Hellobee Boards

Honestly, I'm resigned to all this. Because you're exactly right - the privileged already have the upper hand, so why was this even necessary? My husband jokingly said yesterday that there a bunch of super-rich hedge fund managers on the list of people involved, and years ago, those guys would just buy a college building to name after themselves and boom, guaranteed admission to that school for anyone in that family for life. Did that get too complicated? So honestly, this doesn't inspire rage because it just feels like the same thing that's always been happening, but this time they were too dumb to not get caught/do it in a way that was gross but at least legal.

The question this does raise for me, though, is the future of those of us raising the kids that the Buzzfeed article describes as "mediocre white kids." I'm raising that kid, most likely. If she's not going to be some academic or sport superstar (and I'd never force her to be), how likely is she going to be to get into one of these competitive colleges if she isn't either really financially privileged (and that's not happening) or from a population that meets diversity standards (which I am 100% for and my kid can take a back seat any day to kids who really don't have her advantages in life). She would be the kid who writes an essay about a service trip or a sports injury that bores an admissions officer to tears because she won't know anything else as a result of being a privileged white kid. Personally I hope to raise her to go to a school that meets her learning needs rather than some status symbol, but admission is a question I do wonder about sometimes.

Unfortunately, I am not surprised. There’s so much that is happening wealthy or not and many people get away with it. It’s very sad.

I’m fascinated by it, and sort of amused that Aunt Becky was arrested by the FBI but not at all surprised. This is par for the course for elite universities (elite anything) and the mega rich. It’s gross but not shocking to me.

I work in higher ed and work a lot with undergrads at a very good university. There are clearly lots of problems, and not things to be minimized. Expanding access is something I devote a lot of energy to. But importantly, it's not so bad as you'd think just from reading about this case - the media sensationalizes things, and kids who get in via cheating or parents making massive donations are by far the exception. The vast majority of students are super smart, motivated, and more than capable of doing the work. Access to test prep courses and expensive extracurriculars is part of the issue. Problems in college admission rubrics are part of the issue. But the biggest thing is huge variation in resources and quality across elementary and secondary schools (and even things like access to early childhood education) that we see in the U.S., which is pretty unprecedented in the rest of the developed world...

Not surprised/shocked, definitely enraged as well that this is what it comes down to. It 100% sets these kids up in the worse way possible for the rest of their lives. I mean, maybe some will redeem themselves but I'm not God. I'm just super disappointed. Things like these just perpetuate everything these same people claim to want to fight against...

I agree that I’m not terribly surprised. Surprised that it was done in such a large coordinated way and that it’s been caught and prosecuted, yes, but I pretty much assumed there were kids out there who had people take their SATs for them and write college essays and such. This is just next level.

@graceandjoy: what do you mean it sets up these kids in the worst way? The students who didn’t know their parents had cheated to get them in? I actually think it would be WORSE if they knew. At least they thought they had to work hard to get in, they just were tricked into thinking their hard work was enough. Better than going into it like I don’t don’t need to work hard, daddy will just buy me admission to college. And post college, these same parents who cheated into college will be happy to trade favors with their wealthy buddies to give each other’s kids jobs after making them “interview” for them.

I’ll admit it I’m shocked at the level of dishonesty that is pervasive in our society. I’m shocked how brazen the cheating was in itself- taking someone else’s test, photoshopping. In a way I feel like this is going to end up like a bad joke because of the two actresses involved. But, because of them it really puts a familiar face on just who is the rich and powerful class we always talk about. Just to think there was a black girl in the news that was accused of cheating because she studied to improve her SAT scores. Here we have kids from the right zip codes just bypassing the tests altogether.

@Anagram: I'm with you. Am I surprised? No. But that doesn't mean I just sigh and say, "Eh, we all knew this was happening," like it's just a part of life that we all have to accept. Nope, fuck these people. And anyone who complains about affirmative action, while any dumbass rich person can be accepted to whatever college they want, for a wide variety of reasons. I'm not shocked, sure, but I'm still pissed!

@nwm: Wow I am going to read this on and off today. Craziness.

@Foodnerd81: There are probably those cases too. Like if the kid took a practice test, and suddenly her score jumped like 400 points at the real thing and that's where the people corrected her answers afterwards, she might have just thought she studied harder and did amazing.

The ones that were designated as athletics recruits, there is no way they don't know, esp in Aunt Becky's case, I think they had to tell their daughters what to say if they were ever questioned

In some cases this spilled into have 3rd parties take classes for the students and students using those scores on their applications. That also, they can't not know if you didn't even go to the class!

@Anagram: I want to speak specifically to the Buzzfeed piece, because even though people are not surprised what the author describes is not at all common industry-wide. I'm not an admissions counselor, but I work with data primarily for higher ed--admissions, financial aid, and student success--and the vast majority of schools are what's referred to as need-blind, meaning that admissions counselors are specifically barred access to financial aid data and would have no knowledge of whether or not a student is full pay. Need-aware admissions (the reverse of this, what's described in the article) are so rare that there are only two schools I can think of that the author could have worked for (small, northeast, high selectivity, need aware). Further, it's important to remember that, outside the top ~100 schools, most colleges are looking for reasons to admit students, not reasons to deny them.

Something else to think about related to this--there have been people who have literally gone to prison for providing a false address in order to send their kids to a higher quality public institution. And I'm talking elementary through high school, not college. I'm thinking of a woman who was sentenced to FIVE years a little while ago for sending her kids to school in the district where her father lived, because the schools were safer and better. So part of what annoys me with this, "Eh, not surprised. Next." mentality about this college scheme, is that it seems so dismissive. Yeah, wealthy people use their money and privilege to get ahead. Of course. But let's talk about it! Let's talk about the impact on people who are less well off, and the disparity between how they are treated when they desperately try to seek the minimum of a decent, public K-12 education, rather than just brushing it off like, "rich people being rich people, whatever."

I finished reading almost the whole affidavit. Crazy!

I actually feel really bad for the kids that had no idea their parents did this to/for them.

I'm not surprised, however my initial thought was "I wonder if their kids know". If your mom or dad said to you "Ok, apply to Harvard and I'll see if I can talk to a friend of mine" to imply that they are going to flex their influential muscles, but instead dropped $6 mil to buy your way in....i don't know. Do you think the kids knew? They must have right? Or perhaps not? If not, how crappy do they feel right now after this hits the press.

ETA: reading the comments on this thread from those that read the entire affidavit makes me think some of the kids in fact didn't know. This is just awful all the way around. So many lives ruined, and for what. This entire thing is just crazy, but not surprising. Why didn't they go the old fashioned route of buying a building at the school. (rolling eyes)

I felt surprised and angry but also not that surprised at the same time. We live in a society that likes to pretend that we all have equal opportunities to make it, but we all know that isn't true. Privileges exist and open doors for people. But I was stunned by how deep this went and disgusted that coaches and examiners were in on it. It makes me sad thinking of the deserving people who didnt get the spots they genuinely worked for.

Not surprised in the least, still angry about it. The blatant illegality of the efforts sets this apart I think. In the past, I'd hear stories like a wealthy parent going to a fundraising event with the dean and saying something like, "My kid is an incoming freshman, and I hear you need a library funded. So I'll fund your library, and in the future if my kid needs help in any way, I'll send them to you." Not illegal, still quid pro quo.

I'm glad people are talking about it. Just because the wealthy wield their money to their own benefit and the detriment of everyone else doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to be outraged by it. That's the only way to move the needle, imo.