One could go on about the soulless vanity of wealthy and famous parents defrauding the meritocracy<\/a> of higher education, tossing millions of dollars to a high-class grifter<\/a> so he could orchestrate test cheating and bribe coaches to give a spot on a team to\u00a0their own undeserving and entitled rich kids \u2014\u00a0and deny admission to a non-wealthy student athlete.<\/p>\n Shocking but not surprising? Maybe not even shocking.<\/p>\n This is how things work in swampland America.<\/p>\n And did I suggest that college admissions is what you could call a meritocracy?<\/p>\n As Stanford and Yale and the University of Southern California scramble to distance themselves from these criminal corruptions, perhaps we might all consider all the legal corruptions of the entire college admissions process.<\/p>\n We already know about the influence of endowments.<\/p>\n And, in general, the advantages of the well-connected.<\/p>\n And those who can afford to pay thousands of dollars for private college counselors, and for courses and tutors so\u00a0their kids can\u00a0legitimately improve their SAT or ACT scores.<\/p>\n And the well-documented corruptions<\/a> of Division I football<\/a> and basketball<\/a>.<\/p>\n