In college admissions, lies outsmart
Two years ago, when Mrs. Lee’s 20-year-old son was found to have lied on his college application papers and later got expelled from his university, she was furious. But she wasn’t angry because he had acted immorally; rather, she was more upset because, in her mind, it was useless to blame him for something everyone else did, too.
“In Gangnam, everyone does this,” Lee reportedly told police. “Why is he the only one getting in trouble?”
Further investigation proved that her son, surnamed Sohn, also had an accomplice - his teacher.
When authorities looked into the case, they found that Sohn had received an undeserved award in an art competition for a piece he hadn’t created. His teacher switched the boy’s name with another student and submitted the work on Sohn’s behalf.
His teacher recommendation letter also included details of volunteer work he had never completed.
Sohn applied to college in the early admissions process, which assesses an applicant’s transcripts, extracurricular activities, academic awards, volunteer work, recommendation letters and grades.
In Korea, regular admissions normally evaluate applicants’ scores on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), a standardized exam held every November. Thirty-five percent of the seats available at local colleges next year will be chosen via regular admissions, while the remaining 65 percent will be selected through early admissions.
One in every four early admissions slots will be determined through criteria similar to that which determined Sohn’s admission. But if Sohn’s case is any indication, university officials are mostly helpless to verify certain information, and similar fabrications often fly under the radar.
“There’s really not much we can do but believe whatever documents were authorized by the high school,” said one university admissions officer, who asked for anonymity. “It’s hard to tell which paper was fabricated when you have students and teachers collaborating in the scheme.”
Kim Kyeong-bum, a Seoul National University professor who screens admissions materials, acknowledged that the screening process isn’t easy, but that he looks for inconsistencies or other telltale signs that a cover letter may have been fabricated - if an applicant volunteered at a hospital, for instance, ahead of school exams.
Indeed, tracking lies can be difficult, especially when considering that references aren’t required in some universities, like Konkuk and Dongguk universities, as well as the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, all of which scored in the top 20 in this year’s college evaluation rankings by the JoongAng Ilbo.
Sungkyunkwan, Hanyang and Kyung Hee universities, which took spots 3, 7 and 9 in the rankings, respectively, skip interview sessions. In doing so, professors cannot orally verify what applicants say they’ve accomplished in their earlier years.
Another problem is that admissions consultation companies prey on these weak points by ghostwriting cover letters in return for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of won.
“The kernel is to stand out from the bunch,” said one CEO, when asked how consulting agents forge cover letters. But the trick is to hide the lies by “reeling off a variety of stories, to the point where verification is impossible.”
And for parents like Mrs. Jang, 48, entrusting those companies is inevitable, as cover letters all come down to composition skills.
“How different can high school students be in their extracurricular activities?” she said. “Really, it’s more about the way you present that record.”
The early admissions procedures that focus on applicants’ track records in high school, rather than on numeric data like CSAT scores, were based on government efforts to provide better opportunities for students from rural areas and lower-income brackets, most of whom lack the financial means to enroll in expensive private tutoring academies, or hagwons.
But Kim Kyung-suk, the head of the Korean Council for University Education, argues that the procedure isn’t what is wrong with the system; rather, it’s the deception some teachers willingly choose to engage in with their students. “Though it might be a bit tiring for students, local universities should require evidential documents from them” to justify their recorded extracurricular activities, Kim said.
Kim Hee-dong, the head research at Jinhaksa Entrance Strategy Institute, pointed out that the admissions officers in Korea are currently depending too much on paper documents, further stating that a more systematic procedure should be implemented.
Data from the Korean Council for University Education showed that one in every five local universities assigned a single admissions officer to screen more than 400 application papers.
To make the job somewhat easier, Lee Man-ki, a representative from the admissions consultation company Uway, recommended that universities cancel admissions for those found to have fabricated documents and even take it a step further by filing criminal charges against them.
For Sohn, it was a hard lesson to learn. He has since earned permission to enter a different school.
BY KIM KI-HWAN, LEE SUNG-EUN [selee@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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