What is the most important gift that a parent can offer a child whom he or she loves dearly--is it money, is it clothing, cars, legacy entry to an ivy league school? No, the dearest, most vital, most important gift that a parent can give a child, for his or her security and happiness, is an understanding of, and the example of, a lived life of morality. Simple morality, not to lie, to steal, to hurt, not to fester in greed or anger. Without this foundation a parent has let a child down and no amount of privilege will erase that mistake.
12
If, when I was a sophomore in high school, the guidance counselor told me I needed to do “these things" to get into a good college, I’m sure I would have listened. If, when I was a junior, my parents signed me up to talk to some guy who guaranteed me that if I did "these things" I would get into a good college, I’m sure I would have listened. If, when I was a senior and had already applied to a bunch of colleges and was waiting to hear where I was going to be accepted, my parents told me, “Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered,” I wonder what I would have thought about what they said, but hopefully it would have mattered.
2
One of the weak links in this admissions process seems to be athletics. Why do coaches get "slots" for the teams? Why don't college athletes get paid? I haven't seen much commentary on the fact that an "in" into many universities is thru the athletic department. While there are strong scholar/athletes, there are many more that are mediocre at best. My 2 college student children both railed against recruitment when the only merits the school could cite was that of a winning team. What about becoming a continbuting citizen after college? Criteria for admissions should be on academic merit and appropriate extracurricular...a winning team in ...........pick your sport should not be part of the equation! Although you can build an argument against me by suggesting that these athletes are helping build a multi-billion professional sports industry by either grooming players or more likely fans. College sports need to be turned into club sports and the recruitment needs to stop!
3
Only 50 people indicted for a scheme that brought in 10's of million and involved probably 100's of schools? And no admission officers indicted?
Really?
4
@GHL- Not yet. Wait until someone clears their throat and starts singing.
5
I am always amazed that when stories like this receive comments, the vast majority ( comments), are from people expressing their outrage. Seriously people, if everyone who ever lied on their income tax, resume, mortgage/rent application ,etc., were precluded from commenting on New York Times stories, there would be NO comments section.
3
@Tollgate- Include those who have lied to significant others and this publication and a million more are out of business. Too bad my comment does not exhibit the required gravitas and will soon be kicked to the curb.
1
Is insistence on getting their children into so-called "top schools" REALLY for the child...or for the parent?
Spending more than four years' tuition to get a high school student into a desired school is probably the worst thing they could do, creating an aura of privilege and unearned credibility. And if someone can't pull together the grades and extracurriculars that a real applicant can, how can they thrive in the high-pressure environment of an Ivy or other school? The answer is: they can't, though they can buy papers and maybe even hire more people to take exams for them.
Would it be so terrible for these high-achieving parents to send their child to a school where they can get in honestly? Let them sink or swim on their own intelligence and skills?
I guess I'm just too shaped by my own state university experience, which I loved, to walk in Lori Laughlin (et al's) shoes. Also, my feet are too big...
2
A great switch, instead of coaches offering illegal payments to the players, the players (parents) are illegally paying the coach.
1
It's a pity that all of his clients need to be expelled and have coursework invalidated for fraud. They cheated and committed fraud to get into the schools, so even worse, they most likely cheated while they were "studying," and if they signed the enrollment documents, they agreed to follow the legal guidelines. Boot them out and erase any degrees they earned, just as if they were caught for serious plagiarism.
3
and none of the offending parents will serve any time because they'll hire expensive defense lawyers with the same integrity as mr. singer.
3
Singer’s wife was lucky to get out while the getting was good. What a crook he is. Pure rubbish!
4
And this is just the one guy doing this who actually got caught.
4
As a high school college & career specialist, I would vote that private college counselors do more damage than good.
The assessment by the universities is tainted and not authentic.
Years ago, applicants for PA programs were admitted by IQ - the school wanted to teach it once and students were to synthesize the material! ( and the program lasted 12 months compared to today's 33 months!) Go figure!
3
When the dots get connected by historians in 100 years hence, it will show the many ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ corrupt people and institutions they influence and declare ‘no wonder the USA collapsed’.
The catholic church hierarchy
The media (Trump TV, Pecker)
Higher education/college sports
K street
Political class/Lobbyists revolving door
Hollywood scum (Weinstein enabler types)
H
China (stealing our intellectual capital and those who allow it)
Facebook (selling your secrets/likes/dislikes and compromising standards in China)
Google(see Facebook)
5
Some things to keep in mind:
One of the many problems is that every public and private high school should be able to provide sufficient guidance for any student who, probably starting at 9th grade, aspires to go to college, or should aspire to go to college even if the child does not yet realize college makes sense. The parents of students in public or private schools should not have to pay extra to "get an edge." But the stories are endless about deficient guidance/how students don't get enough (both about private and public schools).
