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Waking up to the news that Aunt Becky was involved in a massive college fraud scheme wasn’t the only thing that had me reminiscing about being a teenager in the 90’s and the surprising path many take to college. As if the odds aren’t already stacked high enough against kids who don’t even have lunch money, let alone a team of people willing to break the laws for them to get into college. While I am really glad these ultra-rich above-the-rules people and their co-horts got caught, there’s a lot more grey to the system than just the outright illegal means of getting into college.
When I was in high school I academically bombed my freshman year. I had always been a 3.5 GPA or above student, but as I said, I bombed. I’m not sure what happened (OK I do, but that’s another discussion) but I spent the next 3 years making up for that horrible freshman GPA and in the end I was able to raise it to a decent, but not awesome 3.4.
I was of course applying to BYU Provo. For those of you who don’t know let me try to help you put this in perspective… as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka Mormons, BYU Provo is like the Harvard of Church schools. (And for my Mormon friends who actually went to Harvard, I appologize.) It is THE Church school to get into. Especially back in the mid-90’s. The only other option for a church school (which is where you wanted to go because ETERNAL COMPANIONS GALORE!) back then was Rick’– a 2 year junior college (which is now BYU Idaho and a 4-year University) or BYU Hawaii which wasn’t even on my radar that first year. I had no desire to go to Idaho, for me it was either BYU Provo, or some plan B I couldn’t yet conceive of.
However, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get in. My ACT’s weren’t amazing (didn’t study once or take any courses. My bad.) and because BYU was so highly prized by every Mormon kid in all the lands, I knew my grades weren’t good enough. I was right. I didn’t get in.
I remember being over at my friend’s house one day, a friend who had just been accepted to BYU, and her mom had a print out on the counter. She explained to me that at their school you could print out a list of GPA’s next to the college that GPA was accepted to. You couldn’t see any names attached to the GPA, but right there she had a list of 6 or 7 GPA’s that had just been accepted to BYU. She was going down the list when she stopped and pointed to a 2.7 GPA that had BYU listed next to it. She said, that GPA belonged to a boy in their congregation and everyone knew that his grandpa had made a major donation to the BYU, so he got in.
My jaw was on the floor. She said it so nonchalantly. I couldn’t believe this could happen at BYU. A church school. BRIGHAM FREAKING YOUNG UNIVERSITY where they didn’t even serve caffeine on campus, girls can’t wear skirts above their knees and the opposite gender is only allowed in your dorm room during special visiting hours. THAT Brigham Young University. I honestly might not have believed it if I hadn’t seen that list with my own eyes. Perhaps this sounds naive, but remember I was 18 years old.
I would later hear from another friend, whose dad was a Bishop (like a pastor or priest), that one of our common friends was also initially rejected and so this friend appealed to her dad, the Bishop, to write a letter on their behalf to BYU asking for reconsideration. I have no idea what the Bishop could have possibly written, but that person did end up getting accepted.
Once I got my rejection letter I was also told by an admissions counselor that perhaps my Bishop could write a letter talking about my parents’ divorce and the effect that had had on my growing up… I guess the implication was that my backstory could serve as a plea to the higher-ups to give me some wiggle room on my admissions because I came from a broken home? I said no thank you and hung up the phone. Call me proud, but I did not want to get into BYU through the back door even if on the outside no one would necessarily be the wiser. I would know. And I didn’t want it that way. I want to make it clear that I don’t think the person who asked the Bishop to write a letter did anything wrong per se–and maybe I should have used any and every resource I had to get in. I was certainly naive in understanding that the world does indeed work this way. But I actually loved my winding road through college and while it was a huge blow to my pride not to get in the first time, I’m glad for the experience I had. We want to protect our kids and give them everything, but lets not forget that curve balls are good for us. They keep us light on our feet.
But being too proud to sob-story my way into BYU cost me my pride on another level as I sucked it up and went to UVSC–Utah Valley State College–in Orem the close neighbor of Provo. If you went to UVSC it was basically code for “I didn’t get into BYU” and the invisible label kinda sucked. Since all of my BFF’s went to BYU, I spent a lot of time there hanging out with them. (I lived behind a gas station across the street from my state college with the vampire population of Utah valley–remind me to tell you about it sometime.) I was becoming friends with my high school friends new friends and overall I had a great time. There was however one group of girls that I got a distinct air of snobbery from. They wouldn’t say hi to me when I came over to their dorm, they said rude things behind my back and in general I just remember feeling like my UVSC status was extremely looked down upon by these girls and therefore, so was I.
