My Thoughts on the College Admissions Bribery Scandal

F. Scott Fitzgerald began one of his more well known short stories with the observation that the rich are “different than you and me.” I would have to agree with him. He goes on to say, “They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are.” Maybe that would explain the lengths to which they are willing to go to get ahead. Or in this case, help their children get ahead.

For those not familiar, the FBI has been working since 2011 to unravel this complex scandal involving parents, coaches, and college admissions officials at a number of super prestigious universities. The ringleader is a man named William Rick Singer, a so-called “college admissions counselor” with a huge company making millions to help parents get their kids into major universities. Parents have paid more than $25 million over this period to ensure their children gained admission to universities with “selective admissions,” a fancy way of saying they accepted only the cream of the crop and turned away tons of very qualified applicants in the process.

And how did they accomplish this? Three answers. First, they cheated on entrance exams. Usually, they began with claiming disabilities which allowed them to request accommodations including taking the tests at specific locations controlled by Singer. Sometimes, the test was taken by another individual. Other times, scores were manipulated after the fact. Sometimes the kids knew they were cheating. Sometimes, they may not have known. Either way, the student now had a top score on either the SAT, the ACT, or both.

A second scheme involved portraying the prospective student as a highly recruited athlete. In many cases, the student had never even participated in the sport at any level. College coaches at many universities accepted bribes to list the names of these students as “elite sports recruits” which forced admissions office personnel to consider them more favorably. Photo-shopped pictures were used in several cases to show the students engaged in athletic activities which in some cases they had never even played before. Again, the individual students may or may not have been aware of the extent to which their applications were being manipulated.

Finally, charitable organizations were used to launder the money and hide the sources of the money and its true purposes. In all, over fifty individuals have been charged with illegal activities as a result of this scheme. Notably, several high profile celebrity parents and a number of well known college coaches have been named.

So, how different are the rich? I think most parents are willing to do whatever it takes to help their children be successful. Most parents want their kids to have the opportunity to go to the best schools. The real question is – Are most parents willing to break the rules, and the law, to help their children achieve these goals? I think not.

I’m not rich, by any means, so some might question my confidence in stating that. Some might think that if I had the means, I might be more likely to be tempted, but honestly, I don’t think it’s about the money. I think it’s more about morals and values and integrity. I think it’s about playing fair. And teaching our kids to play fair.

And maybe sometimes, it’s about teaching our children that the world is not always fair. Sometimes, we may not get into that club or organization or university that we wanted. Sometimes, we get cut and don’t make the team at all. Sometimes we don’t win. Sometimes life is unfair.

Maybe Fitzgerald was right. Maybe the rich think they are better than us average folk. Maybe they think they should always win, always get the advantage, always come out ahead. I don’t know. I just find it sad to think this may be true.

Maybe we need to hold them accountable and make them play by the same rules as everyone else. Personally, I think everyone involved should be fully prosecuted. People should lose their jobs, pay fines, go to jail, whatever is appropriate. And students who cut corners and broke rules to gain admission? Every single one of them should be expelled from the school and forced to reapply. This may seem a little harsh to some, but complicit or not, every one of these students has taken the place of a more deserving applicant. And that is definitely not fair.