"Operation Varsity Blues" from Netflix--AcademicInfluence.com Examines the Truth Behind the College Admissions Scandal
FORT WORTH, Texas, March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "Is there any risk that this thing blows up in my face?"
Or so one parent asks in Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, the new Netflix documentary debuting March 17. In this ripped-from-the-headlines exposé, celebrity parents attempt to game the college admissions process but instead get stung by the FBI, land in jail, and enrage nonceleb parents everywhere for their hubris.
But shouldn't parents want the best education for their children? What are the deeper realities behind college admissions? Are there secret strategies, only available to the wealthy, for circumventing its exclusionary, quasi-mystical process? And how can legitimate, fully certified college counselors help students navigate the difficult university admissions process the proper way?
Inflection, the opinion, editorial, and news analysis journal of AcademicInfluence.com unpacks the biggest admissions cheating scandal in history and examines the depth of the college entrance problem:
College Admissions Scandal Gets the Hollywood Treatment
"Netflix has done a service to prospective students and their parents by documenting what NOT to do to get into college," says Dave Tomar, author of the article, and the new managing editor of Inflection. "But getting into college isn't about skirting the law. It's why we want to look at the crime but also provide answers for how students can improve their admissions chances the right way."
Tomar knows of what he writes. Author of The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat (Bloomsbury, 2012), he worked for a decade as an academic ghostwriter before bringing widespread attention to the thriving cheating industry that undermines higher education. As is clear, it's a problem that persists. Under the pseudonym "Ed Dante," Tomar's original "The Shadow Scholar" for The Chronicle of Higher Education remains among the journal's most read articles.
In his article on the college admissions scandal for Inflection, Tomar shines further light on the dark side of the story, exploring:
- how college counseling can lead down a slippery slope,
- how the affluent use money to improve college admissions chances, and
- which techniques unscrupulous advisers use to cheat the system.
He also highlights the positive aspects of honest, fully certified college counseling, including:
- legitimate admissions strategies that can improve acceptance,
- qualities to look for in a trustworthy college counselor, and
- the best college counseling services in the business.
"Competition is fierce for limited space at the top colleges. The Varsity Blues scandal showed us that some parents will do just about anything to win that competition. It also showed us that the college admissions process favors the wealthy. But if there is a positive takeaway here, it's that the flaws were laid bare by this scandal. Let's hope illumination brings change."
AcademicInfluence.com is the preeminent technology-driven rankings site dedicated to students, researchers, and inquirers from high school through college and beyond, offering resources that connect learners to leaders. AcademicInfluence.com is a part of the EducationAccess group, a family of sites dedicated to lifelong learning and personal growth, including Influence Networks, InfluencePublishers.com (nonfiction publishing and publishers of Bright Notes), IntelligentEducation.com (instructional video library), AlexandriaLibrary.com (free, online library and reader), and soon, Success Portraits (personalized strengths inventory for college and career).
Contact:
Jed Macosko, Ph.D.
Academic Director
AcademicInfluence.com
[email protected]
(682) 302-4945
SOURCE AcademicInfluence.com
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