I’ve been a college admissions consultants for decades, so as you can well imagine, I’ve been deluged with questions in the last week thanks to Mr. William “Rick” Singer and his college admissions scandal making headlines across the country and overseas. Is it really like that–are U.S. college admissions tickets really for sale? Is the scandal going to hurt your business? What’s your professional opinion about this whole mockery of a travesty of a sham? So for what it’s worth–definitely not hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, cough, cough—here are my two cents.
First, I don’t expect the scandal to hurt the college admissions consulting industry or my little business one iota. There are liars, cheaters, and bribers in every profession and they don’t hurt the honest professionals in their field. As my son astutely pointed out, lots of corrupt car sales people will lie to sell you a lemon, and while we hope such degenerates get caught and prosecuted, they’re not killing the honest dealership industry.
Second, as repugnant as the whole scandal is, i.e., the filthy rich breaking rules and acting immorally behind a veil of $$$$, the media are spinning it all wrong; this scandal does NOT suggest U.S. college admissions are for sale— They absolutely aren’t, especially as compared to the pre-C21 admissions landscape, when the one percenters could just build a new wing of a library or science building to get their kids in. That doesn’t fly anymore. A few years back, UPenn famously rejected an applicant the same year her parents happened to give a $6 million gift. No charges are being brought against any universities, or applicants, in the current scandal—charges are being brought only against Mr. Singer and his entourage and the sketchy parents, many of whom didn’t even bother to clue in their kids, who, apparently, were just as shocked and dismayed as the rest of us. This scandal involves a very, very small sliver of a fraction of a percent of U.S. college applicants. Something like 50 students, or fewer, total.
If you want to be upset about corruption in the college admissions game, and acceptances that are taking away spots from more deserving students, focus on international students, especially those from China and Russia. It’s a well-documented sad fact that it’s common practice among international students to lie on applications, cheat on standardized tests, and still receive endorsements corroborating the lies from school officials. For example, compared to the 50 or so Richie Rich kids, there are a couple hundred thousand Chinese applicants to U.S. schools every year, 90% of whom (according to a study I read recently out of Shanghai), tell bald face lies on their applications. It’s a much bigger problem and has been for years, but nowhere near as sensational as six and seven figure consulting fees to guarantee acceptance by cheating, lying, and bribing.
Here, for example, are some insights offered a few years ago on Quora from a Western educator living in China:
[IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER, WHICH I HOPE IS IMPLICIT, BUT WANTED TO MAKE EXPLICIT: THE FOLLOWING IS IN NO WAY INTENDED TO FAN THE FLAMES OF CHAUVINISM OR XENOPHOBIA OR TO SUGGEST FOR EVEN A SECOND THAT CHINESE OR RUSSIANS ARE DISHONEST OR IMMORAL IN GENERAL; U.S. COLLEGE APPLICANTS FROM CHINA, RUSSIA AND ELSEWHERE ARE PRODUCTS OF AN HISTORICALLY CORRUPT EDUCATION SYSTEM….
You people in the West really have no idea what it’s like out here. Education in China is one of the most blatantly corrupt industries I know. Here’s how it works:
1) So-called international schools say they have ‘strategic partnerships with Harvard’ (or any other reputable universities). I’ve heard principals tell parents stuff like ‘everyone has already been admitted to Harvard’. [Dr. Yo editorial: Harvard was NOT named in the current scandal; but a well-known university in N Haven sure was ;-)] They have university league tables lining the school corridors, as if these shoddy, fly-by-night organisations had any affiliation whatsoever. It’s all lies, of course, and the programs will likely run for a couple of years and then take the money and run.
2) Everything can be bought. Examples: TOEFL answers go for about 30,000RMB (New Oriental sends people on Mondays to take the test and then students can take the tests the rest of the week). Schools change grades and transcripts (for a price).
In other words, they use many of the same tactics as Rick Singer. But since few of the foreign families are famous enough to attract media or the public’s attention, we don’t hear about them nearly as much as we do about Mr. Singer and his Hollywood clients.