My daughter was a calculus tutor for some student-athletes at her school. She expressed dismay that some of her tutees got into school on early admission while she had to process through the waitlist.
College Entrance Scam includes former Yale Women's Soccer Coach
- Thread starter Dos Equis
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My daughter was a calculus tutor for some student-athletes at her school. She expressed dismay that some of her tutees got into school on early admission while she had to process through the waitlist.
Simisoccerfan
PREMIER
That is because the athletes are bringing a skill/talent that other don't have and the University wants.
oh canada
GOLD
thanks for posting...after reading this excerpt below, i'm thinking that's also why we haven't heard anything more from the LA Times public records request issued last summer:Well well another twist to this now:
Former UCLA men's soccer coach fires back | College Soccer
Former UCLA head coach Jorge Salcedo is in the news again after his attorney filed a motion with the court last week that shines the light on his former employer.www.topdrawersoccer.com
"The college admissions scandal (or the Varsity Blues scandal) added a new chapter last week as former UCLA Men’s Soccer head coach Jorge Salcedo’s attorney begin to draw the framework of his argument in the trial and it could spell disaster for his old employer. Salcedo alleges in the motion that UCLA was aware of the admissions scandal in 2014 after a compliance review into the athletics department.
“The charges reflect the government’s fundamental misunderstanding of how UCLA has strategically used its student-athlete admissions process as a vehicle to raise funds to pay for its many expensive and underfunded athletic programs,” Salcedo’s attorneys wrote in the motion. “UCLA’s own internal documents reveal that, for many years, its Athletic Department has facilitated the admission of unqualified applicants—students who do not meet UCLA’s rigorous academic or athletics standards—through the student-athlete admissions process in exchange for huge “donations” by the students’ wealthy parents.”
Salcedo was one of the coaches indicted in March of 2019 as part of the large sweeping admissions scheme that involved numerous universities across the country. He was the only UCLA coach named in the indictment. But he was not the only soccer coach involved. Former USC head coach Ali Khosroshahin pled guilty to his involvement in the admissions scandal in June. His former assistant coach Laura Janke also pled guilty for her involvement.
Salcedo’s motion last week sought pre-trial subpoenas for UCLA and the UC Regents. As he alleges the school’s compliance office investigated the admissions practice of the athletics department five years ago and discovered it was a readily accepted standard for the benefit at higher-ups in the athletics department and university.
“Until this prosecution, UCLA has been able to keep its roster-spot-for-money admissions practice under wraps, hidden from the public. But the practice has been no secret at UCLA. Five years ago, UCLA’s Compliance Office was forced to review the Athletic Department’s admissions and fundraising tactics in response to a parent’s complaint concerning the revocation of her daughter’s admission.”
The motion, which can be read in full, continues to lay out the evidence regarding that internal investigation.
“Having uncovered a mountain of damning evidence, the Compliance Office concluded that UCLA’s use of athletic team roster slots to raise funds violated Policy 2202 of UCLA’s governing body, the University of California Board of Regents (“UC Regents”). Policy 2202, titled “Policy Barring Development Considerations from Influencing Admission Decisions,” prohibits admission decisions based on financial benefits to the University. The Compliance Office, however, was careful to protect top echelon members of the Athletic Department, while heaping all of the blame on the coaches’ shoulders.”
Depending on what the subpoena reveals, this could be a difficult spell for UCLA’s athletic department, which is already in the news for reporting a massive deficit in 2019. "
Mr. Salcedo served public records requests on both UCLA and UC Regents to no avail. Determined to prevent public disclosure of this blockbuster evidence, UCLA has stonewalled the defense, producing minimal documents and interposing a litany of objections. It has even tried to hide behind the government’s “ongoing criminal investigation” as an excuse for non-production.
And, never knew this was a thing..."GPA Boosters"...if Salcedo's lawyers get the docs they want, this could be a real sh*t show for UCLA:
UCLA has struggled with low APRs and risks being banned from post-season competition. UCLA’s May 2019 APR report, which includes data for academic years 2014 through 2018, reveals low multi-year APRs for several sports, including men’s basketball, football, and men’s soccer (Exs. 5, 6).4 Once again, UCLA has been able to resort to its student-athlete admissions practice to address this vital issue. The Athletic Department has admitted non-athletes whose academic performances helped raise their teams’ GPAs. Often known as GPA boosters, these students typically fill spots from the bottom of the roster and are from affluent families who donate to UCLA’s athletic programs. While these students generally do not meet UCLA’s academic admissions standards, their scholastic skills tend to be much higher than those of recruited athletes.
Zerodenero
GOLD
OCan- without digging in too deep into the supplemental intel re ucla ....how different is the above from ivys using the academic index to round out their annual incoming recruits?
Ivys are private (except for part of Cornell).
oh canada
GOLD
Not much different...though my guess, and purely a guess, would be that the GPA's at Ivy's don't have to be pulled up by "Boosters" as far as those at UCLA.
Ansu Fati
SILVER
"non-athletes"- I assume this is not a typo, and is what it sounds like?