Wealthy parents will always have an advantage, mostly because their children attend what are considered to be the better public and private schools.
The process to be accepted to any college or university ceases to be anything like "fair" or "egalitarian" when the college/university needs to admit fewer than its total number of applicants. Those "selective" schools use plenty of subjective/"unfair" criteria, along with seemingly "objective" GPA's and tests scores, to do their social engineering to support their business models.
It's tough. But, the U.S. still has thousands of well-run, well financed colleges/universities to provide great opportunities for everyone being graduated from public or private high schools. Also, regardless of a private college's location or "prestige," I would avoid any private college with a weak endowment, e.g. endowment per student.
3
this whole fiasco about buying and cheating to get kids into college make me very proud. I paid my own way through college by working 3, sometimes 4 jobs. I got drafted during my second year in college which meant that I ended up attending four college. After 4 years in the Navy and a year in the Mekong Delta, I returned home to finish my college, again working 4 jobs. I got no help from my parents at all. The degree, which took 10 years to achieve paid off.
Going to a big league school might help you get a job right out of school, but it does not mean instant success. I had no problem getting a job and performed well. I became sought after by other companies. My first year salary was average for the time I graduated, but by three years in the job, I was earning 20 times that much. Hard work, a lot of studying and the fact that I worked the 4 jobs is what what me where I am today.
5
@Bill Dooley- Congratulations and thank you. This is in no way meant to belittle your accomplishments, but the amazing thing is there were many in your generation who follwed the path you did. And your cohort did it without complaining or demanding special treatment. The sad thing is that all of the folks featured in this article would be amused by your methods and be quite unable to understand why you did what you did. Thanks again.
The entire college entrance process today is very complicated. Too complicated! And the mere fact that kids must have a degree to get a good paying job and build a financially sound career has been suspect for me for years. Why? When did this change? How did it change? Why did it change? And who were the change-agents? Is there any investigative reporter out there who will take on this investigation? There is no "good" reason why a quality high school education shouldn't serve students well and help them build a quality life. But, today that's really not possible.
2
I have a dear friend who made her daughter apply to 25 colleges. The pressure was beyond intense and perhaps the colleges read between the carefully colored lines to realize the girl was ambivalent about attending any school. She was finally accepted into a perfectly fine college but not one her parents felt had an acceptable level of ivy and they were reluctant to tell people where she was enrolled. She had a terribly rough time, it took 5 years and while she is now on her own, the personal cost was dreadfully high. Brands, be they Yale, Jimmy Choo, Rolex or Audi offer the myth of personal importance when they are more often are the outward sign of inner doubt.
3
If a student needs 5 or 6 or more years to graduate from a 4-year college, he/she does not really belong there and should have started out on a less-demanding track such as community college, technical school or the military. (With obvious exceptions for those with legitimate medical or financial difficulties.)
3
The parents who believed it was okay for Singer to lie on behalf of their kids because the lie would not be caught out put their children in jeopardy. Their criminal exposure is the least of it. They betrayed their own kids.
At least with legacy admissions the students are not subject to higher expectations than they deserve. In this scheme the children of these parents were exposed to humiliation and possible low self esteem when they were placed in situations in which they were incapable of competing.
Plenty of students, of different financial, racial and ethnic backgrounds, go to perfectly fine schools that are not in the Ivy League and go on to graduate school and successful careers. They thrive in schools that are suited to them because they applied honestly. For me, this story is not about wealth and white privilege per se but about irresponsible parenting.
43
This is sad and somewhat sick. Children are people, not brands. I think this period in history, of which Singer is a prime exemplar, is going to be seen in hindsight as a very grim period in society, the way we look back at the industrial era in which children working in factories was thought perfectly fine. This whole "branding" notion that social media has engendered really does something very sinister. Kids become focused on an external image they feel necessary to create in order to feel important, and it changes their sense of reality and morality. I hope people become acculturated to social media at some point, as it is here to stay, in a way that kids and can be kids again, and not be exploited by adults and other kids who think being a brand is more important than being a decent human.
32
@David Law: Correct. Branding is what they do to young cows to show that they own them, to fatten and later slaughter for their meat.
4
@David Law
The parents show that they themselves are narcissists, who believe that they themselves are either held in greater or less esteem based on the college to which their kids are admitted. "Branding" indeed.
Our fearless leader has belittled Obama's and McCain's GPAs while paying sums and threatening via his fixer Cohen to sue if his own GPA were released. So what does that says about him and his "genius" kids? Do you think DJT would hesitate for one second to use Singer's con game to get Eric or DJT jr into Harvard?