My actual experience at UVSC was fine, good even. It was a great stepping stone for me. I worked hard and earned a 3.9 GPA which ended up getting me a full academic scholarship to BYU-Hawaii for the next year, and a partial academic scholarship to BYU Provo where I would eventually apply, get accepted on my own terms and graduate with a BFA in Fine Art.
I can’t imagine that it’s “legal” to allow a student into a college when their grades and merits seem far below average, but their family makes a large financial contribution but I would imagine it’s pretty hard to prove that an illegal transaction took place as well. Not only that, but as this article from the New York Times points out, there are plenty of legal advantages many kids with wealthy and connected parents have. As Rainesford Stauffer writes, “But what about the standardized test prep industry, worth around $840 million, which involves parents forking over up to $200 an hour for Ivy League tutors tasked with increasing their children’s scores. That doesn’t include application essay writers, who coach students on what to write about, edit their writing and, in some cases, write for them. It doesn’t include college coaching firms, which charge up to $40,000 to strategize an applicant’s entire process.
Donations made to schools by the parents of legacy students can essentially buy acceptance letters. Meanwhile, there are some students who don’t have a parent to skim their essay for typos or can’t afford to pay to enroll in a prep course or to repeatedly take a standardized test until their score rises.”
Yeah, what about all that? Obviously I am against the illegal actions the wealthy families like Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin took to get their kids into college–but it also seems like they only did a slightly worse thing than many legacy donors, but because didn’t have the direct connections they had to go around the system a little. Should it be “against the rules” to hire an essay editor? I think so, but then again how would that be monitored? What about these college coaching firms? Or maybe there’s a way to even the playing field a little by asking for Ivy League tutors to donate their time to help underprivileged students learn the ins and outs of college admissions? What are your gut feelings? Do you see anything wrong with use every advantage a person has to get ahead? Did you know of anyone who bought their way into college?
I live in a suburb of Washington, DC where the college race is INSANE. Private test prep, private tutors, private college counselors/coaches, etc. I have a 10th grader and people look at me sideways when they learn that I don’t have my kid enrolled in expensive SAT prep classes this summer. Nope, driver’s ed classes are on the top of our list!
I don’t think we can stop the legal gaming of the system, wealthy families are always going to have a leg up. My concern is if I were to do all of this for my kids, how will things shake out once they’re in these elite colleges? Will they suffer from anxiety or depression from trying to keep up in a pressure cooker school? My kids are good students, but certainly not Ivy League material. I want them to go to college to learn, have some fun, and come out the other end with a degree. Then hopefully find a fulfilling career that pays the bills. So many of these parents are more concerned with *their* egos and slapping that school sticker on the back of their car windshield to show off.
I’m a big fan of the Khan Academy. It’s funded in part by the Gates Foundation, to provide free tutoring and test prep to *all* students. Just need to have internet and some sort of device. Not quite the same as a fancy test prep center, but it’s something.
Steph I wonder if we live in the same suburb! I have a senior right now and the pressure was enormous. Most kids had college consultants and paid thousands of dollars. We couldn’t afford it. We hired a few sessions with a tutor to help her with her ACT prep and reached out to teachers and people we knew to help her edit her essay. She felt a lot of pressure that she wasn’t getting all the support her friends were getting. However, she has been an extraordinary student all on her own and as we are nearing the end of the college application process, she has gotten into all the schools she applied to. The process has given her confidence in her hard work and abilities. She has also decided she wants to be happy and not attend pressure cooker schools and experience the stress and anxiety she had during high school.
This hits close to home. When I was in high school, I remember learning a valuable lessons that some parents out there can not accept the fact that their children should not live a life based on their consequences.
When I was a junior in high school, there was a huge cheating scandal in the senior class. The top 5% of the class (which was made up of about 8 students) were caught cheating. And I mean they broke into the teacher’s classroom, and stole the test, made photocopies and memorized the test answers. They were caught and it was ugly.
