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Writer's pictureCheyanne Dunn

The College Admissions Process Has Always Been Flawed, But Now You See It Too


I wrote about not getting accepted to college many years ago but in light of the new allegations of rich parents paying for their kids to get into good schools, I thought this would be a good time to revisit this topic. While I’ve always believed that the college acceptance process is flawed, this new revelation has pretty much proved me right. Personally, my experience with applying to colleges was tough. I didn’t get good grades in high school because I didn’t test well, which also means my SAT scores were shit. But for others, they could have worked extremely hard and have everything colleges want, so to speak, they still could end up not getting into the school of their choosing because someone with money could take their place. The system is defective and now people are seeing it for what it truly is.


Colleges should be accepting students based on merit, not on wealth, but with these new reports on parents paying to get their kids into school, it is clear that not all people are treated equally in this regard. As of now, it seems the children of these people had no idea this was going on, so they are not to blame, but what if you got accepted to a school that you thought you were qualified for only to find out that you are not. On top of that, not only you find out, but all your fellow peers and teachers find out as well. The idea of that is daunting.


Just because your family has money, does not mean that you should be able to attend whatever college you want. You should only be accepted to schools that you will excel at because if you go somewhere you aren’t qualified to go, you may end up having a bad experience or worse, failing your classes. If we do find out that these kids knew what was going on, then shame on them for allowing their parents to make such a stupid mistake that could affect their future.


The college you attend does not define you as a person, but it took me a long time to realize that. I was devastated when I didn’t get into any schools and I had no clue what I was going to do next. Thinking back on it now, I know that this whole ordeal made me stronger. I wouldn’t have wanted to get into a school that I didn’t deserve to go to because then my life would feel like a lie. Instead, I went to a community college, worked my ass off and eventually got into the school of my choosing. While that wasn’t the ideal way to do it, it taught me my strengths and weaknesses and how to overcome them or use them to my benefit.


While yes, college is important, it isn’t everything. It doesn’t make you the person you are, it just helps mold you into the person you probably would’ve ended up being no matter where you attended college. There are plenty of people who get a degree in one thing but then have a career in a totally different area of work. College is not only a time for education, but it’s also a time to discover who you are, and if you end up somewhere that wasn’t meant to be, you may never discover your true potential, or become the person you were destined to be.


Hopefully this scandal will allow colleges to go back and review their admissions process and make the changes that need to be made. Doing so would not only benefit the students, but it would also benefit the college itself because they would be sure all their students would represent the school in the proper manner.

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