Many wealthy and celebrity parents resorted to bribery and fraud to guarantee their children admission into elite schools such as UCLA and USC. Many student accounts are under review.
Mariecris Parado | Third-year hospitality management student
“It’s sad but not surprising it happened when it’s involving celebrities with endless resources. It’s unfair for a lot of students because celebrities have the upper hand, while other students must take out loans and work multiple jobs. It’s all so sad.”
Jonathan Spease | Third-year chemical engineering student
“It’s unfortunate for the children of the celebrities that are suffering through it, because if they had no hand in getting themselves into the school under false pretenses there wasn’t much that could have been done in their defense. It falls on the parents.”
Evelyn Guerra | Third-year mathematics student
“We have always known the wealthy abuse their power to get ahead, but it’s unfortunate because other parents use every penny they have to their name to help their children succeed. My parents live paycheck to paycheck and they still contribute so much to my education. The bribing parents need to consider how their actions affect the personalities and lives of their children.”
Pablo Loza | Second-year biotechnology student
“It’s OK for the people who actually did it [to] get exposed but there are implications that have come along for the other students and they don’t deserve that. Lots of students have worked long, hard nights to get into USC and to kill the reputation of the school over something like this, it’s sad.”
Cesar Garcia | First-year electrical engineering student
“It should be fair admissions for everyone. Now many students might be in the mindset of thinking, what if my parents got me into the school with a similar situation? [They may be] second guessing, ‘Maybe I wasn’t good enough to do it on my own?’”
Araceli Marohan | Fourth-year accounting student
“Honestly, I’m happy they caught them. Admissions should be done the right way. It’s sad because it was on the parents; it wasn’t the students’ fault and I feel bad for the students who are being impacted while they had no idea it was taking place.”
Photos and quotes compiled by staff writer Jessica Araujo.
