The College Admissions Scandal

Aaronboyer

Aaronboyer

You Gave Me A World To Believe In
is a Contributor to Smogonis a Metagame Resource Contributor Alumnus
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The College Admissions Scandal
It really does frustrate me that numerous people including television personality Lori Loughlin have bribed colleges and universities to ensure their children get into the best of the best schools. I just finished my first semester of college and it set me back more than $10,000, and yet these people are able to throw thousands upon thousands upon millions of dollars to take away opportunities from those who are deserving and give those opportunities to those who are not deserving. Heck, even one of Lori Loughlin's daughters had a Rowing scholarship and has never rowed in her entire life.

Now, the effects of this scandal or two-fold, possibly maybe three-fold. The first side of the coin is the outcomes this has for the several colleges and universities that are part of this scandal. Schools such as the University of Southern California and Yale University are being sued by students who paid good money to take the entry tests and apply to those schools to find out they were rejected, now realizing it wasn't a fair process. Students who were bribed into these select schools took class seats away from others who were more deserving, potentially lengthening the time it takes to get their degree. Scholarships were also taken away from students who needed it most. Most importantly, the value of the degrees now given out by these schools will now near-permanently be diminished with the thought in mind that their degree could have just been bribed for. This obviously differs from an honorary degree where people donate enough money to a college or university to be given a degree, but this is all done in public, not in secret, and people with honorary degrees usually can't do anything with their degrees. You aren't going to trust anything about medicine from somebody who has an honorary doctorate in medicine. The second side of the coin is that these people are going to be given the Bill Cosby treatment. In other words, they are going to fall off the face of the earth. Going again back to Lori Loughlin, she was dropped from Hallmark completely and several of her books and other promotional material has been pulled from Amazon. These people's careers have been cut short because of this scandal. The potential third side of the coin is all of these colleges and universities being more strictly audited to catch more scandals like these before they happen. Any potential lawsuits from this scandal will also leave a further rippling effect. One family has already sued for half a trillion dollars when their son had a 4.2 GPA.

I would love to have open discussion about this recent college admissions scandal. What are your thoughts on this recent scandal? Do you think there is even more colleges and universities that have not yet been caught that take bribes to ensure someone's eligibility? Should the government pay closer attention to colleges and universities to make sure things like this don't happen or at least happen less frequently? What other steps do you think should be taken?

I think there are definitely other colleges and universities that have not been caught doing the same things as the ones that were caught, but will now stop in light of this scandal not wanting to be caught and diminish the value of their degrees. I feel like the government should absolutely audit colleges and universities nationwide. This is not something people should be able to get away with just because they have money. I think one other step universities could take is to state specific reasons why a student was denied entrance into a school. That could show ways a student could improve although I doubt colleges and universities would ever take the time to do that. They're obviously care about the money than the actual students. Hence, this scandal...​
 
GatoDelFuego said:
Fine people based on the value of the degree they stole, I.E. several hundred thousand dollars. Simple solution
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It’s more than that because they also stole opportunities from other students in limited class sizes, scholarships they weren’t deserving of, college entries that were denied, and the devaluation of degrees all graduates graduated with. It’s hard to put a price on some of those things to fine them, but fining them for the value of the degree is definitely a start. Nice idea.
 
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Aaronboyer said:
This is not something people should be able to get away with just because they have money. I think one other step universities could take is to state specific reasons why a student was denied entrance into a school.
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People having money impacts the process in other ways too. Most if not all schools look at a students ability to pay as a part of admission, and I doubt many schools are truly need blind. This is why colleges court so many international students especially at the higher end, international students can't qualify for federal aid and almost always pay the full cost.

I also don't think this will impact the value of the degrees from these colleges. From what I understand this cheating stopped when they got admitted, and the kids in question did earn their degrees (whether they did an easy degree like sociology is another matter). And there's thousands of grads from these schools who did things the right way and have successful careers that they did fairly earn and it seems to be an overreaction to discredit the strength of a university's degree based on this alone.
 
The whole scandal is pretty sad in retrospect, seeing as though the system is already designed to benefit the rich and there are many legal opportunities to gain admission advantages. In addition to what Celticpride mentioned about the ability to pay factor, wealthier families can make hefty donations to universities, purchase expensive college admissions consulting, pay for a greater number of SAT attempts, and much more. While the student still has to prove themselves academically, there's no doubt that wealth is very advantageous. So you'd think that people like this wouldn't need to dive into the world of fraud and bribery, but they did. Must have been real worried about the kids' abilities to get admitted.
 
I mean, that nickname of USC being "University of Spoiled Children" didn't come from nowhere. Wealth being super advantageous and the source of exploitation isn't a new thing, but that people got caught for cheating and corruption will never be old news for me. This sort of system, though, is inevitably going to have people exploiting it, I'm afraid. I'm also afraid those people are just going to pay their way from justice doing anything they deserve.
 
The mistake that these parents made was bribing boots on the ground instead of bribing the institution directly. When a Harvard grad donates seven figures to the university endowment and then their kid gets in with sub-par test scores, they're called a "legacy admission." It's only when the parents try to bypass the university and start bribing coaches or people in the admissions office that people call foul. (One might argue that a comparable situation is this: giving money to law enforcement to get them to ignore your law-breaking will get you into trouble, but giving money to law-makers to get them to legalize the behavior you're engaging in is totally accepted.)

