Stint Affecting Harvard Admissions Process?

by Jzee

Monday, June 07, 2010 at 06:47 AM EDT

With the recent shenanigans of Adam Wheeler and the discovery of his false application to Harvard and other prestigious schools, many people are left wondering how it was so easy for him to gain admission. Many people are beginning to say that acceptance to Harvard must be simple and easy to manipulate, but the fact of the matter is that that statement is far from the truth. Adam Wheeler falsified many documents and plagiarized his essays. It is physically impossible for Harvard admissions officials to conduct full background checks on each of the thousands of applicants each year. After this recent escapade, it is likely that Harvard officials will look even deeper into the already lengthy admissions process, requiring even more of the already from difficult admissions process.

In actuality, each application goes through robust screenings and readings. Before even being taken to a selection meeting, each application will receive four reading. Included in this reading is the standard application, SAT scores, transcripts, recommendations, and entrance essays. During this time, applicants are screened and applications are selected for a meeting. Getting past this initial level is difficult and quite the accomplishment for the standard Harvard applicant. Once past this stage, 20 subcommittees meet over the course of three to five days. During this time, the committees will discuss the merits of each applicant. These discussions usually last about thirty minutes but often extend as long as an hour. After this time, they place votes and make decisions via majority vote. At that time, they are taken to the full committee at which point admission offers are made.

The process is rigorous at best. The standard student cannot achieve admission and above average students have a difficult time. Every day, there are hundreds of applicants who lie on their applications and get caught. At that time, they are not only blacklisted from Harvard, but from other universities as well. Adam Wheeler somehow fooled several different colleges as well as grant, scholarship, and financial aid institutions into thinking he was someone he wasn't. He was close to a criminal mastermind and capable of fooling even the police. His documents all arrived with matching letterheads and seals and were identical to the real deal. The admissions officers always check up on discrepancies but the system is not foolproof and Wheeler's application showed no signs of said discrepancies.

While the Harvard officials would not discuss any changes they were planning to make, there is talk that steps are already underway. It would make sense to tighten the admissions even further and require verification for every single applicant during that review process. Likely, the time waiting for an admission decision will increase as further background checks will need to be conducted in order to assure nothing like this will ever happen again. While it is not the worst thing that can happen to a university, it makes a mockery of the entire process and is not fair to the students who did earn a slot or to those who otherwise would have earned one. It is safe to say that future applicants to Harvard University can look for a much more thorough and rigorous admissions process.

This article originally appeared on Another Harvard Blog.