Do y’all actually believe the kids applying to college (most of them, anyhow) didn’t know some of this was going on? Applicants were posed in fake photos as if playing sports they never participated in. Impostors took SAT and ACT on the kids’ behalf. The students don’t all seem to be innocent victims.
And I imagine there are a lot of folks out there feeling pretty nervous right now about their own children’s college application process. (“Out there” meaning in wealthy zip codes across the US, not HSB web commenters.) I always assumed stuff like this went on—the admissions process is a black box and the perceived value of getting in these schools is so high that it seems inevitable.