Fetch Conning Harvard: The True Story Of The Con Artist Who Faked His Way Into The Ivy League Originated By Julie Zauzmer Publication

honestly don't know who to resent more, the kid who did this or Harvard for not checking the applications claims and letting this happen, Adam doesn't get into any real trouble until Chapter, which is super annoying and he basically runs away like a coward when they try to confront him, Overall the book was interesting and I learned a lot of new words, which is a plus, Interesting and frightening. Calls into question the system of college applications and acceptances, The love song to Harvard prevents the narrative from being objective, The author does note that Wheeler is under a gag order and legally cannot discuss the issues, but more attention to the other side of the story would've made for a more balanced read.
An interesting retelling of real life Adam Wheeler, who conned his way into Harvard, as well as the broader social implications that contribute to cheating, I was intrigued by the story but didn't like the writing style of the author, so I just skimmed through it, Amazing what this man was able to get away with, I guess that's the price we have to pay for all the advances in technology, the "copy and paste" generation, This was a quick read, I agree with other reviewers who mentioned it would have been nice to get Wheeler's perspective, His voice would have added a lot to the tale,
I can't believe this is a true story, It's written by a reporter for The Harvard Crimson, and to be frank, you can tell, Not that the reporting isn't thorough, but a you can tell she disapproves of the whole scandal while I was actually interested more in how he did it than in hearing "how bad it is to cheat", and b it is VERY dry.
I gave it aboutpages before quitting, A rather interesting book that at times gets bogged down in the recitation and review of the length Adam Wheeler went in perpetrating his fraud on several institutions of higher education, most notably Harvard.
I would have preferred more about Adam the man, but his reclusive tendencies probably did not offer much more to look at,

Yes his conduct was certainly criminal in the fraud and deceit and he was eventually punished with equal measure, but I could not escape the presence of the giant elephant looming in the background, Harvard University.
It is true they have many thousands

of applications to review each year to enter their hallowed academic environs, Yet this great institution of most learned scholars at the very pinnacle were entirely duped, caught up in their own hubris and romance of seeming brilliance and accomplishment, And their outrage at being duped and financially taken advantage of for aroundk or so was somewhat amusing, The court ordered restitution. The richest educational institution that controls and endowment of aroundbillion, that's billion with a B, How dare they be embarrassed this way, caught with their pants down for all the world to see, Interesting read about a kid who cons his way into Harvard and almost gets away with it, but these kinds of true crime stories always seem to end the same.
The criminals are emboldened by getting away with more and more audacious acts and, of course, by their hubris that eventually leads to their downfall,

Quick read. Of interest to those who read and enjoyed books on crime and intrigue in an academic setting such as Mushroom or The Cuckoo's Egg, A quick read. This book suffers from the author having been denied the opportunity to interview the subject: Adam Wheeler, Despite this, it was fascinating to read about his outright lies, deceptions and plagiarisms, the effort of which far exceeded what might have been necessary for him to write his own papers, achieve legitimate grades, or establish a reputation worthy of honest letters of recommendation.
This is also an amusing story about the blindness of elite academia in America, a subject about which I'm passionate, having turned away from its groves years ago, This book is a worthwhile throwaway read, if only to give substance to one's own biases against elite education, I found the premise to be fascinating, I have often wondered how hard it would be to do this sort of thing just as a scientific experiment, I would say that it was amazing that he wasn't caught sooner but with the volume of applications Harvard and other schools receive then people are not going to read thoroughly.