Also, the fact that parents bribed their kids into universities where their test scores would place them below their peers and yet they didn't have any worries that their kids would struggle in class, which probably speaks quite a bit to the effect of grade inflation. It would seem that skating to graduation as an under-qualified student is the easy part; apparently, the hard part is getting admitted to the university. I think this points to more fundamental problems with the university system as a whole, but perhaps that is a discussion for another day.
 
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Surgo said:
The scandal is only surprising because of how cheap these people are. All you have to do is donate a few mil for a building and you can get your kid in completely above-board and legally. These people could have afforded that, but they're too cheap.

The best take is The Onion's though. Just Go Ahead And Tell Yourself Bribery Is The Only Reason You Didn’t Get Into Columbia
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The guy running the scheme literally talks about this, he says donating building money is the "back door" and his new method of bribing is the "side door"
 
GatoDelFuego said:
The guy running the scheme literally talks about this, he says donating building money is the "back door" and his new method of bribing is the "side door"
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The "back door", at least, benefits the entire school and student population. The bribery only benefits the receiver of the bribe.
 
It sucks and it happens in most countries too, and in all sorts of schools, not just universities.

But I think this: university degrees aren't that important unless you are a genius in your field.
Mediocre students who got into universities are unlikely to get a job in their field anyway, and thus, to these people, a university degree isn't that important.

These rich kids might be taking your place from you, but it might be better for you to study in another lower ranked university, so that you'll end up the top in your class instead of the bottom of your class. You might end up getting a scholarship in a lower ranked university-- something that you won't get in a better university.

Also, these rich kids might perform poorly in said university.

By the way, a lot of rich kids in universities pay other students to do essays for them. We call them "Fee Riders". I see this as an opportunity for poor students. If you are poor and smart, offer them that.
Also, you can offer them gigs like help them record the lecture at a price, so that the rich kids don't need to attend the lecture.

PS: I don't mean that it's ok, but I mean that you don't have to feel so bitter if you didn't get into a particular uni or school.
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[Story that people don't really need to know]

I remembered there were about 6 prestigious middle schools I didn't get into, despite performing well in exams.
Then I saw people who were definitely not as smart get into those schools.
My dad then suggested that our address didn't look posh enough.

I later entered another school that was less expensive, skipped a form, entered academic acceleration program, and obtained good results in public exam.

It was unfair that I wasn't accepted in those schools. But now that I think about it, life would probably suck even more if I entered those schools.
People from those schools like to show off being rich all the time, and probably would wear designer clothes, designer watches and dozens of things average people can't afford. (And it would be difficult for my parents)

I later met some of those people during a Pokemon tournament. Although those kids were very smart, they just treat everyone else like servants/ maids. (Small kids who play Pokemon in Hong Kong tend to be from prestigious backgrounds)
I was translating for them (posh people in Hong Kong don't speak Chinese) in the Pokemon tournament, and they bossed me around like I was a maid or something.
They even said "You may be dismissed. I don't need you now" after the tournament.
They spent like $400 in every single pre-release tournament, dined in posh restaurants, etc.
After meeting those kids, I really thought, "I wouldn't want to be around these people."
So I actually became glad that I didn't go to those schools.
 
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LeftyGreenMario said:
And it actively hurts society. I wouldn't want a person who was bought into the profession of brain surgery to operate on me.
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You need other exams to become a surgeon.
Money can only buy you an undergrad admission, it can't make you pass the exam.
(Same as affirmative action)

Also, rich kids are unlikely to be interested in medical degrees.
 
There's been a lot of discussion in my English class about this. Its not the money I'm concerned about, but rather the lack of respect towards the students. This is my perspective on the matter: I have two counselors, both dedicated to the visual and performing arts. ( I do the visual arts ). They helped me understand how to evaluate a school ( How do you evaluate? Start by looking up faculty and see what they have done in their fields, ask questions about internships, go visit campus to get a taste of culture, compare courses, and compare departments, not schools. ) Thanks to them, me and my parents were able to identify what schools were right for me- my parents really wanted me to apply to a "top" school- primarily UCs ( University of California ) but my counselors stopped that, saying that I'm not academically and socially cutout for a University. And they were right. Back at my old private school, I found it much easier to socialize and make friends, unlike my current public schools. And I found my perfect school: Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA ) in Baltimore, Maryland. I went there this summer for Pre-College and finally got over my obsession of improving my technical skills, and instead embrace my more abstract style. That was my main drive for going to MICA. And I got in with even two scholarships awards!

So what I'm trying to say is that my counselors helped me find the program that fits me, not whether its a top, good, or bad school. As in MICA as good as Harvard? In my case, yes. I would have failed in highly academic and huge campus, without a focus on the arts. Here at MICA I'll be able to do exact opposite of that. In other words, it depends on the student.

So by parents bribing the likes of College Admission Counselors and Test proctors, it proves that they don't care and understand the student's needs and ability to thrive and succeed in that environment. In other words, they care more about prestige and money than the student.

Here is my counselor's view on these scandals: https://creativekcc.com/blog ( It should be the first post ).
 
The best way to combat this phemenon is to get into a position of power and don't hire college graduates. The system is counting on complacentcy to perpetuate the classist scam by colleges.
 
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