11
As a former public school teacher, one of the common fixes advocated for public education often proposed is to “run it like a business “. Is there a better parable pointing out the dangers of such an approach?
64
@Asa You said it!
2
@Asa- Thank you. Wonderful comment. I will assume you were an excellent teacher.
2
With the stresses teens are facing to get into college, the last thing they should be thinking about (and being “coached” on) is “building their brand.” I found this particular aspect of Singer’s approach to be especially abhorrent. Branding should be left to the marketing departments of the world, not foisted upon young people already facing immense pressure to succeed.
72
The sad thing is, I know a consultant who helps a child become the best applicant they can be through actually improving their writing skills, developing their interests and getting them more engaged with their schoolwork. That's a good deal more useful than a side-door, and a great deal harder than just writing the essay for them.
Her own homeschooled child went to—and more importantly—succeeded at MIT, and she has an impressive ten-year track record of client admissions gained to a school that suits the child. Her business is threatened by this cheat, and he should be held accountable.
Of course it’s still “privilege” to have the resources to get extra help becoming a better applicant, but if it gives the child improved skills useful in college and life as well as admission, that is a far cry from photoshopped pictures and “corrected” test scores.
Don’t these parents realize the time-bomb jeopardy they have put their children in? Nasty little secrets have a way of coming out.
66
@Jennifer: Your comment highlights the point I think many miss in this scandal: Most kids work hard and are admitted through their own talents. Even the "Development" (high donor parents) kids have to meet some standards for admission at top schools. The system isn't as broken as it seems with the current scandal.
5
As film-flam chip-off-the-old Madoff-Trump block as Singer is, I think he exploited a real vulnerability in the college admissions process. In large part, the majority of applicants to specific schools meet prerequisites and are qualified. Admissions is not a process of picking the most perfect snowflake, and no reflected glory applies to the parent if their child is admitted. A student may be more qualified than those chosen, but may be too similar to others already accepted. Colleges are making classes based on talent and talents in order to create a more or less high achieving, ethnically, but not really socially, diverse group of students.They need some rich families who can pay the whole tuition and those students do not need to be at the top of their game. They also need hard workers and the intrinsically motivated. The Ivies perpetuate not so much on the merit of applicants, but on the opportunities to network with the wealthy and make connections for future employment. The wealthy swim in a small, shallow pool. If you get a full scholarship to an Ivy, great. If that's not you, also great. Go to a state university, work hard, thrive, and create your own rich world. Consider schools that don't require tests since they measure nothing of value. Read widely and participate in your interests. Be curious and care about others and the world. Try to be organized and think about cost. Finally, it's your life; do more work than your parents in applying to college.
27
As a retired college teacher, I find it hard, if not impossible, to understand WHY coaches should have the power to get students admitted to colleges and universities. I realize that there is a lot of money in college sports, but the business of colleges and universities is education and research (or am I living in an alternate universe?). If candidates who are intellectually suitable happen to have athletic ability as well, that should be taken into account—but secondarily, at best.
Alas.
99
@David Sices I am wondering if big-time college athletics isn't a zero-sum game. In other words, all the large amount of sports income is spent on sports expenses. If this should prove to be the case why the need to have it at all. I should say that I am a big college sports fan but think you could have a sport, even football, with different weight classes so more kids could play, and less time devoted to training, coaching, weight lifting and the like.
3
@David Sices At the University of Washington in Seattle, the Athletic Department is where the money is. Millions are donated to its programs--far more than to most academic features of the institution. This is not new--it predates the origins of even my elderly awareness.
The difference these days is that the Board of Regents makes no effort to cover up its lust for those dollars. Over the years they've fired an athletic director or two for "improprieties," but in the end big institutions float on a frothy sea of undergraduates sitting with hundreds of others in huge lecture halls. Those students won't contribute much dough in the future, unless they are tied to sports programs that the wealthy seem to favor. The Regents don't pretend it isn't a business anymore.
The industry is unsustainable and only the largest most established players that prostitute themselves for dollars have a business model that "pencils out." Other colleges struggle to cover enormous fixed costs without adequate student financial mojo. You can trace this problem back a few decades to the point at which the student loan industry converted colleges to "something for everyone," regardless of academic aptitude. The industry started to serve a totally different, and far less forgiving, market.
5
The coach goes to the Admissions Director and simply says that this student is being recruited for the team. A winning athletic team is important. Don’t you know that?
Mr. Singer is indeed living up to his name at the moment - he is a tuneful singer whose tunes federal prosecutors are eating up.
