Satan works fast, but docuseries about current events work faster. Earlier this week, the Netflix documentary/reenactment Operation Varsity Blues came out and it didn’t offer much new information in terms of the scandal, but it highlighted something important: College is a scam.
In case you missed it, before we were in a pandemic, multiple celebrities and rich folk were caught out there getting their privileged children into prestige colleges by cheating the system—getting a grown man to take a test for them, faking pictures of them being athletes, and paying funds to do so. Among those caught up in there were actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. While the idea of rich people scamming their way into schools is a story, I much preferred the other scam the documentary highlights: college itself.
Every teen drama has a season about college, preparing for the SATs, and trying to get into that good ol’ Ivy League school. In real life, I knew Harvard and Yale were not even an option, so I went for that less competitive, but still expensive private in-state liberal arts college. My younger brother, however, was on that path and spent seventh grade onward doing everything he could to get into an Ivy League school. He did end up going to Brown and had great experiences, but I watched him sacrifice his summers, his social life, and many other things to build an impressive resume for the rest of his life.
That is what we ask young teenagers to do.
The top colleges that people are told are the most elite institutions are severely competitive, and part of that is by making it so you have to be painfully exceptional to get in. With a quick Google search, I found that currently, Harvard has 5% acceptance rate, Stanford a 4%, and Princeton University 6%, to name a few. To graduate from one of these schools indicates to the world: You have done it. You are elite.
And there is something to be said about the institutions that are able to constantly have such new facilities and attract the best teachers. I remember being very jealous of the Brown campus when I visited because it looked like the kind of college I’d seen on television.
Dr. Kat Cohen, the founder and CEO of college-counseling firm IvyWise, put it very clearly when speaking to Business Insider: “Simply attending an elite college isn’t enough to guarantee long-term career success; students need to be active on campus, maintain top grades, develop defined interests, and connect with colleagues and alumni in order to get the most out of their educational experience.”
Being part of an Ivy League school is like a huge network of people you can work with potentially. That is a boon in certain careers, but not every career path is benefited by that degree, especially in a competitive market. According to Business Insider,
While Ivy League graduates’ starting salaries can be high, there are dozens of other schools with equal or higher starting salaries — according to PayScale, an Ivy League doesn’t even crack the top five highest-paying bachelor’s degrees, Cohen said.
The best pure educational experience I got was at Brooklyn College for my graduate degree. I was finally learning what I’d wanted and able to focus just on English and literature. I was in small classrooms were we debated and discussed things vigorously, and the demographics were more inclusive. Plus, because I went to a state college, I had no debt from graduate school, while I still have my undergraduate debt.
If there is anything to learn from Operation Varsity Blues, it is that we need to take another look at the way we pressure young people to receive an education that is only valuable if they are a Harvard grad. When I was working retail, I was working with people who’d gone to NYU and other excellent schools—but in a terrible job market, that degree can only get you so far while the debt is shackled to you.
Not to mention we know standardized tests are biased anyway, and getting good test prep is expensive, so maybe we need to do away with that whole barometer. It clearly can be cheated if you have enough money.
(image: Netflix)
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