Were Students Coached to Claim Minority Status?

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), citing anonymous sources, reported Saturday that Rick Singer, mastermind of the schemes exposed in the college admissions scandal, advised a number of students to falsely claim that they were members of minority groups. Most of the instances of application lying in the case thus far have involved applicants pretending to be athletes so they could be listed as recruits for a team.

"On some applications that Mr. Singer’s operation handled, applicants may have claimed to be underrepresented minorities based on a tenuous connection, such as a distant relative of Native American ancestry, said one of the people familiar with his business," the Journal article said. "In one case, the person said, a teenager was presented as Native American when 'there was absolutely nothing Native American about this kid.'"