Image was apparently everything to Mr. Singer and his socially prominent clients. The key to understanding the whole scam is that it's part and parcel of the same philosophy that has captivated elites in this country for centuries. Joseph Kennedy said, to effect, "it isn't who you really are that counts, it's who people think you are."
2
We all know where this is going... so predictable.
The "gullible" parents will file a class action suit against Singer for
misleading them into fraudulent acts.
If I understand the reporting (always a coin toss), some parents paid as little as $15k for Singer’s services, while other paid several $Million. How did he decide what to charge? Was it based on the U.S. News and World Report ranking of the school? The ability of the parents to pay? The fecklessness of the student in question?
Just curious.
5
@David Eike
He offered a sliding scale. It was the ethical thing to do!
Here is the solution to all of this. Whomever is convicted in the college admission scandals has to pay off all of our student loans. Done. Easy peasy. Two birds, one stone.
1
One worry about all the legacy pushing, bribing to get ahead, behavior is that we then get stuck with people of mediocre abilities running the show. Take a glance at George W. Bush and his malapropisms, tragic war in Iraq, and so on, or at our current limited president, who only knows how to tweet, not read.
In the end, it's society that pays for this cheating.
11
Test scores and grades are not relevant for many college applicants.
Taking into account the college slots taken by legacies, jocks, affirmative action admittees, and cheaters like those whose parents were arrested in the college admissions bribery scam, there aren't many slots left for qualified but middle-class, non-minority kids at the top schools.
There is no easy solution to the problem because legacies, jocks and affirmative action seem to be here to stay. And, yes, some cheaters.
3
Did his "students" graduate. If so the whole admission scheme is invalid. A degree fro an ivy with a music major is still unsaleable.
What is most interesting in this whole sordid mess is how many hundreds of parents heard a pitch that was patently illegal and never thought it proper to report him.
9
Appealing to parent's belief that everybody has a leg up on their kids is what has fueled the insane growth in tutoring, prep classes, camps for every conceivable interest the parent's want their kids to have. There is absolutely no shortage of charlatans waiting to "help" your little All-Star excel in football, cheer-leading, chess , or any other pursuit. It just takes your dollars and your dreams.
still waiting to hear that all these kids who got into school by sham have been expelled. or is the lesson going to be, it's ok to cheat because mom and dad will handle the consequences?
3
Why should the students who were in on the fraud get a pass? Because they are white? Because they are privileged? One justice system for all. Lock them up!
1
So how much did it cost his father to get our current president into Wharton? Just wondering .
6
@Jed R, My bet is that the father would have paid any amount to get the fool out of his hair for a few years.
3
Another article on this scammer?! Why is he getting so much attention?
This man is a crook, the parents/coaches/students involved cheated and will be punished. Legacy, while the NYTimes pretends it stops thousands from getting into the 'college of their choice' is but a drop in a very large ocean. New flash! Ivy league schools are not worth the money, except in extreme situations where a student wants Wall Street as their career, or a politician wants to tout their Alma mater. For me, I'm not impressed.
What counts is that you graduated, have the know how and energy to seek a job and interview well. After that, it doesn't matter what school you went to - it matters how you performed; what are outcomes based on your efforts. Life is competitive, but it need not be as competitive to go to college as the NYTimes and media pretend. IF you don't have the grades, but truly want college (not a promised high paying job as you will not make it through if that is your only driving force), go to community college for a couple of years, buckle down, and then transfer. Also, live at home; room and board are often more than half the cost.
1
As a 30-year veteran of a non-elite college, I have a pie-in-the-sky solution to address the ills of the admissions process:
- As part of accreditation, every school would need to clearly articulate the gateway credentials required for entry (SATs, GPA, number of advanced courses taken, writing ability as judged by authentic products (e.g, a portfolio collected and submitted by a high school teacher or official), etc.
- All applicants would be designated "admissable" or "not admissable" based on these criteria.
- There would be a limit to the number of schools to which a student could apply -- perhaps three to five.
- Students would be admitted via lottery, with no legacy, athletic or other type of preference allowed, no attempt to "craft a class" or other such fictions.
Would this plan mean that fewer minority students would be admitted to Harvard (or at least non-Asian minorities)? Possibly, although not necessarily. But, even so, the U.S. education system is incredibly robust, and these students would still be able to get a good education at one of their other designated schools, assuming that they have picked their applications wisely.
Might it mean that more students would need to take a gap year or two? Possibly. But they might become better prepared by work in the "real world" in the meantime.
The current admissions process already relies on luck -- of birth, of fortune, of happenstance. Why not just make it official?
4
How surprised are we about this? It is no secret that the rich have advantages in college admissions.
