How the Wealthy and Well Connected Have Learned to Game the Admissions Process

To casual readers of news of the last six months, the college-admissions process must come across as an easily exploitable system that favors those who already have a head start.

They would be correct, college counselors say.

The stories of exploitation that have gotten attention in the past few months are just a few examples of how the college-admissions system is rigged to favor the wealthy. Students in families with money and know-how benefit at every step of the process, counselors say.

“The American education system is death by a thousand cuts for low-income and underrepresented students,” said Akil Bello, the founder of a test-preparation company, Bell Curves.

First, the scandals. There was Operation Varsity Blues, a scheme orchestrated by William (Rick) Singer in which applicants cheated on standardized tests and bribed college coaches to get into elite institutions. In some cases, the students didn’t even play the sports they had supposedly been recruited to play in college. Dozens of parents and coaches were charged; some have pleaded guilty.

This week ProPublica Illinois and The Wall Street Journal reported that families in the Chicago suburbs had transferred the guardianship of their children to friends or relatives so that the children could qualify as independents. As such, they would not have to report their parents’ income when applying for financial aid and could therefore qualify for federal, state, and college-administered grants.

A lawyer who worked with some of the families said that her clients are middle class and would not have been able to afford the colleges their children now attend without this maneuver, which is legal. But in Illinois, where 10 years ago there was another admissions scandal over applicants’ clout, state financial aid is given out on a first come, first served basis, an admissions officer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said. So if those students received state aid, they may be taking it away from someone else who qualifies for it.

Then The New York Times reported that students in wealthy ZIP codes across the country had been paying thousands of dollars to get psychological assessments that help them qualify for extra time on standardized tests. The number of federal disability designations given to children in the wealthiest parts of the country is double the national average, according to the newspaper.

Unequal Benefits

But those are only the tactics that make the news. Bello said the process of applying to college is the last phase in an education system that has been doling out benefits on an unequal basis from the time students started school.

Admission Through the ‘Side Door’

Dozens of people, including famous actors, college coaches, and a university administrator, have been charged by federal prosecutors for their alleged roles in an admissions-bribery scheme involving Yale, Stanford, and other elite institutions.

• One Year After College-Admissions Scandal, 3 Questions About What (if Anything) Has Changed

In his talks and blog posts, Bello lists the ways that wealthier applicants can pay to have a better shot at admission to a top college: test prep, professional help with writing samples, high schools with strong curricula, campus visits, enriching summer activities, sports teams. So many of the metrics that college-admissions officers value require money or knowledge of how to stand out, he said.

“This comes down to the different decisions you can make when you have money versus when you don’t,” said Arun Ponnusamy, chief academic officer at Collegewise, a college counseling company. Testing has always been a weak spot, he said.

“But it’s the little things that tend to crush people,” he said. “Something as nuanced as early decision — there’s like eight different ways that it’s easier.”

That’s because wealthier students can visit many campuses and make a very informed decision about where they might want to apply early, where they would be obligated to enroll if they’re accepted. They also might not need to apply to multiple colleges in order to compare financial-aid packages. The act of visiting a campus has the added benefit of demonstrating an applicant’s interest, something admissions officials want to see.

Sara Urquidez, executive director of the Academic Success Program in Dallas, said that each time there’s an admissions scandal and colleges try to clamp down, they risk making it harder for low-income students to get through the application process.

“Our students already have to go through so many hurdles to prove how poor they are,” she said. She described having to help a homeless student pull together letters from three different people who could vouch for the fact that she was homeless when she was applying for college. When a college learned that the student spoke to her mother on the phone once a year, it determined that she had contact with a parent, which meant that she wasn’t really homeless. She would therefore need to provide her parents’ tax information.

Bello does see some good in the recent public focus on the inequities built into the college-admissions process.

“Unfortunately, you need a hyperbolic, unusual story to draw attention to everyday inequities,” he said. The challenge for colleges is to figure out what to do about it.

Wealthy applicants have always had a far better chance of getting into selective colleges. But Ponnusamy said some students are now gaming the system in a new way that doesn’t necessarily require thousands of dollars.

“Not a week goes by where someone doesn’t say, ‘Just spoke with a parent. They did their 23 and Me test over the weekend and found out that they’re 1/32nd Native American, and they want to know if they can check the box,’” Ponnusamy said.

When this happens, he tries to have thoughtful conversations with the student.

“I let the student think through, What does it mean to check that box or not check that box?” Ponnusamy said. “What does it mean relative to the larger world?”

Nell Gluckman writes about faculty issues and other topics in higher education. You can follow her on Twitter @nellgluckman, or email her at nell.gluckman@chronicle.com.