Conning Harvard

In a Massachusetts court last year, a 24-year-old man pled guilty to falsifying his application to Harvard, thereby bilking the world’s most prestigious university out of more than $45,000 in prizes and scholarships and cheating an honest applicant out of an Ivy League diploma. Using forged SAT scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation, Wheeler outsmarted Harvard's admissions office. Once accepted to Harvard, he kept lying, cheating, and succeeding, winning thousands of dollars in prizes and grants. But then he shot too far. During his senior year at Harvard, Wheeler applied for nomination to the illustrious 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 scamming universities. 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 forThe 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 fast-paced and competitive world of the Ivy League—and almost won.