Many parents go far to get their kid get into a top college. One Parisian maman truly took it upon herself.
Grueling college entrance exams like the ACT and SAT tend to be the Holy Grail of college admissions, which means both parents and students go to great lengths to ensure the best possible score.
They often pour tens of thousands of dollars into top-flight tutoring, and they've been known to engineer cheating scandals worthy of a spy novel.
In France this week, one Parisian mother took matters into her own hands.
Identified only as Caroline D., the 52-year-old French mother attempted to take the English portion of the pre-university baccalaureat exams trying to pass as her 19-year-old daughter, identified as Laetitia, according to The Guardian.
Caroline D. certainly dressed the part: She wore Converse shoes, low-waist jeans and lots of makeup in an attempt to imitate her daughter.
She easily slipped into the school, which her daughter did not attend so staff didn't know Caroline wasn't Laetitia. Being a grown-up wasn't a hindrance, either, since many French adults take baccalaureat exams, the Guardian said.
Caroline D.'s only problem was that an exam supervisor who administered a philosophy test to Laetitia a few days prior was also present at the English exam.
The supervisor immediately recognized the discrepancy on Caroline D.'s ID, but waited two hours to out the mother, fearing a sudden removal would jolt the other exam takers.
When the time was right, Caroline D. was led out of the exam room and met by local police. According to The Local France, Caroline D. readily admitted that she was taking the exam in place of her daughter.
She faces legal action and her daughter may have to wait five years before being allowed to take the baccalaureat exam, The Local France reported.
According to the website, France has recently cracked down on college entrance exam fraud. The country slapped five-year bans on 140 students in 2012, compared to 67 in 2011, according to the site.
College entrance exam ruses abound.
This year, Korea decided to cancel SATs for the entire country after education officials discovered test questions had been leaked to numerous test-prep schools.
In 2011, 20 former and then-current students in Great Neck, Long Island, were charged with being part of a scheme that paid college students between $500 to $3,600 to impersonate high school students and take the ACT or SAT for them, using phony IDs and papers.
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| Getty Images: Frederick Florin, AFP, File. A French mother, trying to help her daughter pass a college entrance exam, was caught last week. |
They often pour tens of thousands of dollars into top-flight tutoring, and they've been known to engineer cheating scandals worthy of a spy novel.
In France this week, one Parisian mother took matters into her own hands.
Identified only as Caroline D., the 52-year-old French mother attempted to take the English portion of the pre-university baccalaureat exams trying to pass as her 19-year-old daughter, identified as Laetitia, according to The Guardian.
Caroline D. certainly dressed the part: She wore Converse shoes, low-waist jeans and lots of makeup in an attempt to imitate her daughter.
She easily slipped into the school, which her daughter did not attend so staff didn't know Caroline wasn't Laetitia. Being a grown-up wasn't a hindrance, either, since many French adults take baccalaureat exams, the Guardian said.
Caroline D.'s only problem was that an exam supervisor who administered a philosophy test to Laetitia a few days prior was also present at the English exam.
The supervisor immediately recognized the discrepancy on Caroline D.'s ID, but waited two hours to out the mother, fearing a sudden removal would jolt the other exam takers.
When the time was right, Caroline D. was led out of the exam room and met by local police. According to The Local France, Caroline D. readily admitted that she was taking the exam in place of her daughter.
She faces legal action and her daughter may have to wait five years before being allowed to take the baccalaureat exam, The Local France reported.
According to the website, France has recently cracked down on college entrance exam fraud. The country slapped five-year bans on 140 students in 2012, compared to 67 in 2011, according to the site.
College entrance exam ruses abound.
This year, Korea decided to cancel SATs for the entire country after education officials discovered test questions had been leaked to numerous test-prep schools.
In 2011, 20 former and then-current students in Great Neck, Long Island, were charged with being part of a scheme that paid college students between $500 to $3,600 to impersonate high school students and take the ACT or SAT for them, using phony IDs and papers.
