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Freshmen arrived at the University of Rochester on Wednesday. On Thursday, one of them was ordered to leave. It turned out she had successfully (until then) hidden the private school she had really attended from 10th through 12th grades.
Jonathan Burdick, vice provost and dean of admissions at financial aid at Rochester, agreed to discuss the fraud -- and its unraveling -- on condition that the private school the student attended and other entities involved were not named.
The student applied using a transcript service that describes itself as helping those who are home-schooled. The transcript was official. Letters of recommendation arrived as well. The student looked promising. She was admitted, and she arrived on campus.
But also last week, the student posted something to social media about how she was about to enroll at Rochester. Someone at the private school she attended her sophomore through senior years spotted the post and found it odd. The student hadn't asked for any materials to be sent to Rochester or indicated she was applying there. The school then notified Rochester, which had no idea she had been enrolled in a private school, as opposed to her story about being home-schooled.
"It’s clear she made a strenuous effort to say she didn't attend” the school she had been enrolled at. There were no mentions of the school, no ties between those who wrote letters about her and the school, no activities from the school, he added.
"This was a very deliberate effort to avoid mentioning the school," Burdick said.
Asked if there was something on her private school record that she was focused on hiding, Burdick said he suspected as much, but that he never saw that record. He also said it wouldn't have mattered if she had earned straight As. "We revoked admission based on fraud," he said. "Honestly it doesn't matter" what grades she earned.
He said there was no doubt she should be kicked out. He said his main regret was that it happened after she arrived on campus, such that it was unsettling to some students around her.
Burdick said the events left him appreciative that the private school paid attention to social media. Admissions officers disagree on whether to monitor social media. But in this case it helped uncover a fraud, he said.
Further, Burdick said that he would have Rochester look at how it treats home-school application materials. While the university wants to consider everyone fairly, he said he worried this student may have used "what is really a diploma mill."
