Why You Don’t Want to Cheat to Get Into College

As this huge scandal breaks in the news about wealthy people involved in cheating scandals to get their children into the best schools, it occurs to me that there is an overarching discussion here that is being overlooked: you don’t want to cheat to get into college because if you don’t meet the entrance requirements, it is highly unlikely that you will be successful at that school.

If you are a mediocre student, no matter how wealthy your parents are, you will want to go to a school where you and your peers are on somewhat equal footing. Remember that professors have to teach to their audience: if the audience consists of members of MENSA and one mediocre student, that one mediocre student is going to get left behind and will likely not be successful at that school. If a professor’s audience is made up of decent students and a handful of mediocre students, the mediocre student is much more likely to be successful at that school.

I’m not completely blind to the social pressure put upon wealthy families for their children to be extremely successful in everything they do, but I can’t help but come back to the facts: helping your children to be successful includes putting them in the right school with the right learning environment to be successful. You can’t make an artist into an engineer and you can’t make an architect into a romance writer (unless they already have those proclivities). Trying to force students/children to be something they are not is a recipe for disaster including low self-esteem, low confidence, and poor self-image.

I would urge all parents to do their best to examine their children’s abilities and strengths and help their children to find the best career and college match based on those strengths and abilities. Just like you, your children can only be who they are. Helping your children to be their best humans as opposed to forcing them into a mold of who you want them to be will strengthen your relationship with your children and allow them to grow into the best humans they can be. I wish each parent and student the best in the journey of finding the best school and the best career path to create the most successful future for the student.