If this is taken at face value, then wouldn't that be different than Ivy programs use of AI? For the Ivys, I'm assuming the recruits brought in to round out the class are still "athletes" with a legitimate athletic resume.
The title of this thread includes the word "Yale" - that's an Ivy.
In the cases that have become public, the non-athletes were disguised as crew coxswain or a soccer team manager - and some just had no athletic disguise whatsoever.
I think I have stated before that the ideal recruit for a college coach is a player with credible club or high school team experience, grades and test scores that meet the minimum admission requirements (even if not competitive with the best applicants), and parents who want no athletic department money (and a record or promise of big contributions helps even more). Just guessing here - there are some players who get admissions help from a coach who see only rare appearances on the field, but who don't cost the program anything and help on the income side for the college.
Ansu Fati
SILVER
Thanks for the clarification. I am well aware of the title of the thread and allegations involved in the Varsity Blues scandal. Just to recap, this was an operation run by Singer who helped nonathlete kids of rich parents gain admissions to elite universities (public and private) in part by bribing coaches, who would abuse the recruiting-admissions process and pretend these kids were recruits. Presumably without the universities knowledge (hence the schools were also "victims").
What Salcedo's lawyers raise are allegations that UCLA was also actively engaging in practices that abused the recruiting-admissions process by admitting "GPA boosters"- nonathletes from rich families that would raising the APR of a program in return for booster donations. If true, I am sure this is not only happening at UCLA.
@Zerodenero posed the question- how different is that from Ivys using AI to round out their recruiting classes? I assume the Ivys are recruiting athletes who have a legitimate athletic resume and meet minimum academic requirements for recruits that may be less competitive than the general pool but are still high and would raise the team AI to meet Ivy requirements. If this is correct, than it would seem to me that this technically different than the Salcedo allegations- Ivys are working within, rather than abusing recruiting-admissions process.
Now what I really wonder- is this just a slippery slope? I too imagine a situation where a program recruits an athlete who in reality will see very little time on the field, in return for a boost in the team academic performance to balance the blue chip recruits who aren't as strong academically. Parents are wealthy (alums) who wont cost the school a dime, and may even pledge to give a healthy sum to the school/booster. Kid isn't really gonna play, but gets an elite university degree, maybe with the help of the almighty $.
Salcedo pleads guilty --
wtop.com
---and --- sortakarma ---
Former UCLA soccer coach to plead guilty in admissions scam | WTOP
The former University of California at Los Angeles men's soccer coach will plead guilty to taking $200,000 in bribes as part of the college admissions cheating scheme, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
wtop.com
---and --- sortakarma ---
Very interesting plea. I wonder why? Cut a deal? Like I said everyone, more news is coming.Salcedo pleads guilty --
Former UCLA soccer coach to plead guilty in admissions scam | WTOP
The former University of California at Los Angeles men's soccer coach will plead guilty to taking $200,000 in bribes as part of the college admissions cheating scheme, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
---and --- sortakarma ---
Nothing good for him about that plea.
MacDre
PREMIER
The thing most don’t realize is that Federal prosecutors count in multiples of 10 (ie 10 yrs per charge) and win approximately 90% of the time. Once a person is formally charged with a Federal crime most don’t want to fight even if they are innocent because the consequences of losing are too severe.
He probably settled to avoid a potential 10-20 year prison bid and he had to rat out his friends. All money ain’t good money!
oh canada
GOLD
So if Salcedo pleads guilty for taking $$ and the parents of the faux female soccer player plead guilty for paying $$, how does Cromwell not get wrapped into this? Maybe there's no evidence of $$ into her pocket for a criminal charge? But wouldn't the university have athlete policy at least? Refresh my memory but wasn't this girl listed on the soccer roster, in photos, etc.?
Like I said everyone, more news in pay to play is coming. Wee, wee, wee all the way home and tell that stupid dad to shut up. New soccer is coming so please be patient everyone.
outside!
DA
Lauren Isackson - Women's Soccer - UCLA
Lauren Isackson (41) Midfielder - High School/Club Honorable mention All-WBAL selection in 2014 … Team captain for Woodside Soccer Club from 2012-16 … S...
It just slipped on by and she made the team and got a roster spot. My goat had her little chance but blew it. Damm!!!! Isackson was tougher and a better goat and was the Unicorn they were looking for. I knew something was up.
oh canada
GOLD
per LA Times..."students admitted through UCLA’s process for athletes are required to be “athletically qualified” and play on the team for at least the first year in school"Lauren Isackson - Women's Soccer - UCLA
Lauren Isackson (41) Midfielder - High School/Club Honorable mention All-WBAL selection in 2014 … Team captain for Woodside Soccer Club from 2012-16 … S...uclabruins.com
"One of the students, Lauren Isackson, who had not played competitive soccer in high school, was listed on the 2017 women’s soccer roster. She never played in a game. "
Nobody within 100 miles of this thing is getting close to 10 years. His sentence will be as bad as it could be.
Nonsense.