When a sly conspiracist unites with rich American parents desperate to get their children into top-tier colleges, the result is the largest college admissions scandal ever investigated by the Department of Justice. In the infamous 2019 scheme, parents paid William “Rick” Singer huge sums of money to bribe college administrators and athletic coaches to get their children guaranteed acceptance. Netflix’s documentary Operation Varsity Blues: the College Admissions Scandal highlights the shocking details of the conspiracy. Directed by Chris Smith, it has exposed just how twisted the admissions process has become.
According to Singer, portrayed by Matthew Modine, there are three different ways to get accepted into college: the front door, in which a student traditionally gets in on their own merit, the back door, in which the student’s family makes a huge donation, and Singer’s side door. A prime example of the back door is Jared Kushner, whose father made a $2.5 million donation to Harvard, and got accepted despite being an average student. However, the back door holds no absolute guarantee, leading many parents to turn to Singer’s 761 side doors to an assortment of prestigious colleges including the University of Southern California (USC), Yale, and Stanford. In the special arrangement, Singer promised he could facilitate admissions in a “done deal,” and parents made donations to Singer’s organization, the Key, to conceal the fact the payments were bribes. As stated in the documentary, between 2011 and 2018, parents paid Singer about $25 million to bribe administrators and coaches.
Singer had two main schemes, revolving around both sports and standardized test scores. For the children of business tycoons such as Bill McGlashan, Agustin Huneeus, and Michelle Janavs, Singer created fake sports profiles. He essentially lied to universities and claimed they were recruited athletes, posing them as fake water polo, tennis, and volleyball players. It was common for Singer to even photoshop the students’ faces onto pictures of athletes to further the illusion. The system continued smoothly with the help of university coaches and sports administrators. USC sports liaison Donna Heinel, who received $20,000 a month from Singer, smoothed over any red flags in the admissions process, and Yale soccer coach Rudy Meredith also worked closely with Singer while receiving more than $860,000 in bribes.
The second main scheme relied on Mark Riddell, a mastermind test taker, who was paid $10,000 per standardized test to fly out, proctor, and basically take the SAT/ACT for students. Singer would tell parents to get their children tested for learning accommodations, and inform them their children should “be stupid” while getting examined. Gordon Caplan, a partner at a large law firm, flew his unknowing child out to LA to take the ACT with Riddell as the proctor. As part of the testing accommodations, his daughter wrote her answers on a separate sheet of paper. After leaving, Riddell took the test for her, and was smart enough to get any desired score.
Ultimately, the main theme of the documentary is corruption—of both the college admissions process and America’s wealthy. Smith excels in portraying just how exponentially stressful and dishonorable the process has become. The documentary features students across the US discussing their experiences with applying to college, feeling extremely anxious, and getting rejected. In one instance, a student expresses, “I took AP Bio. I’m taking AP Environmental Science this year. I… I’m not interested in it at all. Just to have this extra leverage that doesn’t even help.” Barbara Kalmus, an education consultant, adds on, “This is what’s going on in high schools across the country. How many advanced classes can you take?” Another student elaborates on the feelings of failure and inadequacy brought on by the modern admissions process, admitting, “If you’re a freshman, I’m really sorry, because you are gonna be thrown into a world where they’re gonna be like, ‘college, college, college. Go to college. You have to get the best grades. If you’re not, you’re gonna feel like a failure. You’re the worst.’” The overwhelming burden of college anxiety and cramming advanced courses into schedules, often destroying mental health, is emphasized throughout the documentary in a manner to which many students can relate.
The corruption of the wealthy is another concept Smith doesn’t shy away from, bringing in education consultants and former admissions officers to share their perspectives. Akil Bello, a test preparation expert, speculates, “At what dollar value will you be willing to compromise your ethics? That’s the ultimate question. For me, it keeps coming back to, it’s the wealthy who have the ability, and in this case, the means and the willingness, to take advantage of these things.” On the same note, Jon Reider, a former Stanford admissions officer, elaborates, “Over the last three or four decades, higher education has become increasingly a commodity, something that you purchase. A product. It’s a goal in and of itself, rather than the goal being to get an education.” The documentary goes to great lengths to emphasize how attending elite institutions has become a pivotal status point in which the wealthy have the advantage, becoming more important than actual education or attending whichever school fits the student best.
Perhaps the most shocking and angering aspect of the documentary was the relaxed, candid manner of Singer and the parents involved in the conspiracy. The real phone calls and conversations featured in the documentary expose how laid back the schemers were, evoking a certain anger within the audience, the director’s call to action to reform the system. The last minutes of the documentary are quiet yet forceful, showing footage of parents and administrators being arrested and charged, and ends with noting how colleges continue to remain corrupt with a last quote: “Rick Singer pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing. Rick’s ‘side door’ into colleges is now closed. The ‘back door’ remains open at many colleges, for those willing to pay.”