Some folks are desperate.  And desperation is the mother of capitalistic invention.

A new online company peddles “verified” student applications to Ivy League institutions.  IvyAnalytics.com offers Ivy-aspirants the opportunity to put in a bit of data about themselves, then matches the student up to a set of applications to your preferred institution.  Allegedly, these “verified” applications resulted in acceptance.  All you pay is thirty bucks, and you have a guaranteed way into the Ivy League.

It was only a matter of time before Ivy League students started prostituting themselves by selling their successful applications. Or, it could be that the folks at IvyAnalytics have moles inside the Ivy admissions offices.  Can’t you just see them taking out their James Bond cameras (i.e., their cell phones) and copying off a few successful applications?

I can only hope that the Ivy admissions offices are onto this scheme, and that they are downloading these apps themselves to cross-check the essays and other bits in order to weed out the plagiarists and the cheaters.

The sad thing is that there are folks who are desperate enough to gain entry to these institutions that they resort to chicanery, and that businesses like IvyAnalytics prey upon that reckless panic.

If the purchasers of those applications were to think for a few minutes about the stupidity of paying 30 bucks for someone else’s application (or five apps for only $100!), perhaps they would realize that every other purchaser would be submitting the same essays, checking the same boxes on the applications, and thereby increasing the likelihood that their application will be tossed in the trash due its suspect nature.  After all, the admissions officer only would have to check the facts on the application against your Facebook profile to find that you are trying to lie your way into the Ivy League.

I’m going to write to a couple of the admissions deans at Ivy League institutions to see what they know about IvyAnalytics.com.  Perhaps they’ll let me reprint their responses here.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

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