‘Rhodes Scholar’ claimed she grew up poor and abused — then her story started to unravel

New York Post ^ | January 11, 2022 | Jerry Oppenheimer and Isabel Vincent

[karpov]

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 High 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.”

“There are a lot of pressures out there for applications right now,” Marco Santini, a New York-based college education consultant, told The Post.

[Rummyfan]

The email reportedly alleged that Fierceton grew up in St. Louis, Mo., with her mother, an educated radiologist; that her family was upper-middle class; and that she had attended a fancy private high school and enjoyed such high-end hobbies as horseback riding.

What a fraud. But the system encourages such frauds and thus it gets them.

[Rummyfan]

Yes. Since when are scholarships for academic excellence doled out based on sob stories?

The applicants have to show the obstacles they have overcome. To study sociology at Penn?!

[Rummyfan]

Yes and Kristofferson came from the little old Pomona College in California.

[Rummyfan]

“Where I’ve landed is that I have a right to write about my experiences as I experienced them. Period.”

In other words, she's a novelist.

It reminds me of the case of Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemalan writer who was awarded the Nobel for her writings off her struggles growing up in a time of rebellion in Guatemala, and of the hardships she and her family endured. It was later revealed she made it all up and actually came from a very privileged and pampered upbringing.

[Rummyfan]

A story about Kristofferson. He was a qualified helo pilot and after his discharge he was flying commercially. He had written Sunday Morning Coming Down and landed in Johnny Cash's back yard to deliver the song to Cash to see if he would record it.

[Rummyfan]

Rhodes scholar: hand selected DS in training...

DS?

[Rummyfan]

Morrison’s father was an admiral.

[Repealthe17thAmendment]

Besides Cecil Rhodes was hardly a saint.

It surprises me that Rhodes hasn't been canceled yet, and all statues removed and buildings with his name changed.

It might be because too many leftists used that prestige to climb up the ladder.

[aumrl]

I always thought Rita Coolidge had it goin on.

[edwinland]

Yup. Again, it fits the zeitgeist. A long time ago people were admired for their achievements. And then you had a lot of people exaggerating or faking achievements (like fake Purple Hearts or even completely faked service) because that was a cheap way of being admired.

Then Horatio Alger came along and people were more admired for their achievements depending on how much adversity they overcame to achieve them. Then you had plenty of politicians for example who exaggerated how poor they were and how much they overcame. Like this girl.

Now adversity or better yet victimhood is admirable in itself and achievements are suspect because they come from privilege. So no surprise we have a generation of people exaggerating their victimhood to win admiration.