Is there a thought that this is one particular college consultant that they found but that there may be 3 or 4 or 10 more like him out there? (and just not caught yet?)
I suspect this is the tip of the iceberg. Like steroids in baseball, everyone was making money so no one talks.
Private counselors have been writing essays, setting up bogus leadership positions, setting up tutors, and working their ADCOM contacts for years. These guys just took it to the next level.
And…does anyone think sailing, fencing, water polo, crew, and squash teams are anything other than “ways” for the wealthy to get their kids in through the back door?
With legacy 20% of admissions, athletes 12%, international students 15%, URM 30%, big donors, VIP’s, and cheaters there is little room for most kids to get in top U’s.
I know I’ll get flamed for this, but it seems to me there is an awful lot of sour grapes in this thread.
There is no evidence that adcoms were involved. And the problems and loopholes this case exposes were mostly beyond colleges’ control. For example, the adcoms do NOT determine who does/ does not get SAT/ACT accommodations and as far as I know, they don’t find out where each applicant took the test. As far as I know, there’s no way they could know the scores were the product of cheating.
As for checking athletes’ credentials, I suggest reading the complaint and supporting affidavits. The mastermind behind this created fake athletic profiles. A guy who ran a football camp agreed to back up the story if there were any inquiries about someone who claimed to be a “kicker.”. Someone else allegedly played water polo during the summer in Italy. I don’t think it crossed the adcoms’ minds that a coach who had won 16 national championships would ask for unqualified people to be admitted. NOW steps will be taken, I’m sure, but I’m not going to fault Stanford for relying on its sailing coach to vet sailing talent or Georgetown for relying on a highly regarded tennis coach. USC seems to be the worst offender and an assistant athletic director was involved.
BTW, the fake scores were sent to lots of colleges. According to a news article, defendant David Sidoo's son submitted his to Berkeley among other schools and was accepted there.
Interesting tidbit --claim on AdvisorHub that Singer’s services were offered through “wealth management” programs of high end banks. Banks denying, except for Oppenheimer and Morgan Stanley, which say they had one but terminated it. https://advisorhub.com/college-scandal-mastermind-says-he-worked-with-wealth-firms/?utm_source=Pinpointe±+AdvisorHub+News+no+ml&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3%2F13%2F2019+Wednesday+3%3A00PM
This helps explain why so many finance guys are involved in this.
@BaseballMaven I’d agree there must be a lot of them… not just for domestic but also international… I’ve heard it’s huge in China and I wonder the buying of closed colleges campuses by Chinese investors will create a new issue
Hmm. @BaseballMaven, yes, many people make life-long friends in college, but here’s the key thing: those folks who are most likely to be of help to your career will be other smart ambitious strivers. Not the idle rich (unless you go in to private wealth management or something like that). For one, unless you were born rich, you probably couldn’t even relate to them anyway. And the strivers are the ones who will create and build and pull their other ambitious talented friends in to startups. And you can find smart ambitious strivers in public magnet schools, honors colleges, top STEM programs (any tough major), top MBA programs, etc.
The Chinese are past masters at rigging applications – it took a very long time for the trusting and naive Ivy League to get wise to how much they were being gamed.
Kourtney Kardashian went to ASU, I believe.
I think many kids of rich and/or famous people likely do go to directionals and less prestigious schools but we aren’t likely to know about that because those are also most likely these are the kids who are less interested in fame and celebrity so it wouldn’t be broadcast everywhere.
@deb922
“It annoys me when I hear that you have to go to an ivy to get into IB. It’s actually one thing that I have personal knowledge of that is patently not true.”
You don’t have to go to an Ivy, but it certainly helps. My husband is in IB (SUNY grad, first gen college student) and it was very difficult for him to break in. He finally got his foot in the door via the father of a high school friend who was an MD. It took him several years to get to the level and salary of coworkers with name-brand degrees.
His department’s summer interns are invariably from top 25ish schools - Ivies, Georgetown, Duke, Stanford, BC, etc. Once in a while, NYU. When there are occasionally students from schools outside that list, they typically have a parent who works there and is an MD.
So yes, there are exceptions, and a smart, hardworking person will likely make it eventually - but having a fancy name on the diploma gets one there much faster.
@bud123 You are mistaken. Plenty of schools offer water polo as a team sport for men and women.
We weren’t a wealthy family and all three of my kids played water polo. One of them played very competitively in a club and her high school team and eventually at her D1 college - and she received a nice financial aid package which was necessary for us to afford to send her to college.
And there are plenty of private college advisors that help kids without manufacturing them, without writing essays or lying, and they are not just for wealthy applicants, either.
@airway1 - 700 more families … are you serious? OMG!!! Do you think there are more “Singers” out there who are doing similar things … I know the answer 
I desperately wanted to play water polo when I was younger, but my parents couldn’t afford a horse, much less a horse that could swim.
Surprised that no fake prescriptions for Adderall were involved. Another thing that is commonly abused by students.
Water polo has a big income mix at our high school (which is 60% low income)
Average higher income than football, but not exclusively a wealthy family sport.
Shocking ?! How are they going to crack down ?? What steps are going to be taken for future aspiraters
Hope the college does justice to people who really work hard in the years to come
So Singer cites 700 families while making a pitch to a potential client. I’d take that with a grain of salt.
^^DOJ cited 761 families in the affidavit
@Rivet2000 this is what NBC News headline says “College cheating ringleader says he helped more than 750 families with admissions scheme
“They want guarantees, they want this thing done. They don’t want me messing around with this thing,” William Rick Singer said.”
@BaseballMaven Oh man, haven’t heard that joke about a horse a hundred times before! Many people think it’s like volleyball and that you can stand on the bottom. That’s a firm no. And no horses anywhere to be found, either.
“Warren Buffett has a daughter who attended University of Nebraska, whose sports mascot is Cornhuskers.”
Classic down-to-earth Warren Buffet, sending his kid to the in-state public! Love it!
…
I understand and agree with all those worried about the effect on those genuinely needing disability accommodation.
Perhaps a less sympathetic bunch overall, but I imagine a lot of students are looking at their wealthy peers and re-examining whether or not their parents bought their way in.
One of my D’s friends has a relative on one of the teams where the coach has been indicted on this matter… nasty side effects for the genuine athletes too… coaching disruption, morale…
Many innocents affected by this,
To build on #964, also top tech companies, banks, MBB, law school, etc.
Or just become a successful entrepreneur.
So the main lesson is: do well.