Artificially Inflating College Application Details - Harmless or Risky?

Once again, the “Varsity Blues” College Admissions Bribery Scandal makes headlines with the most recent guilty verdicts. (No, this drama did not end with the release of Aunt Becky, and it will be some time before every guilty party has paid their dues.)

On Friday, October 8th, 2021, Gamal Abdelaziz and John Wilson - the first two parents to go to trial who’ve pleaded “not guilty - were found guilty of engaging in illegal methods to have their children admitted to some of the country’s most elite schools. Both men could be looking at up to 20 years in prison for their participation in these schemes.

Abdelaziz is charged with paying $300,000 to have his daughter (under the guise of “basketball recruit”) admitted to The University of California. Likewise, Wilson is accused of paying $200,000 to have his son (aka “water polo recruit”) admitted to The University of California, as well as an extra $1 million to have his twin daughters accepted to Harvard University and Stanford University. The cheek of these people.

And these are just the first two parents who have gone to trial. At least 60 people have been federally charged for participating in this scheme. Many of the parents are accused of paying to have their children admitted to elite schools under false pretenses - as Abdelaziz and Wilson did - but others paid to have their children’s ACT® and SAT® answers changed to get them higher scores.

Of those 60 people who have been charged with this federal crime, not all of them are parents. College officials, coaches, and even exam administrators have been charged in this college admissions scandal, bringing this issue a little closer to home for tutors and test-prep professionals.

Artificial Inflation - Helpful or Dangerous?

As tutors and test-prep professionals, we want what’s best for our clients. This includes our students - whom we’ve invested a lot of time and effort on - and, of course, their parents. We want to see all of the hard work and dedication, from all parties, pay off. Whether our students are looking to graduate from high school or have higher-education dreams, we want to help them succeed.

But, it’s important to remember what our role is in their education: to help them succeed. We want our students to display their very best - no matter where that lands them on the test-score spectrum; no matter which-tier school they get accepted to; no matter where their future takes them.

So, what happens if you, the test-prep professional, are faced with an ethical dilemma such as “helping” a client artificially inflate their college application? 

Let’s first talk about what that might look like:

• You might have a parent say to you, “Could you help rewrite my daughter’s college essay? You know how English isn’t her strong suit!” 

• Or maybe you’ve gotten, “Man, I know I’m supposed to ‘wow’ admissions with my community service and clubs, but I just didn’t have the time this year with work and all … think you could help me beef up my application?”

These are two examples of requests that you might get that may seem harmless, but are totally dangerous.

Not only can these requests be a slippery slope that lead to more nefarious requests - like falsely-bolstering grades or aiding students while proctoring an exam - but these requests challenge your ethical code as a tutor, a test-prep professional, and an educator. 

Caution Against “Helping” Students Embellish Their Applications

The risky business of artificially inflating college application details should be an obvious one - and not just in light of the current Varsity Blues scandal.

Colleges want to see students campaign for themselves, without any additional help or application padding from educators and parents. Students should be advised to advocate for themselves, and put their best foot forward in applying to their choice schools. 

Students may be concerned with their composite test scores, their college essays, or their high school resumes, but it’s important to remind your clients that colleges do not want embellished application details. They do not want to accept students who have misrepresented themselves on their applications.

In the article, Avoid These Big College Application Mistakes, Florida Institute of Technology's director of undergraduate admission Mike Perry advises, "If something is discovered that the student, or whoever submitted the application, is purposely falsifying that information, that absolutely puts an application on the bottom of the pile or may instantly render a denied admission decision." Sound advice from an insider.

Your role is to provide guidance and support your clients, both students and parents, by fostering educational growth. In doing that, you must also display a practice of:

• Fairness - all clients should be able to expect the same quality of test preparation.

• Integrity - there should be a strong ethical code that clients and employees can depend on.

• Professionalism - maintain a set of methods and standards for managing clients that is objective and dependable.

• Responsibility - be accountable in every aspect of your practice. 

If you set and adhere to these guidelines, then you’ll be able to set appropriate boundaries and expectations with both students and parents.

Let the past, current, and future headlines related to the Varsity Blues College Admissions Bribery Scandal be a lesson. While there will always be parents who have enough nerve, desperation, resources, and/or wealth to get their children to “succeed,” let there be just as many tutors and test-prep professionals that stand up to them and for what’s right.  

As US Attorney Andrew Lelling said, “For every student admitted [to college] through fraud, an honest and genuinely talented student was rejected.”

At Clear Choice Test Prep, our advice to tutors everywhere is always the same - continue serving your students with honest, unbiased advice and excellent test preparation. Great service is the best lead generator, after all! That's what drove us to develop and deliver the highest quality, 100% custom-branded test-prep materials, software, and curriculum for tutors. Interested? Contact us for a free demo!