Each of the students had been accepted to some pretty prestigious and expensive schools. Based on the honor code that each student signs in the beginning of the year, these students would fail the class, lowering their GPA and calls would be made to their colleges explaining the situation, and be facing a week suspension. No such thing happened. These kids came from families who were known for donating large sums of money to the school for various activities, fundraisers, sports, etc. These parents threatened to withdraw all support, demand their money back, and have the principal and teacher fired if they dared call the colleges or lower their GPA’s so they could no longer qualify for their colleges. These students walked away with no consequences. No suspension either. They graduated with full honors (which makes you wonder how they earned those grades and honors) and went off to their IVY league schools.
I’ve never forgotten the outrage I felt as a fellow student. If these students had been at the bottom of the class or not as wealthy, I believe their futures would not have been so bright.
Wow–that is really shocking. I’m mad just reading about it. I mean how could those students and parents be proud of themselves, of their kids after that? I would hope that things would be different now (just because it seems like the public is finally starting to take a lot of things more seriously now, ie the #metoo movement) BUT at the same time, money and power still go a long way. I really wish someone would have tried to call those parents on their bluff though… that could have easily been something that could have been taken to the press–the cheating–and in my mind the principal and the school would have had a leg to stand on.
I can’t seem to look away, and I am not really sure why. I’ve always known that those who have financial means can give endowments and basically buy their child’s way into an elite college. But the actual cheating on tests and lying about someone being on a team seems really wrong. Although I don’t really agree with giving endowments either, perhaps I’ve just accepted that’s the way it is. But out and out lying or cheating to get ahead I am appalled by that, and those who took it that far should be punished.
I also attended UVSC, which by the time I graduated was UVU. I remember feeling ashamed that I was attending this college that many saw as ‘less than’. But I also knew my grades and test scores were not going to get me into BYU or some other elite college. I didn’t take prep tests beforehand, I’m not sure that I knew that kind of thing was available, maybe I was just ignorant, but I just kind of accepted what I got and went a school that accepted me. But now I feel like there’s so much pressure on kids to have the high test scores and perfect GPA, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the focus becomes more about the status symbol than gaining an education.
In the end, going to UVU was great for me, I focused on learning instead of finishing in the top 3% of my class. I feel like it was a great education, even if many saw it as ‘less than’. I enjoyed the smaller class sizes, that allowed me to get to know my classmates and my professors, whereas at bigger or ‘more important’ school maybe I would’ve felt lost in shuffle. My husband also attended UVU and he was in their business club, and they competed against BYU’s business club and his team won. So just because you go to an elite school doesn’t mean your level of success is greater than anyone else’s.
We need a level playing field, where everyone is given equal opportunity to attend a school based on their merit, not the size of their bank account.
Having gone to UVSC, BYU Hawaii and BYU I was surprised by how similarly difficult I found the three schools to be. By far my most challenging class I ever remember was at BYU-Hawaii (over 2,000 pages of reading for the semester, daily journals of current events, oral and written projects, etc.) and in the end, the credit didn’t even transfer!
Like you the out and out cheating seems to be especially despicable–cheating on standardized tests? Pretending your kid rows crew? But it seems to me that “legacy endowments” should be illegal as well. This is certainly gives the wealthy a huge advantage and at the end of the day, and has nothing to do with a student’s merit.
Sometimes it’s just better to be a big fish in a small pond than a little fish in a big pond. I love how in depth Malcolm Gladwell goes about this in his David and Goliath book. The winding way may very well be the best and what kind of lives will our kids have if we pave it for them?
Making a donation is one thing; it’s out in the open and legal. Lying about playing a sport, photoshopping faces into another athlete’s photo, and cheating on exams is a whole other level! As a high school teacher who teaches a college readiness course, and a mom of 1 college graduate ($80,000 in debt now!), one in college, and one starting to apply, it makes me sick. I’m so glad this is making headlines!
Love this Amy! Terese and I got into BYU by the skin of our teeth! I think that it helped we were coming from Michigan and had seminary in our kitchen! Our grades were decent, but we tanked on the standardized tests. So, they let us in during summer term-with the rest of the “barely made-it’s”! You brought up so many good points! I think it’s a blessing to have road blocks. It means God knows you have the ability to overcome them. The way they stretch us beyond what we imagined is so much better than having things come easy. I feel sorry for kids that have it easy! Love you friend! Xo
I went to boarding schools ninth through twelfth grade. We lived overseas, so that was our only option. The company my father worked for paid our way. Most of the kids that went to boarding school had lots of money and their parents paid for them to attend. We were not poor at all but neither were we wealthy. I guess it’s all relative though. Money talks, it does. I saw so much priveledge based on money. It’s not “fair” or “right” but it does happen all the time.
