The recent college admissions scandal is thought to be the largest prosecuted in US history, and is thought of as yet another example of how wealthy families are able to cheat their way into prestigious universities and privilege. This scandal was done through CEO of a college admissions prep company called, The Key. Parents in wealthy families would pay Singer to allow their kids to cheat on standardized tests, such as the SAT or ACT, to achieve higher scores. Furthermore, Singer used his connection with Division I coaches to make bribes to those coaches for the kids of wealthy families to be accepted as athletes, even though some had never played the sport before. For standardized cheating, Singer organized for a third-party to either change the answers of these wealthy students, or just flat out take the test for them. Furthermore, Singer bribed proctors of such standardized tests, in order to allow Mark Riddell, the third-party, to commit such acts of cheating. For the athletic cheating aspect, Singer allowed wealthy parents to bribe Division I coaches, to recommend their students as recruited athletes that should be admitted, even if their child has never played that sport. Singer managed to conceal the payments as donations to his charity, Key Worldwide Foundation, a non-profit that was meant to help poorer students.
Many of the universities involved have released their coaches that were involved in the scandal, and declared that they had no knowledge of the wrongdoing. Colleges such as USC, UCLA, Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, and Wake Forest are not directly accused to this wrongdoing and are cooperating with the investigators in the process of identifying more funds and further investigation into the scandal.
Questions:
1. How will the recent scandal affect the universities involved?
2. Will the recent scandal change the current admissions process of universities? If so, how will the process change?
3. What is your opinion on both the role of wealthy families and the universities in the process?
lhttps://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/us/what-we-know-college-admissions-cheating-scandal/index.html
People have known that bribery into higher educational institutions was taking place in society for a long time and this event simply reveals something that is not all too surprising. I doubt the scandals will have much of an affect on the universities involved except they will go back and make sure they are not accepting anyone who bribed their way in, and all members involved in the scandal will probably be punished accordingly. Since it's not necessarily a group effort of the entire college, they won't be blamed as harshly since it looks more like a secretive inside job that happened. It is a rare occurrence for a wealthy family to be able to bribe their way into a school anyways because most wealthy families already have the resources to give their children a good education and get accepted like everyone else into a top school. It is possible that colleges will have tighter regulations for exams to make sure no one is cheating. Overall, the recent scandal will not change the current admissions process in universities because it is only a very small group of people who are actually able to do this and in time the truth will reveal itself.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the first question, I think the elite schools would not change as much, because these types of actions happen a lot, however this one involved famous people which contributed to the mass media attention. I think the universities that were affected will not do much to change this system. I do not think that this recent scandal will change for current admissions, but they might be more cautious for next year or have a small new rule change. It seems that the universities as a whole are not to blame entirely, but their staff, so I feel that the anger is more towards the parents. I think that what the parents did, hurt their children in many ways, because it does not teach them valuable lessons. Also, this act of bribery could have possibly blocked another student with a different background from getting in to one of these schools.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that this college admissions scandal will have a huge affect on people’s perceptions about the universities involved. Since most of the people involved with the scandal were college coaches and not an entire group of admissions officers, I don’t think that this situation will give these elite universities a bad reputation. I think that this scandal evokes discussion about the need for a fairer admissions process, especially when judging students from completely different backgrounds. Going forward, I don’t think that this scandal was large enough to change the current admissions process but I think that colleges will keep a tighter watch on their staff to prevent situations like these from occurring in the future.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this scandal will really affect any major colleges, apart from making them fire some athletic directors. This is because they can deny wrongdoing (rightfully), because this arose as a result of bribery of some officials. There may be some popular pushback to athlete admissions, but that's unlikely to go anywhere because people still want to see college sports. I don't think the admission process will change much, some colleges might improve visibility and accountability of their process, but the reason this worked is because of athlete admissions, where parents paid significant bribes to coaches for them to choose these students for special consideration, even if they had no athletic talent. I think the wealthy families are terrible, and I'm sure glad that they are being prosecuted in court for this, but I can't really blame the colleges, because I think the current system for athletes is reasonable, and helps bring more interesting people into college (although I do take issue in sports like polo having special consideration, because anyone getting in because of polo abilities is super rich, and not exactly a force for diversity in college).
ReplyDeleteIn response to the first question, this scandal obviously tarnishes the name of the schools that are involved. Acceptance rates are continually dropping as more and more qualified students are applying to college. This already makes the subject of college admissions a touchy one, and this scandal serves only to intensify that and lead to more distrust in the college admissions process. However, I do not think this will lead to a change in the style of college admissions. In this situation, I most definitely blame the families more than the universities, as the coaches that accepted the bribes did so without the university's knowledge in most if not all cases.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is unfair that the wealthier upper class has an additional upper hand in college admissions as one can argue that the upper class already lives in wealthier neighborhoods with better educations. Universities take donations from organizations or families all the time, and sometimes this can act as a leg up when a student applies to a college. Yet, bribing college admission officers as a way for one's child to get accepted is intolerable. I do not think that the current admissions process of colleges will change as colleges are not responsible for regulating standardized testing. I think that those working in college admissions should work more closely with sports at their school because if an applicant is lying about playing a sport and the coach recommends them as recruited athletes because they were bribed, it should not be difficult to look at the applicant's athletic history.
