Operation Varsity Blues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The documentary is now available on Netflix! Its a must watch for DCUM!! From the documentary its clear that prestigious universities accept students who are rich, well connected, celebrities or children of celebrities, politicians, businessmen etc. very few get in on pure merit. Most are average students like Jared Kushner. Also seems like just any applicant can lie about their race/ethnicity to get a leg up. Also, Rick Singer is just one person who was caught in the admissions scandal. There must be many more Rick Singers who have not been caught!!
But since most people are obsessed with prestige the parents and students are not going to stop trying to get into these prestigious colleges!

OP, I watched, and while it was interesting, there's no evidence that "most are average students like Jared Kushner." What we know is that "some are average students like Jared Kushner, whose dad gave $2.5 million to Harvard before he got in." And the documentary is making the point not that connected people get in, but that they were convinced (perhaps rightly) that their kids wouldn't get in without the illegal side door, which Rick Singer shared with them. The difference between them and me is that they could pay what Singer was asking, and that they were corrupt enough to do it.

I was struck by how much the athletic recruiting aspect of these schools is open to corruption. (And how much athletics is its own center of power, even if it's not the main mission of higher ed. Since the school newspaper, the orchestra, and the film club aren't money makers, they don't have the pull to bring in superstars in those areas, outside of the normal admissions process.)

The idea that "revenue sports" are net revenue generators for schools is one of those things that everybody knows but not many people look into the details of. Sure, revenue sports bring in lots of money, but costs are HUGE for big programs. The key takeaway from this article on "revenue sports" is this:

The majority of universities in the nation’s top athletic conferences lost money through their sports programs to the tune of approximately $16 million each.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/do-college-sports-make-money/

It's WAY past time to totally rethink college sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed! The whole admission process is a scam for the Ivy League! They just accept kids from influential backgrounds, bogus athletes etc

That why no one wants to go there for undergrad.

[Anonymous]

The book "The Price of Admissions" thoroughly explains the donor/legacy/celebrity/athlete preferences in the Ivy League and other prestigious schools and was published back in 2007. And that's just the non-illegal ways people get in. When you consider the low % admitted and that a majority of those fit one of the hook categories, there are very, very few kids who get in on their own academic merits alone.

[Anonymous]

After watching how easy it was to bribe the coaches, is it unimaginable that admission officers don’t take bribes? Or don’t worry accept kids from families they know? Is it so hard to imagine? Its not for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After watching how easy it was to bribe the coaches, is it unimaginable that admission officers don’t take bribes? Or don’t worry accept kids from families they know? Is it so hard to imagine? Its not for me.

I think it's pretty clear from posts on this forum that people hop right over the admissions officers with this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After watching how easy it was to bribe the coaches, is it unimaginable that admission officers don’t take bribes? Or don’t worry accept kids from families they know? Is it so hard to imagine? Its not for me.

You have people making not very much money making decisions that people with a lot of money have a lot riding on. If you think about the conditions where you'd expect bribery, this seems like a big one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After watching how easy it was to bribe the coaches, is it unimaginable that admission officers don’t take bribes? Or don’t worry accept kids from families they know? Is it so hard to imagine? Its not for me.

It's not unimaginable, but remember adcoms vote, so you'd have to bribe a majority, and since it would not be an athlete, the adcoms would have to have some reasonable defense for admission beyond academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The documentary is now available on Netflix! Its a must watch for DCUM!! From the documentary its clear that prestigious universities accept students who are rich, well connected, celebrities or children of celebrities, politicians, businessmen etc. very few get in on pure merit. Most are average students like Jared Kushner. Also seems like just any applicant can lie about their race/ethnicity to get a leg up. Also, Rick Singer is just one person who was caught in the admissions scandal. There must be many more Rick Singers who have not been caught!!
But since most people are obsessed with prestige the parents and students are not going to stop trying to get into these prestigious colleges!

But of course a documentary would build up on that story. That's what makes the documentary marketable and makes people like you watch. You should ask: why is this story being packaged by Netflix with the storyline? Would they have a straight boring documentary about the actual facts of Operation Varsity Blues? No, they have to add zest, which is why you should take anything the media and especially Netflix (which has to come up with new stuff fast) is selling you a product.

[Anonymous]

I haven't seen the show on Netflix yet, but my child's take on the whole issue was how sad to grow up in a family where who you are on your own merit is seen as not good enough by your own family.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I agree with your child - imagine knowing that your Mom paid someone to correct answers on your SAT without telling you - that has to do some permanent damage to the relationship. That was what I understood Felicity Huffman's case to be - daughter did not know what Mom had done.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid who has LDs and does not score well. It would fundamentally destroy her if we paid someone to increase her scores. It would affirm her self doubt and belief that she is stupid (she’s not—she just has LDs).

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why y'all are surprised by this. Most of you practice this on a smaller scale anyways. The private counselor that "didn't write" your kids' essays, the charity work that your DC did because "they were so passionate about that cause", the cool website your DC "built on their own"...

Search your souls people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why y'all are surprised by this. Most of you practice this on a smaller scale anyways. The private counselor that "didn't write" your kids' essays, the charity work that your DC did because "they were so passionate about that cause", the cool website your DC "built on their own"...

Search your souls people!

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

How can an applicant lie about their race/ethnicity? Isn’t their actual race noted in the high school transcript, or counselor’s recommendation?

[Anonymous]

I read a couple of negative reviews, but I just watched it and I thought it was really excellent. Maybe you have to know a little bit about this world to be interested in it. I really felt for that Stanford coach and I'm glad the school looks like jerks. I am not rich by any means and I think all these actions are gross, but I felt bad for the parents to some extent as well. I agree with the author who said how the universities do bear a lot of responsibility for creating this system. It is annoying how they got off Scott free here.. I liked how they showed the YouTube kids and their hopes and disappointments. And wow, Rick Singer, what a scumbag. In fact, he could have kept the Stanford coach out of it.