The documentary Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal closely examines how some abuse their privilege and wealth to get their children into “prestigious” colleges. It closely examines the inequality within the college admissions process, whether it’s based on race, economic status, SAT score, or donations. In society, we look upon the Ivy League colleges as the “best” colleges; however, we are also blindsided by what goes on behind closed doors of these institutions.
The families depicted in this documentary range from all different backgrounds, and those that helped with the process were mainly college athletic directors within these prestigious schools. The mastermind behind the scheme was William Rick Singer, who was CEO of the Key Worldwide Foundation and pleaded guilty to the admission scandals in March 2019.
In Operation Varsity Blues, we begin to see how Rick Singer developed his illegal business and hear some of the recorded phone call conversations between him and his so-called “clients”. The FBI case is referred to as Operation Varsity Blues, as it was named after the popular 1999 film featuring Van Der Beek. The film utilized FBI wiretaps, trial evidence, and interviews with college coaches to depict the realness of the scandal.
The documentary starts by displaying the price behind this deceit, which ranged from $15,000 for a perfect SAT score to one-million dollars to be admitted. Rick Singer referred to his scheme as the “side door” method— rather than donating millions of dollars to the school through the “back door” method and only having a slight chance of getting your child in, why not use the “side door” mechanism which guarantees your admissions? The process began by donating millions to Rick Singer’s so-called “charity”, which Singer would use to make a donation in his name to underfunded college sports within prestigious colleges. Shortly after, Rick would form a relationship with the sports coaches and seek possible recruitment for his client’s children. These children were not athletes, yet they posed as athletes who played underfunded or unknown sports and who were highly committed.
Olivia Jade, a popular Youtube sensation and Lori Loughlin’s daughter, was depicted in the process she had gone through with USC and her fake rowing photos. Many clips within the documentary displayed Lori Loughlin leaving court back in 2018, when the scandal had flooded the media.
Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli, Felicity Hoffman, and many other wealthy celebrities attempted to pay their child’s way into prestigious colleges. Shortly after the scandal, they were sentenced to prison with multiple charges. Most of the wealthy celebrities involved paid their fines and were left with minimal sentencing. For example, Lori Loughlin was sentenced to only two months in jail, however, if this was anyone else, this would not be the case, which ultimately captivates the mistreatment within our legal system. These wealthy celebrities and business developers were willing to skip the idea of SAT tutoring and pay fifteen grand to obtain a “perfect” SAT score. On most college websites, students will run across a page displaying the average SAT score to be admitted and the acceptance rate of that school. The field of standardized testing is tricky yet quite unfair, as most who achieve a high score do so through tutoring, which can cost between 1,000 USD and 5,000 USD. However, those who are unable to afford such tutoring are put at a disadvantage against other students when it comes to the admissions process.
Moreover, this film also highlighted racial and socioeconomic disparities, as the majority of those involved in the scandal were white business owners or celebrities who already carry their privilege. Knowing that these secretive scandals could take the place of a student who worked hard to be admitted is devastating and horrific to witness and hear. The college admissions process is a stressful time for many students, especially when juggling their current classes with their college applications. Most students hope to find an easy way out of all the stress but are unable to do so. On the other hand, some wealthy families use alternative means to bypass the typical admissions process. The film leaves you wondering, “At what dollar value will you be willing to compromise your ethics?”