The scandal does highlight the egregious way elite colleges have encouraged and profited from the myth that the "American dream" is best served by the type of education they offer. By building up their profiles in places like US News and World Report, these universities hype their own services, create artificially pumped competition for admissions, and justify their bloated tuition costs. There is much evidence that students from state colleges prosper just as much in later life, and that students attending community colleges benefit from the small class sizes and emphasis on teaching and student support. Yet, high school advisors and parents still stigmatize these more prosaic schools and glorify instead the elite institutions and the supposed paths they offer to the good life.
The students who lost out to the progeny of the bribe makers may be better off at their second choice schools. Their future is just as bright, their opportunities just as varied, and they will have the bonus of lower student debt. Why is everyone in such an uproar?
We are so inured to the ubiquitous back door that we do not see the side door as a populist form of that sort of bribery.
The back door should be just as illegal, if not more so. There should not be a sliding price tag, above which it all becomes OK.
1
If my kid got into college this way, I would be very worried. An ongoing investigation will reveal names of participants going back years.
2
Rick Singer and Michael Cohen - two peas in a pod, willing to do anything to keep up their income stream and lifestyle. They could be cellmates trading stories.
But the real sad part is that people were (and are) willing to participate in these shady dealings. In that sense, these are not the only criminals; all participants are too.
2
It seems education has lost sight of its purpose.
Its role is to ensure the viability of society & civilization through intergenerational transitions.
We're mortal. Neither wealth nor experience lasts.
Education is how we bridge the generations; it's a societal investment that ultimately depends on the life-long personal commitment of individuals who desire to do "good" in the world, and not simply to do "well" for themselves.
"Character" describes our commitment.
"Intelligence" describes our ability to solve problems.
Together, they are essential if we are to have any kind of future that will last beyond our own generation.
Forty years ago, a major hi-tech company needed technicians to repair newly manufactured circuit boards that failed.
The backlog was overwhelming and expensive. They turned to proprietary schools who gladly offered a 10-month program that cost individuals $1,000/month.
Students learned slide-rules and analog electronics. What they needed to know was microprocessor logic.
The need was clearly identified, yet no relevant training was available then -- anywhere.
Responsibility fell on the shoulders of the vulnerable.
The turnover among young people of modest means who pursued a promised future was high.
The company's problem grew.
I was invited to address it and did so by developing a learner-driven training that quickly eliminated the backlog.
The company eliminated the employee expense.
The company failed.
The cause was cultural.
Institutional integrity
1
This is the story of our times - white, affluent families who already are viewed as having the tailwind of privilege in our society (relative to non-white, non-affluent members of our society), don't feel that tailwind is enough to carry their children forward, so they resort to unscrupulous means to ensure their progeny reap the benefits of privilege.
Is it any wonder that there is so much anger out there?
1
It's time for a shift to 'total transparency' in college admissions. All colleges, both public and private, take Federal funds, and are subject to congressional investigation. Let's end this charade once and for all.
2
There is no shock that Singer could succeed in such an immoral undertaking. From Trump on down, we now have the climate of "ethics don't matter." Winning is the only thing. We suffer as a society when people cheat because at their core they are not up to the demands of life. The co-conspirators in this shady enterprise need to be punished and students need to re-learn that what no one sees still matters.
1
I’m disappointed that this article paints Singer as the ‘pied piper’ preying on concerned parents’ worries for their children’s futures. That kind of whitewashing on behalf of the parents’ responsibility in this is troubling. These were wealthy parents whose children already had enormous advantages. This was not a desperate impoverished single mother lying about where she lived to try to get her child into a decent school district. If the allegations are true these parents sought out more unfair advantages, illegal shortcuts, and blatant cheating in order to give their children and themselves what they wanted, not what any of them needed.
4
How do parents knowingly enter into an agreement that involves cheating on standardized tests?
2
I am a parent of a current high school senior and with college admission season upon us our house is filled with anticipation. I too am appalled to learn that some people have rigged the admissions system for some colleges, but let’s be very careful not to label every hard-working non-minority kid that is attending or will attend a top college a cheater. The vast majority of students admitted to top schools are incredibly impressive and their accomplishments shouldn’t be tainted by the actions of a dirty few.
I’ve watched my child work her tail off for all of her high school years and it appears that her hard work will pay off with acceptances to some very fine colleges. As her parent I have not rigged the system in her favor by bribing anybody or pulling any strings – she has pushed herself and studied hard and she deserves all the acceptances that she will get…or won’t get; let’s face it, life is a competition and with rare exceptions there are individuals that are probably more impressive than any of us. What my husband and I have done is to provide our child with love, encouragement, and occasional guidance (which is sometimes completely ignored).