My daughter went to boarding school because we work for the same company that my parents did. It’s only gotten worse. There was so much favoritism that went along with the kids who were the richest. She saw kids get thrown out of school for commiting the same infractions as the “wealthier” kids. But they were allowed to stay. Again, money talks. The who knows the “who of who’s” usually gets prize. Those weathier children become illumi and their parents pay huge “donations” to the school.
Does a more prestigious education bring a better job? Hmm, I’m sure there are all kinds of statistics out there. Probably statistics that sway our way if we look hard enough. My husband is sixty. He went to a good engineering school but no where near Ivy League status. Never once has he gotten or not gotten a job based on where he went to school. His work ethic is what has gotten him jobs. His willingness to tow the extra line, the drive to get his Masters. The ability to get the job done. His integrity is at the top of the list. Word of mouth is how he has stayed employed. Advantages and disadvantages come to everyone. It’s knowing when to let go of “unfairness” and seize “oportunity”. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to fight unfairness but it has always existed and the trick is learning how to thrive in spite if it.
I have an aquitance who’s daughter did not get into BYU Provo. The mother was devestated! The girl, not so much. This mom couldn’t accept it. She cried, she begged BYU. She played every card she had. She is even name dropped and tried to get a GA involved. She was nasty to her daughters friend who did get in. Friendships were lost. Feelings were hurt. Things were said and done that can’t be unsaid or undone. This woman withdrew for a while in misery all because her daughter didn’t get in to the school she wanted. Here is the kicker! She made such a fuss that they finally let her daughter in! I kid you not. I was astounded. She came out into the world again and was her old self. But…… was she really? She had shown her worst. Destroyed friendships, trust, love. For what? What did she gain? I’m not unforgiving, she has done nothing to me. But she did pick on an innocent girl and the girls mother. She did set a terrible example for her whole family. We had been friends before this happened. I no longer trust her. She had been friends with this girl and her mother. What she gave was disloyalty. What she showed was that she would play unfairly until she got her way. We all do shameful things at times. We all have the atonement. I’m glad because I need it desperately. But character counts! It does. Once distrust enters a relationship it’s never the same.
Ethical and legal are not the same. I think in the end we have to ask
ourselves if the means justify the end. Because we are human, because we are unique, what we are comfortable with will vary. If we look inward hard enough, ask ourselves if we are stepping unfairly on someone or their dreams in order to get ahead then surely we can trust ourselves to make the right decision.
Oh, I have so many thoughts and emotions as well. First, thank you for your insights and your other readers’ comments. As an adjunct prof at a small Catholic college in MA, one of my huge concerns is the role of college athletic programs. My college is hugely sports-centered and the impact on students, teaching and overall ethics is so apparent. I totally get that a athletic scholarship is often the only way many of my students could afford or access higher ed (problematic to even begin with), but many student athletes are academically unprepared for college and really struggle. I don’t blame the student athletes — the college is totally taking advantage of their talents and work ethic and the student athletes mostly tell me they’re just grateful to be there (many of my student-athletes for football are African-American, and from poor, urban high schools). Student athletes have access to tutors and other extra academic help. but their travel and sports schedule is crazy, and they are just thrown into a system where they are often set up to fail. I get to know my students pretty well and they’re primarily really great, hard-working young adults, but the sytsem is not ok. This is just one aspect of how systemic the inequites/prejudice are in higher ed (and our overall culture), yet we often feel compelled to “play the game” because options seem limited.
I’m currently paying $150 per hour for ACT tutoring for my 17 year old. He’s on the autism spectrum and tests horribl because of anxiety and lack of focus. He gets time and a half for the test — not the double time over multiple days that some of these parent wrangled! Anyhow, the college we’re aiming for (one that has a special needs program and excellent autism supports!) has a minimum ACT score of 19. If we can boost his score to 20 or more, I’ll consider it money well-spent!