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It is harder than ever to enter a prominent college. That was the message this week as several of the country's most selective universities announced they had a record number of candidates – and a low admission rate.
But the news was also worrying for many parents and students as a result of extensive Fraud scandal, in which federal investigators have charged dozens of parents this month as part of a ploy to buy their kids' way to college.
In some ways, ruthless admission rates – and the accompanying image of exclusivity – show that these parents, many of whom appeared in federal court in Boston on Friday, allegedly bribed coaches and sports directors for their system. restrictive.
"There is a vicious circle that feeds admission anxiety and breeds desperation," said Sally Rubenstone, principal contributor to College Confidential, an online admission forum. "Each year, as acceptance rates for elite colleges decline, students enroll in longer and longer college lists to maximize their chances of getting to the top." some good news."
[[[[Catch the last in the college admissions scandal.]
Several elite colleges named in court documents in the cheating scandal set admission records this week. The admission rate at Yale rose from 6.31% last year to 5.91%, or 2,178 students in a record 36,843 people. The rate was 11% at the University of Southern California, the lowest ever recorded, out of 66,000 rookie candidacies.
Colleges have a clear incentive to change their admission rates, which are included in annual grading surveys, and help the desired status of burnish schools. At the same time, decreasing rates create more concern for students and parents when they weigh their options for higher education.
Some schools have acknowledged that the publication of the number of admissions helped fuel the madness of university admissions and attempted to withdraw.
Last year, Stanford University, which is also mentioned in the court documents of the scandal, announced that it would no longer disclose data on admissions to the public, but only to the federal government. Last year, its acceptance rate was 4.3% for the 2022 class, a level lower than Harvard and Yale.
The rate at Harvard fell to 4.5% this year, down slightly from 4.6% last year. It has also increased its share of US-Asian admissions, from 22.7% to 25.4%, while it is waiting for a decision in a lawsuit to discriminate against it. against American candidates of Asian origin.
Some parents said that the record numbers reflected neither the number of student applicants, but the same students applying to a larger number of colleges. Pamela McCready-Huemer said that her son and other people who were considering facing popular majors like computer and engineering had to protect themselves.
"My son asked 20 schools, not to brag, but because it's so unpredictable, nobody knows what will happen," she said.
The admission results were even darker for parents who arrived Friday in a federal hearing room in Boston.
A lawyer for William McGlashan Jr., who appeared in court and is accused of arranging false test and conspiracy results to bribe a college official to bring his son into the United States , told the court this week that his son had withdrawn his claims.
All the parents were caught in recorded telephone conversations with the college consultant who, according to the prosecutors, was at the center of the plot, William Singer, became a government co-operator.
Some of the parents intend to fight the charges and have indicated in recent days that they would declare that they were not involved in Mr. Singer's schemes and that he was also deceiving them.
A lawyer of Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, accused of conspiring to bribe an official to bring his daughter into the United States. As a basketball rookie, said Friday that Mr. Abdelaziz thought to make a legitimate donation to the university.
The lawyers for Amy and Gregory Colburn, a couple accused of paying Mr. Singer for helping their son cheat on the SAT, said this week that their clients knew nothing about the cheat schemes.
"Their son has passed the test," said lawyer David Schumacher. "They did not know that anyone was doing anything with this test, except that their son was going through it."
As to why they donated $ 25,000 to Mr. Singer's foundation – which, according to the prosecutors, was a payment for the fraud scheme – another lawyer for the couple said he considered it to be a legitimate charity.
Neale Gay, a guidance counselor in Massachusetts, said students were beginning to look forward to attending university earlier and earlier.
"The time when the student takes the SAT is over," said Gay. "Their prestige, the recognition of their name, has created an incredibly competitive atmosphere for young people and their growing anxiety is really embarrassing."
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