Let’s be honest and acknowledge that to be accepted to any respected institution that most people HAVE done the work to get there. The cheaters and losers will eventually show their colors and until they do, they will just help the rest of us by skewing the bell curve in the classroom…and in the workforce.
32
@Michelle F. I was a former college counselor and journalist who started a college admissions-focused newsletter, SocratesPost.com. It features exclusive interviews with admissions officers, interviewers, and directors from colleges around the country who share what it's like on the other side. The whole purpose is to help spark new ideas in you, allowing you to authentically and independently navigate your college admissions journey using knowledge and insights -- without getting boxed into a mold or pressured to pursue prestige and elitism. I know how hard it is to go through the college admissions process and hope this alternative brings you simplicity and joy.
1
There hasn’t been much coverage on back door college admissions, as defined in this article. Underachieving, substandard, unqualified students like George W. Bush, Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner get into Yale, Penn, and Harvard respectively as legacies or as a result of parental donations — and then take on influential positions without the credentials to carry them out. It might be legal, but it’s nevertheless unethical and often dangerous.
133
I enjoy how you only point out republicans in your piece I'm sure all the Kennedys Chelsea Clinton and Obama's girls all got into their respective schools on only merit
7
@NYCtoMalibu Interesting focus - what about Obama, Kennedy? The truth is that many past politicians went to ivy league schools. So what?
4
@NYCtoMalibu
Throw in the virtual elimination of the estate tax and you have the basis for the American Aristocracy.
1
The idea that people are shocked to learn that privileged people have it easier than the non-privileged is pretty funny. There’s nothing about this story that strikes me as shocking in the least. I dislike the reality of knowing that “money answereth all things” but that’s just the way it is, and frankly there are more pressing issues facing my life and this country’s future than this college thing. Next...
9
one of the core issues in allowing this scam to prosper is the overall zeal and ardor Americans have for brand names, or in this case Ivy League Schools.
If as a whole, our society stopped its' "star worshiping" behaviors and slavish devotion to fancy/popular name brands we would be better off. We might just then start demanding quality over flash, reliability over the "sizzle" being sold along with that side of fries.
23
Couldn’t agree more! But our marketing-led culture would need a complete transform to remove the luster and status from these name brand universities. And in this case, it’s driven as much or more by the parents as it is by the students.
I have *way* more respect for students that go to a community college for two years, and especially if they transfer to a state university to earn their bachelor degree in another two years.
12
A wise man once said that it is far more important WHAT one does than HOW one does these things. Singer apparently was greatly skilled at mostly doing the wrong things.
Our society has become intensely fixated with how well we do things with fading interest in what we choose to do.
12
These parents wasted their money they should have just put down that they were minority's and got accepted thru affirmative action who can say what race I currently identify as it worked for Elizabeth Warren
8
@EAH Hard to see how being in the minority of the privileged few in this country is something a society interested in fostering a robust tax-paying and medicare and social security paying middle class should be concerned with.
@EAH, you don't need even a fake TrumpU degree to use punctuation and correct word usage!
2
Elizabeth Warren never used race to gain admission to a university. Look it up.
3
All the hand-wringing about these amoral desperate parents led to perdition by the man with the Golden voice and slides...
Sort of misses the point that one of the key metrics that these highly selective colleges are themselves gaming is admission rate. Which is totally dependent on doing everything in their power to inflate the number of applications they receive and acting as if it is the truest measure of their value. Harder to get in must mean a better club.
And obviously the pay-to-play ‘development’ admission is real and accepted as part of the endowment race even as kids and families get hit with soul-crushing student loan debt.
To me this is counting cards in the casino. It’ll get you thrown out if caught but is the only way to beat the house which is set up to take your money.
24
Mr. Singer's crime has two dimensions. The first is that his bribes and manipulations cost other, non-cheating and actually qualified applicants, their chance to go to Stanford, Yale etc. However, I believe the key reason why these universities are oh-so-outraged is that Mr. Singer offered wealthy, but either stingy or not rich-enough parents a discounted shortcut to the more expensive, but apparently legal route to get Johnny or Jane into Stanford, Yale etc - donations. See, if you, the parent, are ready, willing and able to donate a couple of millions, concerns over academic fitness of one's offspring also magically disappear, all without Photoshop or hired test takers. In the eyes of these schools, Mr. Singer's biggest crime is to let some kids in through the back door for less, and they (the schools) didn't get their usual cut (donation) . And, before anybody says "but donations benefit all students ": maybe. However, the schools in question here have multibillion dollar endowments, and could still do a lot more to admit and support gifted, but poor and disadvantaged students, so I find it hard to feel sorry for their pecuniary loss here.
31
@Pete in Downtown Your comment is generally on the right track, but: (1) the necessary donations are an order of magnitude higher - $2 million will barely register for schools with $10+ billion endowments; (2) while chances of admission are greatly improved, there are still no guarantees - a well-known story around Silicon Valley is the famous VC guy who donated over $10 million to Stanford; when his granddaughter was rejected, he threw a chair out his office window.
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@Ernesto
Ironically, many other schools would have endowed a chair in his name for $10 million.
1
@Ernesto. Yes, two million won't do the trick anymore - it's probably up to 15 or 20 by now. Hence, bribing the coach at half a million - bargain!
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It is the universities that have created this market and an opportunist stepped in. Much like heroin dealers, Rick Singer met consumers' needs. The elite universities cannot claim innocence any more than someone using heroin trying to distance themselves from the drug cartels' illegal activity.
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He’s simply an adherent of (possibly) the greatest American philosopher of the 19th century, who encapsulated his views in the immortal phrase: “there’s a sucker born every minute”!! A variant of this is: “there’s no free lunch”. I would have likes to play pro basketball, but I’m only 6’ 1” tall, not particularly coordinated, and couldn’t find anyone to scam my way in. Sometimes a kid who goofs off and doesn’t study won’t get into the college of their choice. Sometimes a kid may just not be smart enough. I realize I’m not being very PC or sympathetic, but it’s time for folks to stop looking at the easy way into everything.
12
I can already see the movie on this -- starring George Clooney.
Wonder if Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman will be able to get a release for a few days in order to play themselves.
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I see a similarity between Singer and the Grifter in the White House. Looks legit and tells you what you want to hear, but has no respect for the rule of law.
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If lying, cheating and stealing your way to the top is good enough to be selected by Putin to become president of the United States... what's wrong with a little college application hocus pocus?
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@WR, trump supporters will not see any similarities, because somehow the normal human natures toward greed and corruption don't apply to him. Weird, but they have assigned to him the NK model of 'dearleader can do no wrong; all who oppose him will pay dearly'.
I remember reading with incredulity that Kim's father was believed so pure that he never had a bowel movement. His son Kim has photos taken at the top of NK's sacred mountain, claiming that he teleported there; no need to climb.
When trump insults others, claims innocence no matter how many dots there are to connect, make up truly convoluted conspiracies, they are all on board. He tells us that law enforcement (for us) is worthy only of support; we must respect them no matter what. HIS level of law enforcement? Well now, the FBI, CIA, DOJ, the entire Democratic party, NY DA's office, etc? Traitors who want to bring the man down! It fails to register on republicans' self-awareness meter.
So yeah, trump's supporters will cheer the guy whose daddy got him out of the draft and who now sneers at John McCain endlessly. You all have left your American pride behind to follow Putin's wannabe. Sad
4
It is interesting how people have been parsing this story.
Obviously what William Singer and his clients did (tax fraud, bribery, etc,) was legally and ethically wrong. But the ways that people have justified their own "cheating" remains fascinating.
Here in New York City, it's not uncommon to hear new parents begin to learn "how to play the game" in getting their newborns a slot in a "prestigious" private school by making well placed donations.
Paying tutoring services (or private tutors) for the Hunter entrance exam (K thru 12) is the norm.
Prepping for the Specialized High Schools (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech) can begin for some Asian students in the 4th grade in weekend slam schools. By the time they take the exam, they have memorized almost every question and answer on the exam.
Prep courses for the SAT and ACT exam (neither of which have ever shown any indication of college ability) are a multi billion business.
And of course, there is the donations to the schools themselves, perfectly legal and tax deductible, that allow the colleges to rake in cash and let less qualified students in through the "back door".
Level playing field...ask any well qualified poor student whether merit and ability is a consideration in our society.
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@AWG And what exactly is wrong with tutoring and prepping for an exam? Both involve hard work and study. If your point is that it is not fair to require non-Asians to study hard, then please say so.
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@Ernesto
My point is that the entire system is skewed.
If you allow some students to get additional help then you are no longer playing on a level field. The parents in this particular case were just at the extreme end of the continuum.
Hard work studying the subject material covered by the exam may not be rewarded, regardless of ethnicity. If another child gets additional time because their parent paid a psychologist to certify that they suddenly developed ADHD just before the exam, or private tutoring gives them the answers, the test is no longer valid, and no longer measures what was intended to measure.
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@Ernesto The problem is that only a small segment of the population can afford these things. Just because it's legal it doesn't make it fair. Because it is not fair.
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It’s not a scam if it worked. Sounds like he delivered as promised.
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@Meg Riley: His scam didn't work as evidenced by all the people going to jail. All he delivered was crime and punishment.
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@Meg Riley: So did Bernie Madoff. The scam worked right up until the moment it didn't.
