Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

‘Rhodes Scholar’ claimed she grew up poor and abused — then her story started to unravel
https://nypost.com ^ | January 11, 2022 4:59pm | By Jerry Oppenheimer and Isabel Vincent

Posted on 01/12/2022 6:02:23 AM PST by Red Badger

In November 2020, when University of Pennsylvania graduate student Mackenzie Fierceton won the prestigious and highly competitive Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford — one of just 32 scholars selected from a pool of 2,300 applicants — she was praised by the Ivy League school’s president in a newsletter.

“Mackenzie is so deserving of this prestigious opportunity,” declared president Amy Gutmann of the 23-year-old from suburban St. Louis. “As a first-generation [to go to college] low-income student and a former foster youth, Mackenzie is passionate about championing young people [and] dedicating herself to a life of public service.”

But a few months later, Fierceton had lost her prestigious scholarship and was fighting against accusations that she had been “blatantly dishonest” about her childhood in her Penn and Rhodes applications.

Now, the investigation into her story is being revealed by the Chronicle of Higher Education — including the Rhodes committee’s findings that Fierceton “created and repeatedly shared false narratives about herself,” using these “misrepresentations” to “serve her interests as an applicant for competitive programs.”

The case also exposes the murky underbelly of elite schools like Penn and their quest to “show that they’re transforming society rather than laundering its inequalities” by accepting “remarkable” applicants with truly tragic backgrounds, according to the Chronicle report.

Multiple college consultants told The Post that the college application process now features more questions about overcoming obstacles. The 2021-2022 essay prompts from Common App, the organization that oversees undergrad applications for more than 900 schools, include “Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; History; Society
KEYWORDS: didyousearch; duplicate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last
Poor little rich girl, "I was born a poor black child.................
1 posted on 01/12/2022 6:02:23 AM PST by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I know a Rhodes Scholar who’s father was a well-known doctor in her city.

I didn’t know there was supposed to be a tie-in with poverty.


2 posted on 01/12/2022 6:04:01 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind

It’s a relatively new addition to the applications...............

Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar.....................


3 posted on 01/12/2022 6:06:22 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Lying about their background worked for Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal. Last I heard they are still US senators.


4 posted on 01/12/2022 6:09:54 AM PST by zek157
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

She simply self-defined herself as a needy child of poverty.
If you can do it with sex & race and its acceptable why not economic situation?

The left isn’t even consistent in their frauds!


5 posted on 01/12/2022 6:12:12 AM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

She simply self-defined herself as a needy child of poverty.
If you can do it with sex & race and its acceptable why not economic situation?

The left isn’t even consistent in their frauds!


6 posted on 01/12/2022 6:12:49 AM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I don’t blame anyone who lies about their race or background to get into college since this is the way the game has to be played these days.


7 posted on 01/12/2022 6:14:37 AM PST by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I don’t blame anyone who lies about their race or background to get into college since this is the way the game has to be played these days.


8 posted on 01/12/2022 6:14:37 AM PST by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

9 posted on 01/12/2022 6:15:24 AM PST by struggle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Victim hood, just what every youth aspires to these days


10 posted on 01/12/2022 6:15:26 AM PST by McGavin999 (To shut down the border tell the administration the cartel is smuggling Ivermectin )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

She looks pretty not guilty...


11 posted on 01/12/2022 6:15:42 AM PST by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

The person with the biggest sob story wins.


12 posted on 01/12/2022 6:16:05 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Do we value what the Founding Fathers gave us enough to fight for it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Me Fierceton’s problem is one of melanin deficiency. Had she a darker complexion she would be lauded for her creative abilities and awarded a PhD in Classical Corn Row Design.


13 posted on 01/12/2022 6:16:12 AM PST by technically right
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

> “Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.” <

On my application to be a Rhodes Scholar, I told about the time Free Republic was down for two days. I was despondent as I was without a source of unfiltered news.

I never did hear back from the Rhodes Scholarship committee. Maybe my application got lost in the mail.


14 posted on 01/12/2022 6:17:08 AM PST by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Leftists lie, it’s born into them.


15 posted on 01/12/2022 6:17:09 AM PST by Fireone (When they pry them from my cold, dead, unvaccinated hands.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
So...Mackenzie Fierceton gave bullspit responses to a bullspit scholarship.

Sounds par for the course. What's the complaint?

16 posted on 01/12/2022 6:20:11 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
It's way murkier than this ....

Pillow Talk

17 posted on 01/12/2022 6:20:55 AM PST by IllumiNaughtyByNature (The kernel of our firm's job is to go with lots. - tnlibertarian job offer letter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
prestigious ... Rhodes Scholarship

It takes bright college student who have demonstrated that they can be reliable servants of the global order and connects them with the lords of the global order. That is exactly what Rhodes was looking for when he created the scholarship in the first place.

And just look at who has gotten it and where they have gone.

18 posted on 01/12/2022 6:21:25 AM PST by AndyJackson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

People who have lived on the internet for so many years are so used to making up their own story...they “forget” where their own avatar ends...and where their real world starts.


19 posted on 01/12/2022 6:21:29 AM PST by Vermont Lt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PLMerite

She looks pretty not poor....................


20 posted on 01/12/2022 6:22:26 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson