Fraud is scarcely different than theft in most contexts (moral or legal). Both are acts of non-retaliatory force against another person or persons. Put another way, what difference does it make if someone steals your parked car from a parking lot or pretends to be a valet and drives to Vegas instead?

Look, I'm not advocating fraud or theft, I simply think this is an interesting story.

Sorry for misinterpreting you. (I gave you a point.)

Are you implying that lying to get into Harvard is the same as stealing a car?

Yes, in the context that both are crimes, with demonstrable harm done to others. Fraudlently filing an application devalues the degree for other people that went to Harvard, and stealing a car deprives the rightful owner of his property.

Incidentally, both crimes also hurt the perpetrator - had he graduated from Harvard, he'd always have the fear of being discovered as a fraud. Someone who steals a car has the same fear of being caught, and the same web of lies to friends and acquaintances to explain how they got the (stolen) goods.

Obviously they are not the exact same crime; there are many particulars that differ. So it is appropriate to punish each case with different sentences. But the essentials outlined above are the same, and from that we may conclude that neither is less criminal in nature than the other - they only differ (perhaps) in severity.

It may not be "stealing", but it's just as bad.