Fixing Fraud in College Admissions
When sophomore Adam B. Wheeler transferred to Harvard in 2007, he seemed like a model student. His application said he’d graduated from Phillips Academy at Andover and earned perfect grades as a freshman at MIT.
As a Harvard student, Wheeler claimed to have maintained straight As and said he helped author six books. During his three years at the College, Wheeler won over $40,000 in grants and prizes — including the Hoopes Prize, a prestigious award given for undergraduate theses. His senior year, he applied for the Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships and seemed on track to earn Harvard’s endorsement for both.
But there was a catch.
Harvard Should Step in Before Its Next Student Financial Scandal
It’s a classic Harvard story. An intrepid undergraduate joins a campus club. Immediately, they realize how valuable the Harvard brand is. They watch their club draw in tens of thousands of dollars from Harvard-labeled sponsorships, performances, or high school conferences. They climb the club’s ranks until they’re put in charge of these finances themselves.
Then, money starts to go missing.
In 1994, two Harvard students were indicted for stealing over $130,000 from a campus fundraiser meant to help cancer patients. The next year, a student took $7,500 from Currier’s House Committee. In 2002, another two students pled guilty to embezzling almost $100,000 from the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and nearly ended up in jail.