I think this is the beginning of the end of the college system as we know it.
Maybe in the U.S we’re going to move towards a “European” style of university, where athletics no longer really matter, and people don’t go to school for “college life” but to actually get an education.
Let’s hope so!
I think the lawsuits are a huge mistake. That links sour grapes students in forever in print and will turn up when they apply for future jobs. I can’t see most employers seeing it as a positive. Kind of like when students want to complain about awful high school teachers as an excuse for poor performance on college apps.
wow, just wow!
how 2 STANFORD educated students could POSSIBLY think that they were “harmed” because they were NOT accepted at one of the OTHER schools, that were also hoodwinked by fraudulent applications is beyond me.
Talk about hubris…
Actually some of my finest memories in life are some of the “softer” components of the college experience. Let Europe keep theirs, I vote for ours.
As an adult you’ll have a lifetime of operating as a professional. College is mostly about an education but fun too. And education does include how to navigate social environments.
Lots of people are angry when they have no choice but to attend their safety. 
Believe me, if other way smarter students than you get 30 and you get 34, you know something is wrong. Kids in high school pretty much know who is smart or not (regardless of GPAs). Many kids also know someone is smart despite not so high GPA and vice-versa because from time to time there are some kids who ace SAT/ACT but are not that interested in high school classes for various reasons, but kids know these kids are smart.
Unless I see the facts of a specific case where the kid really didn’t suspect anything, I cannot imagine any situation where the kid should not have reasonably known because the kid should have reviewed his/her own application before submitting. Who lets his/her parent or even a college consultant, push the computer button to submit college application? I have a hard time believing it.
I am open minded to read hypo facts though to convince me otherwise.
@hebegebe
lol!
@IWannaHelp
Not to question your suspicions about USC’s engineering school ranking, but I doubt any of these kids went to engineering schools anywhere.
@someguyinSJ
Lol, I would not mind US colleges getting rid of football, basketball at all, but I doubt any scandals would lead to that fantasy. Princeton just celebrated its IVY football winning with a huge bonfire, and no one would question their academic rigors.
I sometimes have a really hard time determining if someone is a student or a parent on CC. This thread is not such a case.
@mom2twogirls I’m very glad these lawsuits have started. These were relatively senior people within the schools (head coaches, senior athletic directors etc). The knew “or should have known” this was going on, and they clearly did nothing to audit this.
Hopefully the standardized test agencies (and I mean ALL of them) are next in line for litigation for the absurdities that they allow to perpetuate. That this latest scandal involved 2 dedicated test centers with individual students wasn’t automatically a red flag? Give me a break! Again, they knew “or should have known” if they had taken reasonable steps to monitor.
If high schools are helping game the system by aiding/abetting students to get accommodations/extra time for false reasons, that too is fertile ground for a class action lawyer.
If nothing else, the discovery process arising of this lawsuit, and hopefully others, will open up the black boxes of college/high school admissions and clear up some of these gaping holes that allow the system to be gamed.
It is that way for most college students attend community colleges or local commuter universities.
But that seems undesired at the “high end”, even though Harvard Extension School is about $35k per year less expensive than Harvard with the full residential college experience package.
@IWannaHelp: Where’d you look? USC undergraduate engineering appears to place tied for 24th (so in the top 29) in its USN category.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate
@hebegebe, Ha, ha. The student is suing Yale for helping her to go to a better school? Just kidding. Only a HYPSM student would do this kind of thing. But aside from this student, I think this situation could generate a class action lawsuit against many colleges. Not saying they would win it, but there is a lot of resentment building up.
Donald Trump Jr. mocks college admission scandal, despite his past at Penn…
https://www.philly.com/education/college-admission-scandal-trump-donald-jr-university-pennsylvania-wharton-kushner-20190314.html
I’m having a hard time feeling sorry for someone who was “forced” to go to Stanford.
Sorry, but I don’t believe you and don’t know why I should. People have an enormous ability to deceive themselves. People like to believe they are outstanding.
Whatever you think of the merits (or the lack of) of the harvard lawsuit, it opened up a small window into the maze of elite college admissions process, and this class action lawsuit might provide more info and about more elite colleges. Even though it is hard for me to feel sympathy for the plaintiff.
I’m always amazed at how smart people can be so stupid in certain areas. Take that Gordon Caplan for example. This guy went to Cornell and Fordham Law and had the brains and savvy to climb to the top of the greasy pole that is big law. And yet, he was undone by a con man like Singer. What was he thinking when he first realized what this guy was proposing? You would like to think his moral compass would have steered him in the right direction, but forget about that - how about a little common sense? Didn’t he realize what was at stake, what he was risking? You can tell from the wire tap that he had concerns about what he was doing - saying his wife was nervous about it, kept asking what happens if we get caught. What happens? What do you think happens, Mr. White Shoe law partner? Your kid hates you, your wife divorces you, your firm fires you, the jury convicts you, the Appellate Division disbars you, and you have to decide between going to prison or jumping in front of a Metro North train. That’s what happens. And for what? To save your 24 ACT kid the indignity of have to go to Quinnipiac?
It appears from their photos that both Erica Olsen and Kalea Woods are under-represented minorities. So, I find it extremely ironic that their lawsuit claims that their degrees are worth less, “because prospective employers may now question whether [they were] admitted to the university on [their] own merits”. I think a more relevant issue for them would be whether prospective employers will wonder whether they were admitted to the university with the help of their URM status. I’m sure they were indeed worthy candidates, but unfortunately, that is one of the downsides of affirmative action, or at least race-aware admissions.
To “defend” Caplan, I’ll say that he believed with good reason that there was only a tiny chance of getting caught, as this scam had been going on for years without detection. He didn’t think he’d get caught, and he clearly has no moral character, so why not do it?