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Singer is unlikely to be the only person who figured out these "side doors," like bribing college coaches. With the lack of transparency, there's probably more cases going back many years.
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@No recall
How did Singer determine these coaches were corruptible??
That's a pretty risky conversation to have with people who are generally regarded with such honor and integrity.
One or two must have said no and turned Singer in.
3
I feel like the article attempts to absolve the parents of blame for their actions. If they were duped, then I’m sure the audio of their phone calls will show that. However, since the government has charged them with crimes, I don’t think they would do so without pretty damning evidence.
Singer is clearly a criminal, but the parents are not victims in any way whatsoever.
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@Matthew Not only that, they have damaged their children. I really feel for the kid who is the supposed pole vaulter.
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@Matthew
The FBI affidavit that supports the criminal complaint is widely available on line and it is stronger than "pretty damning evidence" against most if not all of the accused parents. So much so that as a former trial lawyer, I can't see how any rational defendant will go to trial rather that pleading guilty. A bunch of parents ranging from witless to sociopathic will do time in federal prisons if the Justice Department wants to do the right thing.
3
I am echoing the thoughts of many, may the parents that knowingly bought their children a ticket to college do some jail time and have to pay the way of 10 randomly selected kids who got in on their own merit and hard work. My grades earned me into a state university and I worked my butt off to graduate with a 4 year science degree. I worked on the weekends and summer to pay for my college and the PELL grant was instrumental to my success. What those parents did was WRONG!
23
He's obviously a talented flim-flam man, cheater, and liar. He just lacks the pedigree and parental mentoring of the gold-plated phony in the White House.
25
Parents paying to give their kids "the edge" in the college application process begins way before high school. From my experiences, there were parents particularly from affluent parts of a school district that would pay a professional counselor or psychologist to diagnose then label their child with a specific learning disability that enabled the child to have certain academic advantages i.e. extended testing time, throughout their school years. I suspect there were legitimate cases where such advantages were necessary but some schools had way more diagnosed learning disabled children than others.
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@Robert Perez The practice you describe also may harm those children who legitimately have a learning disability and need that extra time. I know of a child who cannot read but is highly intelligent. Go figure.
4
Clearly, Singer exploited the status seeking motivations of his well heeled clients. As for myself, I got into college in 1969 the old fashioned way...grades ( not bad) and test scores ( again, not bad). 4 years and out. Those students who got in and couldn't cut it transferred to a junior college or dropped out all together.
The parents of the kids Singer assisted with his criminally fraudulent web of schemes need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Fines, restitution, community service and probation. First world problems not withstanding, they have a debt to repay to society. Maybe they'll learn from it.
28
He could have made a killing in my era getting athletes and offspring of influentials into slots in the National Guard and Reserve units in order to avoid Vietnam service.
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@ForwardObserver. Or, by influencing draft boards. I marvel at Billy Graham’s WWII draft deferral. Or, Trump’s.
2
Thank you for such a detailed explanation of William Singer.
As Dad used to say when I was mailing in Bazooka gum wrappers for a special prize, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
57
I'm not sure how these issues really stand out as surprising in American society. The bulk of what goes on in the US is about branding, image and illusion. (Isn't that the sort of president that was most recently elected?) It seems to me that this man is doing exactly that which is most valued in America - getting ahead at any cost. Isn't that the essence of capitalism, even of entrepreneurialism? He seems to have been very good at what he was doing. As someone who worked hard to get into and succeed in college, I find it discouraging to see people simply buying the same results, but as a professor it was never hard to spot the charlatans among my students, and I felt that part of my job was to ferret them out and stop them from overshadowing their deserving and hard-working classmates. But our society creates this climate where the game and the image is what is important. These folks are now just convenient scapegoats for a much deeper problem that should have been examined many years ago.
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@Keith
As a college student it was not hard to spot the charlatans among my college professors.
1
He was so desperate to become one of “them”. He didn’t realize that as long as you are being paid, everyone knows you’re one of the servants. Once your job is done so are you.
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@Terry
It does not appear he wanted to be "one of them", but rather take other people's money. And who are "them" anyway and how are they different from him? Then again isn't that what all businesses do(take other people's money) one way or another, legally, morally or otherwise?
2
Looks like the parents (his marks) need to go back to school for a course on “how not to get convinced by slick PowePoint presentations”.
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@Stephen...
The apocryphal "You can't cheat an honest man" is the key to Rick's grift. He is a person with an amplified ability to 'read' his marks and lead the ones who tugged at his lure of 'side doors' into criminality and large remunerations.
The enjoyment of a successful grift story is the Schadenfreude we experience at the rich and powerful being conned!
2