I can't help thinking that if he had been a little bit less of a pretentious ass about the whole thing he probably would have gotten away with it and graduated without being caught.
This was a very interesting and wellwritten book that I found hard to put down, Julie Zauzmer did an excellent job of weaving the story of how a pathological fraudster faked his way into Harvard and Bowdoin and, amazingly, how he was not caught until he came very close to winning Harvard's endorsement for a Rhodes scholarship.
Particularly impressive is the fact that the author of this book was a senior in college at the time she wrote and published what is an incredibly compelling story.
The book had only two shortcomings: First, there was insufficient information about Adam Wheeler and his family, This may have been due to a lack of access to them, but more insight into his background and upbringing, and his personal perspective and motivations would have helped round out the story.
Second, Ms. Zauzmer was pretty easy on Harvard's complete and utter negligence in not catching Wheeler sooner, The claims he made on his application, and the nature of many of his "essays" and writings, were virtually unbelievable and should have resulted in some added due diligence.
For me, this kind of book is a guilty pleasure, I love stories about frauds and con artists, Usually I root for them, but it was hard to like the fraudster in this book because he lied and plagiarized not just to get into Harvard, Bowdoin, and Stanford, but also to be a straight A student and win top prizes.
At first I was not very impressed by the writing style of this book, but once I realized that the author is a college kid herself I had a lot of respect.


The story of what the con artist did is quite interesting, and I won't spoil it here, except to say that he was following the school of thought that says the bigger and more ridiculous your lies are, the more likely it is that you'll get away with it.
The author is too respectful of the Harvard admission's department and administration to delve deeply into why it took them so long to catch on, A smarter, more moderate cheater would never be caught, If all he'd wanted was to collect a Harvard diploma, no one would ever have caught Adam Wheeler, but then he set his sights on a Fulbright,

I like that the author has an insider's view because she is a Harvard student herself, but I think it also made her blind to questions that would occur to an outsider.
Like, what is so great about Harvard that people will do anything to get in what is the spell that people are under That is so bizarre it should be a chapter in itself.
But I got the sense that the author feels that way too, like naturally the highest dream of any student would be to go to Harvard, so no explanation needed.
And my biggest questions went unanswered, What motivated this guy Why did he keep on doing the same things even after he got caught No one knows the answers to these questions, probably, but I would be curious to hear what the people who knew him thought.
Also, what was his childhood like Any interesting backstory on this guy What was wrong with him, anyway

At times the fraudster must have spent much more time copying and editing little snippets of plagiarized material than he would have just writing a few sentences.
The few pieces of his own writing in the book are almost complete gibberish, Did he do any of his college course work Would he read the assigned books in his classes I thought it was interesting that the person who finally caught him was not more cynical or suspicious than the other people who'd read Adam Wheeler's amazing transcripts, recommendations, and resumes.
He was just more caring, worried that this student was taking on too many responsibilities at a young age, Oh, and he'd read the essay that the fraudster lifted, Anyway, the whole book brought back my college days in the humanities, where it didn't matter if my papers made sense or were ontopic, as long as they had a certain tone and lots of threedollar words.
I think that I was predisposed against the author/the book itself because as a graduate of a small midwestern liberal arts college, I am programmed to dislike all things Harvard.
But in truth, it was solidly written and once it got going, I was effectively hooked, Although the story almost wrote itself I wish the author had delved more deeply into and had been more critical about the systemic flaws that allowed for this to happen.
Wheeler built his entire scheme on a presumption that his parents, admissions officers and faculty members were clueless drones that could be fooled by esoteric language and impressive credentials.
Zauzmer could have probed more deeply in that area which would have resulted in a more meaningful narrative, Engrossing, readable, and slightly disturbing, I stayed up long past midnight with this one while Jason was away, The writing isn't great, but Zauzmer was a student at the time so I'll cut her some slack, Overall, a fascinating story. DNF. I'm not sure what I wanted when I began this book, but I didn't get it, There are some interesting tidbits about the college application process at top tier schools along with some general criticism of that process along with plagiarism and cheating among high school and college students.
I was curious about Adam Wheeler and his specific cons although I think calling him a con artist is going a bit far, but that took a backseat to the author's own agenda/viewpoint.
Interesting topic but poorly executed, I just couldn't get into it, Ast Century Catch Me If You Can, I have little doubt that Adam Wheeler has a bright mind, What's most impressive is his grit to work overtime through the complex and involved application process and the resourcefulness to find the right words to plagiarize each of his college papers, writings and reflections.
This ended up being insanely interesting, Probably moreso if you work in academia fellow academes, take note, Also, kind of reassuring. Most people don't use words like precis and demarche in emails, And if you read an email in which someone has done that, it's because they're a cheater, I might be overgeneralizing a bit, but um, yeah,

