Re: College Admissions Scandal

I feel much more comfortable voicing my opinions here on my own blog than I do on Facebook- go figure!

I've been half-following the college admissions scandal going on lately, called Operation Varsity Blues, and I have had thoughts. Part of me is simply shocked that people are trying to cheat their way into schools. Is UCLA, USC, or any other school mentioned in the scandal really worth all this? Is it so hard to get into college in California? As a non-native, I truly don't know. I do seem to recall though that parents out here seem to worry very much about what schools their kids go to here for high school or middle school, but it seems even as early as elementary school and PRE-SCHOOL! (Anyone who actually knows about this stuff, please enlighten me?)

I recall we had one student who cheated their way into CalArts Character Animation my year, and as much as I STILL believe it was the most atrocious decision on their part, I could understand in a small way. The acceptance rate at CalArts for the CharAnim program was lower than Harvard AND Yale! (And that was before applications were made available online- the percentage must be minuscule at this point. I honestly do not believe that if I applied today that I would be accepted.) I believe that I recall my animation teacher telling us on our first class on the first day of school to look at our chairs. For every one of us sitting in those chairs, there were NINE students who would've killed us for that spot. That made me feel both amazingly good and incredibly humble. I remember that I wanted to be WORTHY of that chair!

My main thought though through this whole scandal is: I feel unbelievably honored to have been accepted nine years ago. My parents had no money. We still don't. By that logic- I got accepted by my talent. I had no name to attach to my application. I had no recommendation. I applied- got rejected. Applied again- got accepted. I sometimes think about how quickly I got my acceptance letter. I was one of the first on the AnimatedBuzz.com forums to get a letter, the same way I had been one of the first to get a rejection letter the year before. My head says that the first portfolio I sent in was so bad that they didn't have to debate it. I was an "easy decision". That thought hurt. But- to be one of the first to get an acceptance letter... THAT made me think that perhaps I was good enough that they had no doubts about me. That felt pretty darn good.

Perhaps I am over-thinking it, as I often do. That's just who I am. But even with that very nice feeling, I never let that get to me. I fought every day at CalArts to be worthy. I discovered once I got there that any ideas I may have had of being "so good" that they accepted me immediately were completely unfounded. The talent pool at CalArts was devastating! I can still name classmates who routinely kicked my tail in every assignment. I wanted their camaraderie and the competition. THEY INSPIRED ME TO BE BETTER!

I feel for these kids wrapped up in this scandal. The news reported that many of them had NO IDEA that their parents had done this to them. Try to imagine being at this university: enrolled in classes, making friends, and suddenly- NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU ARE WORKING- your very presence is questioned. Your achievements, your grades- suddenly none of that matters. Now perhaps these kids are too desensitized to feel these feelings. They've had it good most of- if not ALL of- their lives. Money is barely a consideration to them. I tried to imagine if it were me. If my parents had somehow paid to get me into a school, and my immediate solution was to drop out of school. Regardless of the fact that I hadn't done anything wrong, I would not be able to bear the looks and judgments of my classmates. I would immediately start looking into applying to the same school again the next term, or applying to another school altogether- and WITHOUT my parents' knowledge. I would never want their help again.

Then I remember that this is me. My history and my life influenced that idea. I would be very curious to know what happens to these students-- what decisions they make in their future.