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Conning Harvard
The True Story of the Con Artist Who Faked His Way into the Ivy League
By Julie Zauzmer and Xi Yu
Published by Lyons Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
In 2011 a 24-year-old man pled guilty to falsifying his application to Harvard University, bilking the world’s most prestigious university out of more than $45,000 in prizes and scholarships. Using forged SAT scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation, Adam Wheeler outsmarted Harvard's admissions office and then went even further. Once accepted into the Ivy League he kept lying, cheating, and succeeding, winning thousands of dollars in prizes and grants. But then he shot too far. During his senior year, Wheeler applied for Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships, a gamble that finally exposed his extensive tangle of lies. Alerted that he was under suspicion, Wheeler fled Harvard but did not stop. He successfully filed more fraudulent applications at top-tier schools across the country, until some vigilant admissions officers, Massachusetts police, and even his own parents forced him off his computer and into court. As reporters for The Harvard Crimson, Julie Zauzmer and Xi Yu covered the case from the moment the news of Wheeler’s indictment broke. In the course of their reporting, they interviewed dozens of friends, roommates, teachers, and advisors who knew Wheeler at the many phases of his suspect academic career. Their fascinating account reveals how one serial scammer took on the competitive world of the Ivy League—and almost won.
Product Details
- Publisher: Lyons Press (September 3, 2013)
- Length: 240 pages
- ISBN13: 9780762787432
Raves and Reviews
"Conning Harvard proves that what I did over 40 years ago is 4,000 times easier to do today due to technology. Technology breeds crime and makes replicating documents and falsifying paper child's play. This, added with the fact that we live in an extremely unethical society that doesn't teach ethics at home and doesn't teach ethics at school because the teacher would be accused of teaching morality, has brought us today to a country full of Adam Wheelers. For those that are naive, a must read."
--Frank W. Abagnale, author of Catch Me If You Can
". . . the bizarre nature of the case is hook enough." --Publishers Weekly
Zauzmer's well-researched book is practically a how-to guide for scamming a college admissions process…To report on the extent of Wheeler's fraud, Zauzmer scrutinizes the college admissions system even more carefully than her subject did... --Philadelphia Inquirer
The startling revelations about Wheeler’s exploits accumulate so quickly in Julie Zauzmer’s ripping 'Conning Harvard' that at times this meticulously reported nonfiction narrative reads like a potboiler."
-The Washington Post
"A handbook for teens on how not to get into Harvard--and, perhaps, a reminder that Harvard isn't infallible." --Booklist
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