
It was an elaborate ruse that involved fake IDs, air travel and lots of money. If only such effort was applied to actually studying. Between 2009 and this year, six high schoolers allegedly paid a college student between $1,500 and $2,500 to fly back home to New York to take the SAT for them. All seven were arrested this week for being part of the cheating scandal. According to prosecutors, the six current and former students of Great Neck North High School in Long Island, N.Y., hired 19-year-old Sam Eshaghoff, who attends Emory University, to impersonate them and take the standardized test. Eshaghoff presented at each test site a fake driver’s license bearing his photo with the paying student’s name, authorities said. The students had signed up to take the test at schools other than their own so they wouldn’t be recognized. And they got what they paid for: high scores ranging between 2140 and 2220, out of the SAT’s perfect score of 2400, prosecutors said. But rumors went around about a cheating ring (it’s high school, after all), which drew the school faculty’s attention. They were able to identify the cheaters because their scores seemed mismatched to their regular academic grades, and Eshaghoff was caught as the test taker after a handwriting analysis, according to authorities. Eshaghoff has pleaded not guilty to charges of scheming to defraud, criminal impersonation and falsifying business records. The students whom he impersonated were charged with misdemeanors and released without bail. Investigators are looking into whether Eshaghoff also took the test for students from other schools.
So let me get this straight. You spend $2,500 to fly this kid home, create fake IDs, and have this kid impersonate you so he can score high on your SATs for you and you go around school telling everyone? Well then, you deserve whatever you get! Isn’t it a known fact that secrets, rumors, and shit like this go around school like California wildfires? And how you gonna score a 2220 on your SATs when you have a GPA of 1.2? Unless you’re wearing a helmet to school and you’re counting cards like Rain Man, I’m not sure how you thought this was going to fly. Let me also say that $2,500 to me in high school was equivalent to $100,000 so I think they need to look into the parents on this one as well. I never had that kind of money sitting around nor would I spend it on anything that had to do with college, but maybe that’s just me. In no way, shape, or form was this a thought out plan. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your souls.