The Unraveling of a Once Promising Academic Career

[AdmissionsConsultants]

Hello everyone!

I don’t want you to think I’m questioning your character (I’m not!) but I thought I’d share the following cautionary tale about a UCLA graduate student who has found himself caught up in quite the academic scandal. While it’s impossible for us to know right now what happened (we weren’t working closely with him at UCLA and the linked article states that on advice from his lawyer he’s not talking), it appears that he may have become intimidated by his graduate school experiences and that perhaps a few early embellishments emboldened him to turn to alleged outright fraudulent research. (We are going to refrain from publishing his name as it seems he’s already likely to be haunted by this phase of his life for years to come in online searches.)

The two key things we want you to take away from this discussion board post are:
1. Don’t let graduate school intimidate you. You were accepted for a reason and trust us when we say that everyone else is feeling the same stress that you are.
2. Maintain your moral compass at all times. Just because it may seem that others aren’t conducting their due diligence on your research is no excuse. That pendulum can swing back both sharply and quickly. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if news of this UCLA graduate student’s experience isn’t causing many academics to suddenly invest more personal energies into investigating many other published studies.

Best of luck with your applications!

Sincerely,

David Petersam
President
AdmissionsConsultants, Inc.
DPetersam@admissionsconsultants.com

AdmissionsConsultants
1.800.809.0800

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