Also, what an ass, A pretentious ass. A FAKE pretentious ass. I was fascinated by this wellwritten and exhaustively detailed book about a young man who faked his background, transcripts, test scores, and personal recommendations to get into several universities, notably as a transfer student to Harvard and winner of several highprofile literary prizes.
I was also surprised that his waybeyond exceptional applications never gave any of the admissions committees' people a moment of pause, He displayed himself as so unique and beyond the norm that I would have questioned a lot of things, I was disapppointed, however, by the author's inability to interview Adam Weaver for this book and to get into his head, There is no discussion of his motives, why he lied so outrageously when a lot less would have sufficed, and why he was such a risktaker as a fraud.
We also learn very little about his family and its role in Wheeler's story, Overall, a good read about how toptier universities work and don't always work too well, Also a message to colleges to look more askance at college applicants, Fascinating look at the true story of how Adam Wheeler was able to con admissions officers, professors, and fellow students in his attempt to rack up educational experiences, accolades, and degrees.
A quick read that raises all sorts of issues regarding integrity and the motivations behind deceit, I have a weakness for books about con artists and this was no exception, It's wellreported and a pageturner for those of us partial to con artist stories!

However, it does have some flaws:
, It's boringly written, even for a newspaper journalist like Zauzmer she now works for the Washington Post, The presence of just a few sentences with a little style or zing would have helped,
. It doesn't delve into Wheeler's mental state enough, Certainly Zauzmer can't be expected to produce quotes from Wheeler given that he didn't respond to interview requests, But nonetheless, a little commentary on his potential mental state would have been interesting, For example, even after he was caught, he immediately produced a plagiarized application to Stanford and again was accepted, Doesn't this suggest that he may have been a pathological liar, i, e. mentally ill in some way This line of inquiry isn't explored by the author, Personally I have some sympathy for Wheeler, as he seems to have been a very intelligent person able to BS his way in person, not just by mail who ended up going down a very unfortunate path, while the author parlayed her writing of this book into eventually getting a full time job at the WaPo.

. It doesn't hold the universities to account enough, or even suggest how fraud could be better prevented, A big part of Wheeler's success was sending fake/doctored transcripts as part of his applications, To me this was surprising in my experience, one asks the institution in question to send the transcript direct to the university one is applying to, thereby preventing a doctored transcript from being part of the app.
Or anyway the system could be set up that way,

Random comments:
First, it's kind of comical that so many professors and admissions reps fell for Wheeler's BS,AP classes ampAP exams with alls the top for grades Nothing but straight As, class after class High level of expertise not only in English amp American lit but also in what was it Turkish ballads Coauthoring multiple upcoming books with faculty members Don't any of these people have a "BS Detector" Thankfully the professor evaluating his Rhodes application raised his eyebrows at the level of blarney he was seeing, and started the whole house of cards to begin falling down.


Second, as an exEnglish major, I'm disappointed but not surprised to see that "my" subject area turned out to be most susceptible to a BS artist like Wheeler.
Unfortunately, in recent decades the field has been somewhat overtaken and for some reason, especially on some of the most elite campuses by very abstruse amp obscure writing and analysis.
I remember encountering this when I was briefly in English grad school in the lates, Is Shakespeare, or Melville or Chaucer really that complicated Soon after I dropped out of grad school,

Despite all these complaints, I still found the book entertaining amp interesting! And I hope Mr, Wheeler has been able to recover from his history of pathological lying, He seems like a smart and decent guy in many ways, .