In March of 2019 faces were glued to the news as stories were emerging about the biggest college admissions scandal to ever break open in the United States. People were enraged at how elite families were paying money in return for their child to be admitted into these prestigious universities across the country. On March 26, 2021 a documentary called “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal” was released and if you want to know exactly how this happened, it is a must watch. It includes real phone conversations that were recorded by the FBI while they were investigating this scandal and shows exactly how Rick Singer, the mastermind behind the whole operation, pulled this off. The film shows interviews with the real attorneys and journalists who covered the whole case. The film is engaging and does a phenomenal job at explaining exactly what happened, who the people are involved, and how they all got caught.
High school students who are gearing up for college know exactly how stressful it is to take the standardized tests and hope they scored well enough to get into their desired university or college. These students study and work for hours just for a shot at admission. The documentary does an amazing job at highlighting how this is an injustice to students all over the country who worked hard to get where they are at just for there to be a possibility of a student who paid their way in to take their spot at their top school. At the end of the film it shows pictures of the real people who were involved and their verdict and sentences. They leave it up to the audience about whether or not you think justice was served for these families. This film really helped me understand just how complex and strategic this operation was and how easy some of these universities made it and although this is most likely the end to using the “side door” to get into these schools unfairly, the “back door” is probably still open and waiting for those who are willing to pay.