hired people to self-publish what looked like manuals. There are children who write about their meaningful volunteer work in developing countries, but in reality their parents have to spend a lot of money sending their children abroad to give them something to include in their essays. Others go so far as to patent research they never did.

"There are companies in China that charge a few thousand dollars and will do all the hard work so that your child can apply for a science patent," says an education consultant.

An admissions officer from the Ivy League school group told a conference in September 2021 that: "Now that any candidate shows off his patents on file, admissions officers are extremely wary."

Harvard and other Ivy League schools are looking for candidates who have experienced hardship. Photo: AP

Harvard and other Ivy League schools are looking for and prioritizing applicants who "have been through the rough". Photo: AP

Many experts, who help students prepare personal essays of Common App, which is used by more than a million students to apply to 800 colleges in the US, say that the most popular way to write essays is to tell them. about how they overcame obstacles in life.

"Essentially, schools are taking 'more care' to children who are traumatized before the age of 17," said a tutor in Manhattan. He said he has met good students but has not experienced major obstacles in life and as a result, they cannot compete in top schools such as Yale, Princeton or Harvard.

"What we've seen is a lot of students are finding it hard. The kids think '," said Ron Foley, a professor of Mathematics who runs Foley Prep Inc - a tutoring and college prep service. going through hard times' is the most enjoyable thing to write about yourself, even if it's not."

According to Forley, while many universities consider standardized certifications as an optional condition (not mandatory), in order to create fairness and equality for applicants, especially during the pandemic, the personal essay person plays an even more important role. "The irony of optional testing is that it opens the door to more heck of a game," he said. Schools can hardly detect all "tricks" when receiving up to 100,000 applications a year.

Even before the pandemic, students used to do everything to gain an advantage. In 2016, a parent posted to complain about how her son's friend had created a charity specifically for the deaf.

"She created the website, designed the organization's logo, outlined the missions, but hasn't done anything with it yet," the parent said, adding that by listing the "charity" on the list. book of extracurricular activities, the female student was admitted to Stanford University that year.

As schools look to racial diversity on campus, white students also find ways to lie to their advantage. According to a 2021 survey by Seattle-based company Intelligent, 34% of white students admitted to lying about being an ethnic minority.

Meanwhile, many really unlucky students do not put personal difficulties in their essays because they want to be recognized for their talents. A college essay instructor once urged a high school student to tap into her resume for extra points.

"She immigrated to the US when she was young, witnessed and lived in real poverty. But she didn't take advantage of that because she didn't want it to become a trace of her identity," she shared.