We weren't surprised by the scandal. It's the reason whole why we exist.
The College Admissions Scandal. Duh.
OMG! Privileged students were using a side door to get into prestigious (and, frankly, not so “prestigious”) universities? I didn’t see this one coming. Actually, I did.
As a teacher of over twenty-eight years and graduate of a privileged high school (Loyola High School) that was at ground zero of this scandal (YouTuber Oliva Jade was on Loyola and USC Board of Regents head Rick Caruso’s yacht when the scandal broke), I knew about this slippery, secret entrance for decades and have always found it disgusting. In fact, this ugly truth is the impetus for creating Global Prep Academy: we don’t need back doors or side doors. We create students who kick the front door down through their character, activism, initiative, and creativity.
May I offer proof? Global Prepper Andrew Chae created a college application so special (included a rebranding of NASA, his Today I Learned Project, his Autonomous Drones and Their Role in Space Exploration Project, and his Borders Project) that the UPenn’s VIPER program made him one of its 25 acceptances. GPA is proud to have worked with TWO students, Shantanu Jhaveri and Mya Davis, who were accepted to the highly selective and super disruptive Iovine and Young Academy Program at USC. That means two of the 23 acceptances came from one powerful place in Santa Clarita, California. Or how about Joel Yoon who was one of 11 students accepted into USC’s Media Arts + Practice Program. Sydney Young busted through the door of Boston College, Notre Dame, UCLA, UCSD, Fordham, Northeastern (and more to come). There are so many more examples of GPA students doing it the right way that I would get carpal tunnel if I recounted all of their projects and achievements.
So colleges finally got caught. What does that mean for our future applicants? It means that we will keep fighting to create students so special that they simply can’t be ignored by admissions committees. We will do it the ethical way. We build character, and it turns out that colleges finally are coming around to our approach. Just this week, a Harvard University report tells parents and high schools to emphasize ethics and character during college applications. I highly recommend you watch the following video that echoes what we have been promoting all along: https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/harvard-report-helps-parents-emphasize-ethics-character-college-61756680.