ReplyDeleteLike most people have stated, I also believe that this scandal won't tarnish the brand name of these top tier schools. Even though it is horrible and surprising, this college admission cheating scandal is not totally unprecedented. I think that we all had an inkling that financial status and wealth greatly impacts decisions made in those admissions offices. However, this scandal just pulls away the opaque film hiding the secrets. Nevertheless, regardless of the unfairness of it all, a brand name is still a brand name. Stanford is still Stanford, and the names have been built up so much that it is nearly impossible for this one scandal to break down the entire reputation of these schools. Still personally, it feel unjustifiable for colleges to not accept incredibly hardworking and dedicated students who show promise just because another family has paid more to get their children in. It brings finances into the education system which should purely be a matter of work ethic and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this scandal will affect any of the colleges involved because it did not include the admissions office. I honestly don't think the scandal will change the admissions process very much other than reviewing applications more thoroughly to prevent students from bribing their way in. I think that this scandal is extremely unfair and unjust. It comes to show that wealthy families have an extreme advantage in life to others and can get basically anything they please. I think that going to a "name brand" school is not necessary for success and if these students were not intelligent enough to attend these schools and just wanted to "party and go to gamedays" they should be applying to schools that can provide that and are easier to get in with their original stats.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this scandal is shocking and unacceptable, it's merely a more extreme version of what already happens in the college admissions process. Wealthy families often donate directly to elite institutions, giving their children boosted chances of getting in. They can also afford better schooling, tutoring and test prep services, and and access to educational facilities that improve the likelihood of being admitted to elite colleges. All of these advantages are hard to level--except this scandal. In addition to making sure that bribery doesn't have a place in the college admissions process, officials should work to mitigate the effects of large over-the-table donations and benefits of private schooling and tutoring.
ReplyDeleteI think this scandal exposed something we had already expected. Especially living in the Bay Area, students are not unaware to the ways the wealthy can buy their way into college. I think what this scandal fails to address is the completely legal way of gaining admission to top universities through family donations and connections to a specific university. I think that the admissions system is broken in that the privileged are given a leg up in the admissions process, despite these top universities stating that they are committed to provided opportunities to the less fortunate. The way to solve this issue is to provide much needed regulation and transparency to the otherwise elusive process colleges use to make their admissions decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe Universities involved should make an example of the kids. They shouldn't be allowed to stay. A lot of them have been advised to withdraw from school anyways. It is unfortunate that some of these kids have to pay for their parents actions, but the colleges can't publicly stand for this injustice. As for the admissions process, personally, I think that the SAT should be removed from consideration entirely. It isn't a test of anyone's intelligence and it is economically biased. Some people are also just not good at testing. A lot of colleges aren't using it anymore either. For student athletes, I guess there is going to be more review on the admissions side. There will have to be visible proof that the student athlete is actually as good as he or she says he is. There is, like Stefan says, probably going to have to be a lot more transparency. Colleges may start to dig a little deeper on the kids that seem a little too good to be true in their extra curriculars. Somehow they may try to check a lot more in the future years.
ReplyDeleteAs a society, we already knew that those who have more money can bribe their way into something that others need to work really hard for. This scandal itself wasn't surprising, but the surprising part was that it involved the athletic coaches. I thought that admissions was bribed at schools, but I never thought that celebrities can fake athletic commitment to schools. As a future college athlete, it sickens me knowing that I could have been fighting for my spot with a person who never even played my sport but just has a lot of money to cheat their way in. The recruitment process is difficult, and knowing that some of the coaches I personally talked to were taking bribes and ruining the integrity of their program. I do not think the colleges will lose their reliability because they didn't know that the coaches were taking these bribes, but I definitely think that the athletic programs of the schools involved will lose their name. I doubt the admissions process will change much because not a lot can be done. However, this scandal will make it so much harder for athletes to get committed and admitted into schools. Admissions will crack down on athletes and will be super strict. I think bribery will continue for sure, but it will be payed attention to more because now the media is heavily involved. I am thankful I am not part of the future generation of athletes who will have to struggle because of rich people abusing the system.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't really surprised when this scandal broke, because wealthy people have been able to buy their way into institutions for years by donating buildings or making endowments. The most disturbing part is the plots thought up by these parents and the elaborate schemes they carried out to find a way in. As the wealthiest people in our country, the children of these parents have already been given every possible advantage and opportunity to succeed. They have access to the best tutors money can buy, parents who are in and of themselves a resource, and financial stability. I believe that if you can't make it to the top universities with all of these things going for you, then you truly don't deserve to be there, and should accept defeat. The fact that parents go to these lengths shows how they see their kid's success as an extension of their own, and they will do anything to preserve their elite status. It's truly disturbing that these are the values that those parents are passing on to their children.
ReplyDeleteI think that the scandal is unacceptable, but honestly I am not shocked. The pressure to go to a college is extremely large especially comparing now to say 15-20 years ago, that I would expect people with the means to do something like this. Using money to get into a top college is not something that is new with tutoring, college counselors, the means to take the SAT/ACT, even applying to schools cost money. However, this is taking it to a giant extreme by not helping the student get better to earn a score, but instead just changing their score. I think that since this scandal came out when most colleges made decisions I don't think that it will make a big difference in the admissions this year, especially because it was from last year's class. Personally, while the SAT and ACT are a way to objectively measure a person's intelligence, I think the test mostly just measures a person's ability to take a test. I agree with Yasmina that this scandal illustrates the lengths that people will do to go to a top college to keep their elite status even without working for it. This scandal to me is disgusting because these kids that got in with their money and not their merit took a spot from a person that worked and should have deserved that spot at the school.
ReplyDeleteThe scandal was not surprising. The only change to the admissions process is that there will be a more through check of applicants and admission decisions. I don't think that the scandal will make any big impact on current admissions. I think in general, the more wealth a person can use to pay for ACT/SAT, tutors, and people to help with apps puts them at a socioeconomic advantage compared to others. Universities tend to accept applicants that have wealthy families that have bought buildings for the campus which isn't necessarily a bribe but the whole system is very corrupt. This scandal just exemplifies the extent to which a person will go to gain an elite status.
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