The recent undergraduate admissions scandal has rightly rocked the world of higher education. According to the indictment and news reports, dozens of parents, including well-known actresses and prominent business leaders, paid large amounts of money—more than $1 million, in some cases—to get their children admitted to top-tier colleges under false pretenses. In some cases, a nonexistent athletic career was invented; in others, a complicit proctor ensured a student would achieve a high score on a standardized test. In the words of The New York Times, the alleged scheme was “stunning in its breadth and audacity.”
Even with the frenzy of media activity, we don’t have all the answers to the story yet. However, it’s clear that, on so many levels, it’s a tragedy. How could so many accomplished people become so obsessed with a narrow view of status that they would engage in massive fraud to get their children into elite schools? What will happen to those students who are finding out that they got into college via fraudulent practices? What about the truly qualified students whose places at these schools evaporated, thanks to this alleged scheme? And what about the harm the fraudulent use of accommodations may have on genuinely disabled candidates?
