The recent college admissions scandal has shed a light on how prominent the role of money and privilege can play in the college admissions process. A large number of students that apply to top universities get rejected despite having a high GPA and exceptional SAT/ACT scores. With a very limited number of spots these schools can give out, the college application process already feels rigged. Now we know it actually is.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation busted and convicted a for-profit organization called “The Key”. This organization helped wealthy families find fraudulent ways to get their child accepted to a university they might not have gotten into otherwise. Among those charged with using The Key’s services are Full House actress Lori Loughlin (aka Aunt Becky) and designer Mossimo Giannuli.
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“The Key” operated around cheating on standardized SAT and ACT exams. However, a large part of the committed fraud was either faking student-athlete profiles for the children or bribing university coaches; in both cases to get the student on a student-athlete scholarship. Parents would actually Photoshop the faces of their children onto photos of real athletes or stage photo shoots of the child participating in a sport they did not actually play. Yeah, I really can’t make that up.
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But are we surprised? The wealthy have been taking advantage of this system for years, but this is the first time it’s really drawn attention. Money is power and these people believed they could buy their way into anything they wanted, even a college education.
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The college admissions scandal fuels the idea that the system already favors the wealthy and emphasizes the influence of money, power, and status within today’s society. This situation proves that it doesn’t matter whether someone has the intelligence or the talent to secure a spot at their dream school, but rather whether they have enough money to buy it.