By Eliza Stone

Faking sports pictures, changing SAT scores, and donating libraries: just a few of the ways celebrities and the ultra-wealthy give their children an advantage throughout the college process. Feeling like their reputations are on the line, these parents are willing to risk everything to ensure their child’s admission to prestigious universities throughout the United States. However, in 2019, 33 professionals, including actors, lawyers, businessmen, and authors, paid anywhere from $200 thousand to $6.5 million to buy their children’s college admission and found themselves caught up in what would become one of the largest college admission scandals ever, deemed Operation Varsity Blues.  

Behind it all was former college admissions counselor William ‘Rick’ Singer. Singer referred to his method as using “the side door” into elite universities, which in almost all cases meant cheating. His scheme began in 2011, when he accepted over $75,000 to help students cheat on the SAT and ACT. He had his clients take their children to psychologists, where the students were told to perform poorly on a test so they would be diagnosed with a learning disability. Singer told one client to “be stupid, not to be as smart as she is, so she would be given extra time and could take these standardized tests alone. He then hired proctors to oversee their exam and after the student was finished, the proctor would change their answers to increase their scores. Singer’s other method included bribing coaches to reserve spots on their teams for his clients. 

Actress Lori Loughlin, Olivia Jade Giannulli’s mother. Photo credit: Lloyd Klein.

After the FBI was tipped off about Springer’s scheme in September 2018, Springer agreed to work with the FBI to bring down everyone involved. Singer called and visited all of his clients’ parents, all while wearing a wire. In March 2020, Singer pleaded guilty to all the charges against him: racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the US, and obstruction of justice. Throughout the seven years of his scheme, Singer made around $25 million and facilitated 761 “side door” admissions.

Olivia Jade Giannulli (more commonly known as Olivia Jade), social media influencer and daughter of Full House star Lori Laughlin and designer Mossimo Giannulli, was one of the most prominent people involved in the scandal. Her story was the first I heard about the scandal myself. Jade has over 1.3 million followers on Instagram and 1.85 million subscribers on youtube. Jade and her older sister Bella Giannulli posed for pictures on rowing exercise machines to secure their positions on the University of Southern California (USC) rowing team, even though they had no experience rowing crew and were not on their high schools’ rowing team. Along with the faked rowing expertise, Laughlin and Giannulli paid $500,000 to ensure both their daughter’s admissions to USC.

Huffman and Macy. Photo credit: Angela George.

Other major celebrities involved in this scandal include William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman. Both successful actors, Macy and Huffman got married in 1997 and have been together since. Macy is recently known for his roles in the television show Shameless and many award-winning films, and Huffman has won numerous awards, including Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her starring role in 2005 film Transamerica.

After paying Singer $15,000 to manipulate their daughter’s ACT score, Huffman spent 11 days in prison and now is serving one year of supervised release and over 200 hours of community service. 

After remaining silent for almost a year and losing partnerships with brands like Sephora, Jade went on Red Table Talk, a Facebook Watch show hosted by Jada Pinkett-Smith, Willow Smith, and Pinkett-Smith’s mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris. Jade claimed to be mostly unaware of what was happening, despite posing for pictures on a rowing machine. The women discussed white privilege, and Jade discussed giving back and educating herself. Jade claimed “I remember thinking, ‘How are people mad about this? I don’t really understand what’s wrong with this.’”

Madelyn Curtis (‘22), a student athlete committed to play Division I field hockey at the University of Richmond, said, “I think it’s really unfair that people who worked hard in sports and school get their spots taken by people who don’t put in the same amount of time or effort. Obviously, these kids had never played the sports they claimed to before, so they’re taking a spot on the team from someone who’s worked hard and practiced and dreamed of playing at the college level.”

While the most public and dramatic college scandal, Operation Varsity Blues is not the only recent example of well-off parents attempting to give their children a leg up in the college admissions process. Sidwell Friends School is an extremely prestigious independent high school in Washington, D.C., whose graduates include the children of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Sidwell Friends is seen as “the Harvard of Washington’s private schools,” and its esteemed alumni include Bill Nye. 

Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user Cosal.

As the Varsity Blues scandal unfolded, the Sidwell Friends head of school sent out an email instructing parents to “stop the verbal assault of employees” after parents made claims about other children in an attempt to sabotage their chances of getting into esteemed universities. Parents aimed to limit the competition for their own children. One Sidwell parent said “I do think [this] represents… that absolute loss of any sense of normalcy around a process that shouldn’t be so intense,” recognizing the increasing vigor and competitive nature of the college process. Through both scandals, wealthy and powerful parents strive to give their own children advantages at the expense of other students.

In March 2021, Netflix released their documentary Operation Varsity Blues, which included a mix of real news footage, recorded conversations, and reenacted meetings and scenes about the college admissions scandal. The documentary follows Rick Singer, played by Matthew Modine, perpetrating his elaborate scheme and contacting his clients. While neither Singer nor any of his clients agreed to be featured, the documentary featured interviews with Singer’s former business partners, romantic interests, and college counselors. 

Tucker Walker (‘22) said, “I think the documentary is especially interesting because it talks about something we all lived through and heard about while it was happening. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to the details, but it was really interesting to learn the details of the scheme, which the director presented in a very interesting way. It is crazy what people will say on the phone when they don’t know someone is listening!”

The Stanford Sailing team practicing. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user BrokenSphere.

The only person involved with the scandal who agreed to appear in the documentary was John Vandemoer, the sailing coach at Stanford University who regularly accepted bribes from Singer to keep his program funded. Vandemoer was described by U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel as “least culpable of all of the defendants” during his hearing, but nonetheless, he was fired, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to a day in prison, two years of supervised release, the first six months of which were under house arrest, and a $10,000 fine.

While I had heard about the scandal when it first broke, watching the documentary exposed me to how severe the scam actually was. As a junior beginning my own college process, it was hard to watch. As colleges become increasingly competitive every year, watching kids who already have more advantages than anyone—just from their last names and their parents’ bank accounts—pay their way into top schools and steal spots from those who are more deserving was heart-wrenching. As I watched the documentary, I felt my eyes fill with tears every time a clip of a disappointed student getting denied was shown.

Even two years later, this story continues to prove itself as the largest college admissions scandal ever. While over 50 parents, coaches, and administrators were charged, not a single student was prosecuted throughout the scandal. Furthermore, even though everyone involved whose sentence has been imposed has seen jail time, Singer has yet to face the consequences of almost a decade of buying spots at elite universities. Singer will not be charged until he has finished cooperating with the FBI, and with no end to this scandal in sight, it is unsure when that day will come. Until then, Singer continues to jaunt around Sacramento, California in luxury cars, swim and exercise at his local country club, and avoid the paparazzi at all costs. I think one college counselor featured in the documentary summed up the entire scandal perfectly: “they had every advantage, and yet they still cheated.”