Families involved in admissions scandal went too far
The college admissions process is stressful, no matter who you are: the student, parent, family member or friend. But some parents took a step too far to attempt to lighten the load, only to overload the saddle.
In the wake of the new college admissions scandal, over 50 parents, including “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, have been accused of fraud and bribing coaches and administrators to guarantee their child’s spot at prestigious universities, including University of Southern California, Harvard and Yale.
The outrage has been in response to many different accusations. One side of the scope has been found guilty of bribing college coaches of lower profile sports, including lacrosse, tennis, crew and track and field. The coaches would, in turn, offer the prospective student a full-ride, fortifying his or her spot in the university, even though the student had never competed in such sport.
In the case of Lori Loughlin, she has been found guilty of bribing the USC crew head coach with half a million dollars to recruit both of her daughters to the team, even though they had never rowed or coxswained in their lifetimes. The coach then requested for photoshopped photos of their daughters in a racing shell to show admissions.
One of Loughlin’s daughters, Olivia Jade, is an internet sensation with over a million followers on Instagram and has represented numerous prominent companies, including Sephora, Amazon and Clinique.
She revealed in a video that she had no interest in going to class but still wanted to experience college, nonchalantly saying, “I don’t know how much of school I’m going to attend, but I do want the experience of game days and partying… I don’t really care too much about school, as you all know.”
In another video from when she was in high school, Jade says that she rarely went to class. We all know a few high school classmates who somehow ended up in college and doing similar antics as Jade, but her admission into a college with a mere 11 percent acceptance rate is unacceptable and unfair to all those deserving of spots.
Since the scandal broke last week, numerous coaches have been fired and students have been taken out of classes.
For decades, parents have found an abundant number of ways to secure their child’s spot into elite colleges, from being a “legacy,” where parents and other ancestors have attended the college, or through large sums of donations. Some wealthy parents have even dropped a large quantity of money on a tutor to help their child ace standardized tests. Some parents went a bit further to guarantee a high test score.
Parents also bribed ACT and SAT test administrators between 15,000 and 75,000 dollars to ensure a high test score. In turn, someone would pose as the student taking the exam and ace it. Many students reportedly were oblivious of their parent’s criminal project to protect their child’s placement in their dream schools.
Regardless of the adolescents’ involvements in the scandals, it still focuses on the accused parents. It begs the question of how far parents are willing to go to make sure that their kid is happy, or is it that the parents had no faith in their kids? Either way, the accused are at fault for their indictments.
By Matthew Villanueva, Staff Writer
vallanjv18@bonaventure.edu
