Why is there so much clamor over getting into a "brand name" college? Prominent actresses and business leaders are alleged to have pulled crazy stunts to get their kids admission through "a side door" to schools like Yale University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California. But is an Ivy League education the golden ticket to a great life? The answer is yes and no. |
College students say they're not surprised that rich kids can buy their way into school. Details about the scandal — a $6 million bribe, beloved coaches on the take, parents who photo-doctor their kids' faces onto the bodies of real athletes to impress admissions officials — aren't a shock. The bigger surprise is that people are now actually getting busted for doing it.
For students with disabilities, the college admissions scandal is a slap in the face. "Stories like this are why we continue to see backlash to disability rights laws," one expert says.
Can college officials spot the lies in school applications? The key is in consistency. "If a student had a very high SAT score on the verbal portion, but then we saw consistently weak grades in English and we read a poorly written essay," says Terry Cowdrey, a former acting dean of admissions at Vanderbilt University, "we would likely question if that SAT score was, in fact, valid."
A "bias towards privilege" persists even as elite campuses become more diverse. "There's a difference between access and inclusion," explains Anthony Abraham Jack, author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students. "Universities have extended invitations to more and more diverse sets of students but have not changed their ways to adapt to who is on campus."
College completion rates in the U.S. are up, but the bottom line may surprise you. While the numbers are up overall, about six out of 10 students who start college will not have a degree after six years. |
Many parents try to buy college admission for their kids, but only a few are actually charged with crimes. "Perhaps the parents who were indicted for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes would have been better off simply making an outright donation to a university," writes Lauren Stiller Rikleen.
The parents who allegedly paid bribes for college admission delivered a shameless lesson to their children: The rules don't apply to you. This is, among many other things, a story of terrible parenting, writes Joanna Weiss. |
Making sure college is worth the cost. Here's a look at what those expensive private colleges offer in exchange for their high tabs. And a 2014 poll suggests that graduating from a prestigious college won't make you happier in life or work. The survey asked about purpose, motivation to achieve goals and opportunities to learn and grow — and it didn't find any broad influence whatsoever, whether a person's diploma cost $25,000 or $250,000.
- By Jill Hudson, NPR Newsletters Editor |
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