Oh, the Bribery!

"average user" (avgusr)
03/12/2019 at 17:16 • Filed to: None

Turns out my alma mater, BU was one of the schools targeted by the Celebrity-and-CEO college bribery scheme. Not sure if anyone from the athletic department was involved.

I am not sure whether to be embarrassed by the face that BU got involved in this sordid crap or BU is worth committing bribery for. LOL

DISCUSSION (11)

ttyymmnn > average user
03/12/2019 at 17:47

The tennis coach at UT-Austin, one my old schools, is in for $100k. I wonder how many deserving kids got pushed out by these rich fuckers.

average user > ttyymmnn
03/12/2019 at 17:51

I don’t know if the UT system has a hard limit for new students, but i know that most universities would just cram these kids in. If they are paying full out of state tuition and didn’t accept any athletic scholarship money, then most likely “deserving students” did not get shut out.

You have to remember this scheme involved probably only a couple of dozens kids at most every year, and while competition is fierce it is also not an absolute zero sum game especially if the student in question is out of state and pay their way. (no way these guys qualify for hardship aid and the kids are apparently not academically good enough to take scholarships).

fintail > average user
03/12/2019 at 17:54

At least with the big sports, it’s really hard to fake credentials so those who would have little to no chance of getting in via academic merit can get the free ride.

TheRealBicycleBuck > average user
03/12/2019 at 19:16

My daughter is preparing for college , so we’ve been looking into the college admissions process. Most of the Ivy League colleges have admission rates below 10%, so it doesn’t surprise me that rich people were doing their best to game the system.

OPPOsaurus WRX > average user
03/12/2019 at 20:19

Th ats what you get for going to BU. NE U all the way

facw > average user
03/12/2019 at 21:37

Seriously, if you are going to bribe your way in somewhere, why would you do BU. I mean, it’s a perfectly respectable school (aside from the bribery thing I guess), but if you are going to pay your way in, why wouldn’t you shoot for the top? In Boston you should be bribing Harvard or MIT, and if they are too ethical/expensive to cheat your way into, maybe look at Tufts. I guess BU is the best choice if you really want to see a bunch of Red Sox games?

DarkCreamyBeer > average user
03/13/2019 at 06:48

Hi, BU Class of 98 here. As long as we were implicated but Northeastern wasn’t, I’m ok with it.

Edit:

“ BU, BC, and Northeastern are not targets of the investigation, nor are any coaches who work for the schools. The colleges each say they do not have reason to believe any students were admitted improperly.”

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/education/2019/03/12/bu-bc-northeastern-fraud-sat-scores/

DipodomysDeserti > facw
03/13/2019 at 07:32

The Full House lady was bribing her kids into USC (?). I think these people’s kids are just really dumb. I mean, they have access to any number of tutors and probably went to very good prep schools, but they can’t get into college on their own. There’s a lot of dummies who manage to get into college on their own merit.

average user > facw
03/13/2019 at 09:03

We are not a bad college actually, just not as good as across the river. Some departments and schools are really good like communications, international relations, and the new engineering departments.

average user > OPPOsaurus WRX
03/13/2019 at 09:04

Eew Northeastern.

facw > average user
03/13/2019 at 09:11

Not trying to say BU is bad, just yeah, if you are bribing your way in somewhere, wouldn’t you bribe yourself into a top school? For reference USN rankings for some prominent Boston area schools:

Harvard: 2

MIT: 3

Tufts: 27

Brandeis: 35

BC: 38

BU: 42

Northeastern: 44

(obviously individual departments may be stronger or weaker than the school as a whole).