Universities accept athletes in their early decision round.
As part of the “Operation Varsity Blues” case that federal prosecutors announced March 12, dozens of people — including Hollywood actresses and wealthy businessmen — stand accused of having bought their children’s way into elite colleges and universities.
In many ways, then, those ensnared in the current criminal case — which alleges that they paid for their children to get spots on the sports teams of big-name schools — couldn’t have succeeded if the college admissions process wasn’t already biased toward wealthier families. In his book “The Price of Admission,” Daniel Golden highlights a number of other ways wealthy families can buy their way into elite universities. These include large donations, financing new buildings, creating endowments and playing on parents’ celebrity status. These also have little to do with an applicant’s academic merit, but would never be considered criminal.
It is not unusual to have 30 or 40 players on a college soccer or lacrosse team. Most will never play. Women’s crew teams often have more than 100 rowers. Most will never get into a boat. The advantage varies by sport and athletic division, but is almost universal within higher education. Many sports — particularly squash, lacrosse, fencing and rowing — are pricey to play, so rich kids get opportunities that are out of reach for the poor.
Colleges also benefit by admitting more students early since those people are not part of acceptance rate calculations. The result is a lower acceptance rate, which inflates the school’s perceived selectivity. This in turn spurs an increase in future applications, which further lowers the acceptance rate — and again increases perceived selectivity — without any objective changes in the actual quality of teaching and research.
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