The Significance of the College Admission Scandal
Words by Radhamely De Leon
Illustrations by Katie Herchenroeder
In what is now known as the nation’s biggest collegeadmissions scandal, dozens of celebrities and high-powered executives have beencharged for paying bribes of up to $6 million to guarantee their kids’acceptances into colleges such as Stanford, Georgetown, and the University ofSouthern California.
Among those charged areactresses Lori Loughlin, known as Aunt Becky from Full House, andFelicity Huffman of Desperate Housewives. They were just two of the 33 parents charged so far in thecase, along with nine college coaches and a series of school administrators andassociates.
This scandal puts the entirecollege admissions process into perspective for high school juniors and seniorswho are forced to face their options in higher education. “Operation VarsityBlues,” as coined by the FBI, shows that the wealthy do not just have theresources to secure the best SAT tutors and college admissions counselors, butalso have the money to fix the results of these resources when their kids stillmanage to come up short. Many of the colleges involved in the scandal, namely IvyLeague universities such as Harvard, Columbia, and Yale, are already highlyselective. Harvard’s college acceptance rate according to the College Board is5%.
One Georgetown Universitystudent who requested to remain anonymous stated, “I think this brings a lot ofawareness to campus. Everyone knows there’s a disparity of wealth and privilegeon campus – it’s glaringly obvious. However, I think this brings to light howfar people are willing to go to get into college unethically.” They requestedto remain anonymous as they believe they personally know one of the studentswhose parents are involved in the scheme, which puts the reality of thesestudents’ futures into perspective.
In terms of college admissioncorruption, bribing test proctors and fabricating extracurricular profiles isjust the tip of the iceberg. The Price ofAdmission, a book published in 2006 by Journalist Daniel Golden, wasintended to serve as an investigative piece into how wealthy families buy theiradmission into top colleges by donating to these schools. In a recent ProPublica piece written in light of “OperationVarsity Blues,” Golden actually stated that wealthy parents took the book as aninstructional how-to guide to help them guarantee their kids’ acceptance intotop-tier colleges. He described being “inundated” with questions on what themagic number is for donations that would prompt colleges like Harvard orStanford to accept kids into their ranks. “Some even offered me significantsums, which I declined, to serve as an admissions consultant,” he said. Whatattracted them to him was the tale of Jared Kushner’s admission into Harvard,achieved with a profile of SAT scores and a GPA that officials from his highschool say “did not warrant it,” but was nonetheless heavily padded by a $2.5million pledge made by his real estate developer father.
As US Attorney Andrew Lellingstated in the press conference following the announcement, "For everystudent admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely talented student wasrejected." It begs the question: these are real young adults who certainlydeserve an education, but do these students deserve to remain enrolled in thesecolleges? What are the next steps in this process?
The University of SouthernCalifornia, where Lori Loughlin’s daughters Olivia Jade and Bella Giannulliboth attended until recently withdrawing, released a statement with details oftheir plan moving forward. They intend to identify donations that were made inconnection to these bribes and using the funds towards a “non-USC organizationthat will benefit underserved students.” The university will also be reviewingthe status of students involved in the scandal, stating, “We will take theproper action related to their status, up to revoking admission or expulsion.”
Sarah Maya, a student at the CityCollege of New York, said, “The parents involved should no doubt receivepunishment. And I think the student should either be unenrolled in thosecolleges or have to reapply.”
As the hot topic of the moment,the nation seems to be waiting with baited breath for what is to come withthose who were charged. One cannot help but wonder what the trial will looklike for these wealthy families. If they have the resources to guarantee astudent’s admission into some of the most untouchable universities of theworld, they most certainly have access to strong legal assistance.
Maya, a 20-year-old economicsmajor, echoed a sentiment that seems to be common in those keeping up with thescandal as it unfolds. “I think that the college process is obviously flawedand needs to be corrected, however I think the rich will always have an upperhand on the less fortunate.
