Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal

I\’ve followed the Operation Varsity Blues story since the beginning and work in the admissions world. Unacceptable was a fresh, deeper dive behind the headlines and details of the scandal that the authors (and many others) have reported on over the past year. The authors were able to tell the individual human stories and help connect the dots of the scandal but also to hint at the motivation of some of the key players. This was a quick read and I was hooked after reading the preface, I couldn\’t put it down. This is a great read for anyone, but especially for those who followed the various storylines as Operation Varsity Blues unfolded. Unacceptable provides a new layer of reporting and details that were previously unavailable. Kudos to the authors, Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz!

I recall when the 2019 college admissions scandal broke. It was a fascinating story and when the Wall Street Journal ran an excerpt from an upcoming book from two of its reporters, I decided to order a copy. Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz have written a well-paced book about wealthy parents desperate to get their children into status universities and of Rick Singer, the man who claimed he could deliver (for a very hefty financial consideration). Korn and Levitz note \”The irony is that Singer provided legitimate services and apparently did it quite well.\” Had he stuck to legitimate means, he would have been a great success. Instead, he developed schemes that involved cheating on admissions tests, of faking athletic accomplishments and getting administrators, coaches and parents to go along with all this. Then, one participant found himself facing unrelated legal charges and started telling federal investigators about fraud in the college admissions process, which sent everything crashing down. Unacceptable is a fine fable about temptation, status seeking and misguided efforts to help one\’s children.

I followed the varsity blues case very carefully from the beginning. So I found the only newto me info in the book was the backstory of Singer. I personally was more interested in the backstories and motivation of the people who did the bribing. So, for me, just ok. Maybe should have waited til everyone did jail time and we could see after effects. But I guess thats a different book

The word \’entitled\’ is widely used as a pejorative. Never does it seem more appropriate than in this scandal, known as \’Varsity Blues\’. The authors give a detailed – occasionally too detailed: clothes worn, property values etc – account of many of the culprits involved. It shies away from what was known by the children who were helped by the scheme and also from how the universities treated those who had been admitted corruptly. It also shies away from the actions being taken by those seeking compensation for having been denied admittance in favour of those whose parents paid for privileged access. It is thoroughly readable and at its best in discussing the sentencing. Definitely worth reading,

And also a sad commentary on parenting and college admissions today. As I read, I marked a lot of pages noting bad parenting behavior and also poignant quotes that the authors shared. The book is very well researched and laid out – it read more like a novel than a full non-fiction account since so much of what was shared seemed so unbelievable! \”Unacceptable\” is equivalent to the book \”Bad Blood\” — just this book is set in the college admissions world and not the Silicon Valley world (although the two do overlap since many of the convicted parents hail from the Bay Area). We get to know more about Operation Varsity Blues than just the articles we have read and the documents that have been released: we get to know the people as humans behind this crazy scandal. Most clearly what came to the forefront once again is that we have a broken system of parenting, college admissions, and an all-too-competitive landscape where parents parade their kids college acceptances as prizes to be won. Korn and Levitz uncover the psychology, choices, players, and systems that allowed this type of behavior to go unchecked for so long. I hope that this book leads our country to additional college admissions reform as well as better parenting behavior. These poor teens today. Don\’t they already have enough pressures on them without their parents hovering and micromanaging and going to such insane lengths to break the law to try to get them into selective colleges? Aren\’t these hard working and privileged kids in the eyes of their parents (and as so many of them asked this question) \”good enough?\” Enough is enough. Parents need to learn to behave better and the college admissions system needs to re-examine itself, make legitimate changes, and become more equitable.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member