Fake GRE Scores Lead to US Entry Denial and Deportation—Academic Fraud Must Stop

发布时间：Date: 2024-11-28 返回新鲜资讯Back to News

A Chinese international student was recently denied entry into the US due to falsified GRE scores, resulting in deportation, visa revocation, and a five-year ban. This case underscores the critical importance of academic integrity. CheersYou（清柚教育） warns students that proxy test-taking carries severe consequences: a cheating record permanently damages all future academic applications, and students may even face extortion from cheating rings.

As cheating has become rampant, several prestigious universities—including Columbia SIPA, Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, and UIUC—have clearly stated they no longer accept or strongly disfavor GRE at-home scores. Institutions increasingly prefer in-person test results. Students are advised to abandon any opportunistic mindset, prepare through legitimate channels, and take in-person exams. Only genuine ability can withstand increasingly strict scrutiny, ensuring a safe and secure application journey.

Recently, another Chinese international student was scrutinized by US authorities upon entry. Officials examined the student’s chat history and discovered involvement in GRE score falsification. The student was deported, the visa was revoked, and a 5-year entry ban was imposed.

Source: Southern Metropolis Daily

The embassy even issued a statement urging all international students to value academic integrity, never engage in proxy test-taking or ghostwriting, and take academic honesty seriously.

Source: Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles

All the hard work throughout the entire application season is suddenly ruined! The dangers of GRE proxy testing are truly severe!!

Endless Consequences of Proxy Test-Taking

For test-takers, spending money is a small matter; academic fraud is far more serious. Once caught, not only are scores canceled, but it also impacts university applications, leaving a permanent stain on one’s academic record. One may even face deportation.

If officially deemed cheating, you will face “the schools you applied to will be informed of your cheating behavior,” meaning whether you later take the GMAT or GRE, or apply without submitting such scores, schools will see your “record” of misconduct.

Even if you get a high score through illegitimate means and are not caught cheating, do you think it ends there? Not at all.

Many students have had financial disputes with proxy test-takers, and some have even been threatened by the proxies to have their offers rescinded. Facing a proxy who holds all your personal information, even the most unreasonable demands leave you with no recourse, forced to be at their mercy.

Many Top Universities No Longer Accept GRE At-Home Scores

Since the GRE introduced at-home testing, various proxy testing agencies have become increasingly rampant, and student scores have skyrocketed. This trend has led many schools to gradually stop accepting GRE at-home scores, instead preferring or exclusively recognizing in-person test scores. Is the era of at-home testing really coming to an end?

Columbia SIPA

Columbia SIPA announced as early as last year that it no longer accepts GRE at-home test scores!

Source: Columbia SIPA official website

Carnegie Mellon University SCS

In addition to Columbia SIPA, some programs in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science also do not accept GRE at-home scores, or strongly prefer in-person scores.

The highly popular CS program and its Machine Learning ML track do not accept GRE at-home scores unless the test date falls between January 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, or between August 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022!

Source: CMU official website

Some programs, such as the popular MISM Information Systems program, have explicitly stated that GRE at-home scores are generally not accepted.

Source: CMU official website

Moreover, many other master's programs, while still accepting GRE at-home scores, include a note "recommending that you take the GRE at a test center."

Source: CMU official website

UIUC College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

The Economics Department of UIUC’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences specifically noted in its updated 25Fall application requirements that it no longer accepts GRE at-home test scores.

Source: UIUC official website

Ohio State University

Because admitted candidates were found to have cheated on GRE at-home tests, OSU urgently announced that its MBA program will no longer accept GRE at-home test scores taken after October 1, 2024.

Source: OSU official website

Nanyang Technological University

Nanyang Technological University no longer recognizes GRE at-home test scores taken after December 31, 2023.

Source: NTU official website

It is evident that the diminishing acceptance of GRE at-home scores has been brewing for some time, and the trend is becoming increasingly clear. Starting from August this year, downloading the GRE score report will explicitly indicate whether it was taken at home, meaning schools can very clearly see if your GRE score is from an at-home test.

As the 25Fall application cycle progresses, universities may further update their requirements. It is foreseeable that the scrutiny of at-home test scores will only become stricter.

Therefore, we recommend that students preparing for the GRE and other language exams should, whenever possible, choose to take the test at physical test centers to ensure safety.

ETS Cracks Down on Cheating

In addition to many schools gradually no longer accepting at-home test scores, ETS itself has taken repeated actions to serve as a warning.

ETS has been intensifying its review of at-home examinations, severely cracking down on unfair testing practices. This has unfortunately implicated some innocent students, resulting in their at-home test scores being canceled.

Source: Xiaohongshu

Many students have even reported that, after more than half a year, their GRE at-home test scores were suddenly canceled by ETS! ETS's emails explicitly stated that the scores were canceled due to the use of unauthorized software. Yet the vast majority of students clearly stated they had not used such software during the test. ETS is truly willing to sacrifice innocent students to seriously address this behavior.

After thorough investigation, we found that among those whose scores were canceled, many had previously installed screen-sharing software like ToDesk or TeamViewer on their computers. Some of them had purchased related services on Taobao, where customer service remotely controlled their computers to help configure and install software.

These screen-sharing applications happen to be "handy helpers" for proxy test-takers as well, so ETS is extremely vigilant against such software. Even if these programs were not used during the test, residual system records or files may still be detected, leading to wrongful penalties.

Once again, we remind everyone: guard against proxy test-taking as if against fire and theft! Betting your future on getting a high score is simply not worth it. Moreover, the GRE exam is not that difficult; as long as you diligently memorize vocabulary, master solving methods, and systematically practice questions, about two months of sustained effort can yield a quite decent score!

Therefore, for cheating or proxy test-taking—this high-cost, high-risk, low-reward business—we should just give it a big, hard pass!! ❌