The college industry is a multi-billion dollar entity in America. It is a heavily complex system, and as a newer generation enters the market for college, its flaws become more exaggerated.
The news of the college admissions scandal broke out on March 12, 2019. Stating that 53 people had been charged, making it the largest college admissions case ever. Among those charged were lawyers, actors, and other wealthy individuals in the public eye.
When I heard about the news, I was a senior in high school living in America. I had just finished the college application process. I had sat through the SATs three times, spent high school doing activities that best represented me and would look good to colleges, and spent the previous summer writing and re-reading my college essay. I was one of the many students who were now in the patient process of waiting to hear if they got into their dream schools.
This scandal is not the first of its kind; however, something about it was frustrating for those preparing for college. I remember talking about it with my friends and just being disappointed because we had worked hard while others had got into school by cheating, and if they were not caught, they would have gotten away with it. This story was a prominent reminder of the college system and how unfair it is in various ways.
On March 17, 2021, nearly two years later, Netflix released a documentary titled Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal. A film directed by Chris Smith that covers what happened and clues to how the operation was able to occur.
When I first heard about this movie less than a month before its release day, I was confused as to why it was being released. Why was this story getting an audience compared to other stories? I was nervous it was going to be a failed attempt of a redemption story.
Similar to the director’s previous project, Fyre, this documentary is intertwined with actual interviews with various people involved, that are ultimately used to tell the story. Smith includes clips from news stories and youtube videos, which help put a more personal aspect to the telling of events. The documentary consists of a plethora of recreations of conversations from wiretap transcripts collected through the years the operation took place.
Similar to Fyre, the narrative of the film focuses on the mastermind of the project. William Rich Singer organized this operation by offering his approach of what he labeled the “side door” to wealthy families, a way of guaranteeing their child would attend the most prestigious schools.
Singer used his abilities to exaggerate and fabricate students’ applications to score them a spot in some of the elite schools in America.
College has turned into a status point and a bragging right. If you aren’t going to a select few colleges, you aren’t considered “successful.” And to get into these colleges, you must be someone the colleges want.
Through this highly competitive process and environment, Singer’s promise of guarantee admission gave these wealthy families the reassurance they wanted. These families, primarily the parents, wanted guarantees, and Singer provided that for them despite having access to every advantage already.
Wealthier families can afford benefits that others can not, such as SAT and ACT tutors and prep courses. Wealthier families live in better towns with schools that offer more extensive selections of classes. These families can afford to do more niche sports because they live in places that provide them. Even with the benefits, it was not seen as enough for these families. They still chose to cheat because they believed that was the exception, and when offered an opportunity through the “side door,” they took it.
The documentary drew a detailed picture of the charade Singer created to allow bribery and cheating to occur and the system that allowed it to happen. The movie was made to show the American college system’s injustice and how there are two different methods for going about college, one for the wealthy and another for everyone else. The film concludes with the final sentencing and fines those involved got or didn’t receive. But the ending left nothing but a sour taste in the mouth, as those consequences don’t hurt the wealthy as they do everyone else.
This is a film that does an excellent job of unfolding what happened. Are there things left out? Yes. But this film never attempted to take on the task of covering every aspect of the whole story. Smith wanted to tell a story that focuses on the more extensive system, and I feel he accomplished his goal. This film summarizes what happened without covering the story up with certain celebrities’ names like the media did when it first broke. So if someone knows the story of what happened or not, this documentary will unfold the events that took place and the deeper meaning behind them.
This movie is clearly about the enormous flaws in a system that has been created, and Smith has produced a film that successfully continues a discussion that is often left out in the media. Smith displays the events and actions of a wealthier class and creates the ability to have an ongoing conversation about what happened and why it happened.