# Rick famous people bribe and cheat to get their kids into top Universities **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 13, 2019, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048 "2019-03-13T05:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/21 "2019-03-13T16:32:25Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You just hate him because he’s Famous. No, I also hate him because he thinks everyone knows he’s famous. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/22 "2019-03-13T16:45:46Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I’m a UCLA alumna, and I don’t know if I could get in today. I read recently how many applied over the last few years, but I can’t remember the exact number. I just know I was shocked at how high it was. I took classes there during my senior year in high school, so I was considered a continuing student and didn’t need to apply again. I was automatically “accepted.” I never went through the application process. I’m kinda grateful now. > > Edited to add: 113K applications for the 2018 entering class!!! As an alumna, wouldn’t you be eligible for a legacy admit? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/23 "2019-03-13T17:39:56Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > As an alumna, wouldn’t you be eligible for a legacy admit? 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/24 "2019-03-13T17:57:24Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > This gives a whole new meaning to Rick-rolling. “Never gonna give you up” sounds dubious when he’s wearing a wire. ---
**Author:** ![HaroldDix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HaroldDix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HaroldDix)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/25 "2019-03-13T23:21:19Z")
That’s the shitty part of the whole story. Those kids have advantages 99% of the general public never get. Top flight schools, tutoring, stable home life, probably wanting for nothing, and still there parents had to cheat to get them ahead. Scam the system because rules are for the “little people”. I think it’s time we all realize the American Dream is dead and buried. If you aren’t the top of the heap our system doesn’t care if you die in a gutter with potential of a Hawking of Einstein. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/26 "2019-03-13T23:28:26Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > This gives a whole new meaning to Rick-rolling. I came here to say the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/27 "2019-03-14T00:33:17Z")
> [@HaroldDix](#): > > That’s the shitty part of the whole story. Those kids have advantages 99% of the general public never get. And meanwhile, poor and homeless people are being indicted and sentenced for lying about their addresses, so as to get their kids into better public schools. I quoted from some stories about these cases in the other thread: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21536329#post21536329](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21536329#post21536329) Some of these stories are going to be highlighted as we wait to find out what happens to Laughlin, Huffman, and the other Rick Famous people. Charges of “first-degree larceny”, “fraud,” and demands to pay tens of thousands of dollars to compensate the school districts for having had to educate a homeless kid, are some of the notable features of the cases. One that’s being misreported, though, is the “five years in prison for Tanya McDowell” story—the Connecticut woman did register her son for kindergarten in an affluent school district, and _was_ arrested for it. But the five-year sentence, apparently, was actually for unrelated charges (drugs, etc.). [Was a Woman Sentenced to Five Years for Sending Her Son to a Better School? | Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tanya-mcdowell-sentencing/) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/28 "2019-03-14T00:49:39Z")
Is it true that the Rick Famous People trace their origins to the Kombucha Mushroom People? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/29 "2019-03-14T02:00:47Z")
I think they’re descendants from the famed Famous family. You know the one. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/30 "2019-03-14T03:13:31Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Edited to add: 113K applications for the 2018 entering class!!! This is a total circle jerk. California cut funding to all the state schools including the UC system (btw, I’m a UCD grad). Not being idiots, the California state schools started admitting more out of state and foreign students that paid through the nose for the pleasure, thus reducing the number of slots that in-state students could get. Then the in-state students that couldn’t get into the California State school systems went private or out of state. Other states did the same. It’s a tragedy and practically criminal that this zero sum game is playing out. State schools all need out of state/foreign tuition, in-State students have less opportunity and go out of state, and those that can’t afford to go out of state get pushed out. Nasty negative feedback loop. And then these wealthy assholes, whose kids are already have every economic advantage and probably are financially set for life, bribe/cheat/steal their way into university. Fuck the parents at least as the kids may actually be unknowing innocents. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/31 "2019-03-14T05:48:57Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > I think they’re descendants from the famed Famous family. You know the one. I have bought their shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/32 "2019-03-14T13:14:21Z")
Hate to admit it, but this story kinda makes me feel better about myself. I got into one of those schools honestly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/33 "2019-03-14T13:21:51Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Not being idiots, the California state schools started admitting more out of state and foreign students that paid through the nose for the pleasure, thus reducing the number of slots that in-state students could get. Then the in-state students that couldn’t get into the California State school systems went private or out of state. Other states did the same. It’s a tragedy and practically criminal that this zero sum game is playing out. The percentage decreased (82% down from 94%, 1999-2018), not the number. Which is certainly not zero sum, what with the total number of undergrad UC seats filled by in-state butts having increased 42% when the state population only increased 18%. Unless CSU and CCCS haven’t been keeping up, that doesn’t look problematic. The large number of applicants is consistent with today’s low barrier to applying to one more school and the trend of applying to more schools. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/34 "2019-03-14T13:23:32Z")
Having taught Yale undergrads, I wonder if some of my bewilderingly incompetent former students used this route. Do we know when the scam started? They may have just been legacy admits. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/35 "2019-03-14T14:55:14Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Having taught Yale undergrads, I wonder if some of my bewilderingly incompetent former students used this route. Do we know when the scam started? They may have just been legacy admits. My dear old professor! How wonderful to lay eyes on you again! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/36 "2019-03-14T15:56:58Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m not sure that these parents had “donate a building” money. Certainly the money involved in this scheme was a couple orders of magnitude less. Yeah, definitely not building-donation money. It cost $75K to get in on this scheme; we’re talking about several million if you want a library named for you. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/37 "2019-03-14T15:58:45Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Having taught Yale undergrads, I wonder if some of my bewilderingly incompetent former students used this route. Do we know when the scam started? They may have just been legacy admits. Although they don’t have a paper trail going back that far, the ringleader is on tape saying he’s been doing it for 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/38 "2019-03-14T23:10:24Z")
Y’all mean to say that… that…_voice quivers_ the American Dream might have been bullshit all along and and and _single, manly tear_ corruption might run rampant in the land of unregulated capitalism and omnipresent slurping of wealthy cocks ?!! SAY IT AIN’T SO ! I mean for fuck’s sake. George W Bush graduated from Harvard, and y’all clutch your pearls at the notion that maybe possibly come to think of it it might could not have possibly been on the uppest of ups ?! **Fuck you !** ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/39 "2019-03-14T23:48:16Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Y’all mean to say that… that…_voice quivers_ the American Dream might have been bullshit all along and and and _single, manly tear_ corruption might run rampant in the land of unregulated capitalism and omnipresent slurping of wealthy cocks ?!! SAY IT AIN’T SO ! > I mean for fuck’s sake. George W Bush graduated from Harvard, and y’all clutch your pearls at the notion that maybe possibly come to think of it it might could not have possibly been on the uppest of ups ?! **Fuck you !** George W. Bush went to Yale, not Harvard, as did his daddy, his granddaddy, and his great-great granddaddy. Legacy admissions may be morally questionable, but they’re powerful, especially when you’re the grandson, as W. was, of a recent U.S. Senator. Maybe a different example would work better. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048/40 "2019-03-15T00:24:40Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > George W. Bush went to Yale, not Harvard, as did his daddy, his granddaddy, and his great-great granddaddy. Legacy admissions may be morally questionable, but they’re powerful, especially when you’re the grandson, as W. was, of a recent U.S. Senator. > > Maybe a different example would work better. George W. Bush got his MBA from Harvard. Maybe the example works with an informed audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rick-famous-people-bribe-and-cheat-to-get-their-kids-into-top-universities/831048.md?page=3)