by Brett E. Kennedy, Managing Director
In a stunning indictment of parents, coaches and athletic administrators at highly selective colleges, and an independent educational consultant, it is alleged that parents were paying big bucks to a consultant to knowingly bribe college coaches to get their student named a recruited athlete to make it over the hurdle in the highly selective admissions game. Shameful behavior by all? Yes. Unexpected? Hardly.
At the University of Southern California, one of the colleges mentioned in the indictment, the acceptance rate for the last admissions cycle was 16 % or said another way 56,676 students made application and 9,042 students were admitted. How is a wealthy parent to make their student more competitive in a process like that? Apparently, the consultant used his connections and the parents’ money to bribe coaches to designate an applicant as a highly desired athlete. In some cases, the applicants had never played the sport and materials were fabricated to make it appear they did. This designation was enough to make an otherwise admissible candidate stand out among tens of thousands of applicants.
The consultant offered other candidates for admissions assistance on cheating on standardized testing including bribing test proctors. Needless to say, all of this violates the ethical canons of our profession. Furthermore, when you begin to offer bribes and enable cheating you have moved from unethical behavior to outright criminal activity. Who is to blame?
We are quick to blame the admissions process, the SAT, the ACT, and the use of consultants. I put the blame squarely on the wealthy parents who were willing to use their money to make their children more competitive even when it meant committing fraud. As a parent myself, I think we have to prepare our children for setback and disappointments in life. We have to help them understand that life is not fair and that sometimes you get told no. The parents should have walked away when the consultant suggested a path to gain admission that would have required illegal or immoral acts.