"Those indicted allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors said."

OT or maybe this has been tied to recruiting?

Is he involved?

https://instagr.am/p/Buz-_NaFUux

"Among coaches indicted (some current, some former): Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer, Yale women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith, Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, several USC coaches, UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo, Texas men's tennis coach Michael Center."

Like the hoops scandal, this kind of stuff has been going on a long time. People have always gamed the system to get their kids into elite schools like Georgetown, Yale, Stanford and the ASU Honors College.

UCBerkGrad said:

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Why is this a scandal? Elite private schools have been admitting students when daddy donates a new library to the school. Has been happening for 100+ years.

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The irony is the way the feds acknowledged that during the presser but still acted like getting rid of this fraud will clean up private school admissions.

I do have to wonder about the people involved in this. A lot of the schools they mentioned were relatively normal regional schools like Northeastern U. I get doing all this to get into Yale, but ...

okaydo said:

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It's always so bizarre to me that so many celebrities (fred Savage Reese witherspoon) and children of celebirites (Katie Couric, Tom hanks, Rob Lowe) get into Stanford.

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Totally on the up & up.

The furd thing isn't surprising. First - Furd likes kid actors because it's excellence in a field. As for spawn of rich and famous - they attend the best schools, have smart parents, get great internships and other experiences etc. They have a big advantage and there are a lot of people in that group so it's not surprising that a few wind up at the Jr University.

UCBerkGrad said:

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Why is this a scandal? Elite private schools have been admitting students when daddy donates a new library to the school. Has been happening for 100+ years.

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Because this is clear-cut fraud? I mean, cheating on SATs and all that jazz is crime-worthy, right?

(In the late 90s, one of my Daily Cal colleagues published the names of students with bad grades and SAT scores who got in thanks to their parents' donations. He got a lot of grief for it.)

okaydo said:

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Wow. That goes far beyond a coach. That's someone in the actual AD. I'm sure all their football admits are above the board tho.

Yeah. The nature of this kind of fraud isn't surprising. But the amount of coin being tossed around (average of $250K-$400K per student) is shocking.

UCBerkGrad said:

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Why is this a scandal? Elite private schools have been admitting students when daddy donates a new library to the school. Has been happening for 100+ years.

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Large bribes ($500k by one celeb) through a middle man to college coaches, to help facilitate admission, often under fake pretenses (kids were not athletes let alone schollie level).

In the traditional method, the bribe donation goes directly from donor to college gift manger/account rep. No fake schollie and going through college coaches.

It's amazing how true this is. (I'm sure many here will disagree, particularly those with advanced degrees.)

This is true but among the aspiring 3.5%ers where your kid goes to college is about social standing, the parents not the kids.

UCBerkGrad said:

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Why is this a scandal? Elite private schools have been admitting students when daddy donates a new library to the school. Has been happening for 100+ years.

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Good point and it's all pretty gross. Bribery. But at least some other students might benefit from the new library or building. Don't see how other students are benefitting from this stuff.

okaydo said:

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Is he involved?

https://instagr.am/p/Buz-_NaFUux

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I probably shouldn't post this on a public forum, but that Stanfurd POS XXXXXX someone I know--got off and now look at him. Infuriating. Was that on his college essay? Go Cardinal, quite the haven for this behavior it seems.

And there are continued rumors around Santa Barbara about the Lowes and what they do and have done.

okaydo said:

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It's amazing how true this is. (I'm sure many here will disagree, particularly those with advanced degrees.)

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It is absolutely true.

Sebastabear said:

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If you slightly tweaked this scheme and had the money going directly to the universities (as opposed to individual coaches and middlemen) and took out the fake test scores you could literally arrest entire ZIP Codes in Connecticut and the Silicon Valley.

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So true. And not just colleges but private high schools and all the way down to kindergarten. Some private HS are even more competitive these days than the elite universities.

Another Bear said:

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This is true but among the aspiring 3.5%ers where your kid goes to college is about social standing, the parents not the kids.

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1. I'm glad that my parents didn't really have friends. Or high class friends. My dad has no friends. My mom's closest friend was on welfare (who faked her address to send her son to Beverly Hills High).

2. Despite my mom being Asian, she was the opposite of a Tiger mom.

socaliganbear said:

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"Those indicted allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors said."

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I demand a NCAA investigation, with certain college academic units put on probation, the loss of scholarships for certain majors, and culpable administrators, faculty members and the like banned from D1 colleges. Oh yes, and a major fine to the NCAA. If you can do it for athletic scandels, why not academic ones? BTW, North Carolina and TOSU are excused from sanctions just because that is the way we roll...

:Edit: I didn't appreciate that a lot of this related to preferred walk ons as well. FWIW, certain programs at Cal do have PWO's who are children of Cal donors, but they better be competitive with their teammates (e.g., in golf the PWO's compete in tournaments and often can reach the "starting" 5), and they have the academics to get into Cal anyway. This is typical practice in most schools. Paying a coach or an admissions officer directly a bribe is a brtoo far that the named schools passed.

OneTopOneChickenApple said:

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I always bring up this kind of stuff when people argue against Affirmative Action.

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This is liberal whataboutism. Two wrongs don't make a right.

NYCGOBEARS said:

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SC is everything we've always accused them of and more.

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Pithy!