Remember Operation Varsity Blues? You know, the sexy cheating scandal where celebrities bribed coaches to get their kids into top colleges. Well, enter Operation TOEFL Recall. The TOEFL is the international students’ equivalent of an SAT or ACT. It’s designed to determine whether an international student has the reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills necessary to be successful in an American class (taught in English). The ring leader for Operation TOEFL Recall illegally took the exam for over 40 Chinese students, which gave them student visas so they could study in the United States.
According to the Wall Street Journal, universities reported that international students cheat 5 times more than domestic students. The University of Iowa investigated at least 30 Chinese students over allegations of cheating, and in Pennsylvania, 15 Chinese national students were indicted for cheating on the SATs. So now celebrities, ultra-wealthy Americans, and now international students have been caught in the cheating scandal as they try to get their mediocre children into prestigious American colleges.