“CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve been accepted to…..” Those first five words precede the next great chapter in your life. No matter what college or university, it’s this moment where you know that all of your hard work and dedication have led you to this point in your life. Not everybody gets into every school that they apply to, so knowing that you are going somewhere means everything. And no matter what student you are, you’ve earned your place at the school you will be attending. Or so I thought.
After watching the Netflix documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, I was even more disturbed than when I originally learned about the scandal a year prior. The illegal and immoral lengths that Rick Singer, a “college advisor,” went in order to secure these students a place at prestigious colleges made a mockery of every student applying to college the old fashion way, on their own merits. He hired and paid professionals to take the students’ ACT and SAT tests for them. Parents were willing to pay any price to make sure their kids went to one of the top schools. Singer lied about their race, photoshopped his clients’ heads onto real athletes’ bodies, and bribed coaches. He would find niche sports so it would appear under the radar from sailing to crew. He would bribe the coaches upwards of almost $400,000 to ensure that these kids had a spot on the university’s team yet they didn’t even show up for practice. How pathetic that the deserving athletes’ suffered injuries and timeless dedication could be erased by a payment to the coach of that team? They stole from the deserving athletes and students. The privileged benefited while those who deserved these spots suffered.
The price that these wealthy businessmen and celebrities served was a small price in comparison to what they stole. My hope is that in the future colleges will accept those students who earned their spots at universities on their own merit with honesty. At Tulane, and other colleges my friends attend, so many of my fellow classmates and peers know that we are here because we earned it. No matter what school, we’ve earned our place in every way. To those students who’ve earned their college acceptances, congratulations. Well deserved.
