A Chinese family allegedly paid a whopping $6.5 million to crooked college prep adviser William “Rick” Singer in the nationwide admissions scandal — but still haven’t been charged in the case, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal last month.
The family wasn’t identified in the report, but the paper does reveal the name of an ousted Yale student in another family, which allegedly paid Singer $1.2 million to secure her admission to the Ivy as a bogus soccer recruit.
The student — who has been identified in court documents as “Yale Applicant 1” — is 21-year-old Sherry Guo, whose family is also from China and also have not yet faced any charges.
The wealthy or well-connected are gaming the system, fixing tests, and paying bribes to get their kids into prestigious colleges.
What price are we, as parents, willing to pay to see our children go the distance?
Of course, we all want the best for our children, but sometimes we forget that real growth doesn’t happen until we are forced to think in ways we otherwise wouldn’t have.
Many people know what it’s like not to be able to get into a college because of the lack of financial resources. Others know what it’s like to not even have higher education as an option.
Wealthy people regularly donate money to colleges to secure admission for their children.
Some colleges have more students from the top 1 percent than from the bottom 60 percent, in terms of income. And the widespread practice of preferentially admitting the children of alumni is a fundraising technique.
The parents in this scheme have done a disservice to the public, other students, and their own children, too — by corrupting the notion of achievement.
Success is defined as accomplishing an aim or a purpose. However, the path to achieving said goal also matters.