As U.S. college admission 過程 opens, スキャンダル 重さを計るs on low-income students
By Matthew Lavietes
NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Christine Bascombe, a New York City high school student who dreams of …に出席するing Cornell University, says she was 荒廃させるd last spring to hear that dozens of rich parents had committed 詐欺 to get their children into エリート colleges.
The 16-year-old, who will enter her final year at Brooklyn's Williamsburg 借り切る／憲章 High School in the 落ちる, says nearly every waking hour is 献身的な to 収入 a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in the Ivy League school.
"いつかs you can work your hardest and still not get what you want," said Bascombe. "And you feel even more 権力のない when you realize that these people are committing 詐欺 to get into the schools you want to get into."
Bascombe is one of thousands of high school students who last week began submitting 使用／適用s for admission to U.S. universities for the 2020-21 school year, an 年次の 儀式 for 上級のs that begins each August 1.
This year's "ありふれた 使用／適用" cycle is the first since the cheating スキャンダル was exposed in March.
More than 30 豊富な parents, 含むing Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and 目だつ 人物／姿／数字s from the 財政上の 産業, were の中で the nearly 50 people 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d in the スキャンダル. They were （刑事）被告 of 支払う／賃金ing a California 顧問 millions of dollars to help their children get into Yale, the University of Southern California and other 目だつ schools through fraudulent means.
Interviews with more than a dozen low-income students and college 助言者s 示唆する the スキャンダル 高くする，増すd questions about fairness of the admissions 過程, and shook the 信用／信任 of some who hope to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 the long 半端物s of getting into a 最高の，を越す school. The 受託 率s at Harvard or Yale, for example, are around 5% to 6%, and about 14% of those who 適用する to Cornell are 受託するd.
Most of the students interviewed said they were not surprised the admissions system was 攻撃するd in 好意 of the 豊富な. But they wer e 乱暴／暴力を加えるd and felt その上の disadvantaged by 発覚s of how 露骨な／あからさまの the 巧みな操作 was in the 贈収賄 スキャンダル.
Several belong to an eight-year college 濃縮すること program run by the Henry Street 解決／入植地, a New York nonprofit designed to help first-世代 Americans and lower-income students maximize their admissions 可能性のある.
"I feel like not much is going to change," said Khemasia Pierce, a 17-year-old who hopes to …に出席する the University of Rochester. "Anyone can be bought with the 権利 number."
A 最近の Pew 研究 中心 熟考する／考慮する 示すs that 豊富な students still have an 辛勝する／優位 in admissions, even as most 最高の，を越す U.S. universities say they want to 増加する socioeconomic 多様制.
The 百分率 of U.S. undergraduates from poverty backgrounds 増加するd 8 points from 1999 to 2016, the 熟考する／考慮する 設立する. Yet at the most selective universities, the 百分率 of low-income students 増加するd by just 3 points while the 百分率 of admissions of students from the wealthiest 世帯s rose by 4 points.
'WHAT WE ALL EXPECTED'
As of the 2017-2018 school year, there were 4,298 universities in the 部隊d 満たすs, によれば the 国家の 中心 for Education 統計（学）. But as higher education has become more accessible to Americans, admission to the country's 最高の，を越す 50 universities has become much more 競争の激しい.
And some 豊富な parents were willing to 賄賂 their childrens' way in, either by 雇うing stand-ins to take or 訂正する college 入り口 exams or through 支払い（額）s to college sports coaches to 捏造する，製作する 運動競技の 信任状.
Saffronia Traore-Rogers, 17, said she has "been grinding" to make the grade to get into her 最高の，を越す choice of Dartmouth College, another Ivy League school. "This just makes it feel like even if I do this, it won´t work. It keeps me in a constant 宙返り飛行 of 苦悩."
Anthony Abraham Jack, an assistant professor of education at Harvard University, said money and 特権 can still play a 役割 in who gets into the 最高の，を越す schools.
"This cheating スキャンダル showed us what we all 推定する／予想するd, but we were never able to 観察する," said Jack, whose 研究 専攻するs in lower-income and 少数，小数派 undergraduates. Harvard was one of eight colleges 伴う／関わるd in the スキャンダル.
When Pierce learned about the スキャンダル, she said her 成果／努力s to get into a 最高の，を越す school suddenly felt pointless.
"Everyone complains about how '黒人／ボイコット people go to 刑務所，拘置所' and 'they sell 麻薬s,' ... but when we try to better ourselves, you take away 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs and 適切な時期s for us," Pierce said.
Many students make personal sacrifices in the belief that the system will reward hard work over 特権.
During her junior year, Bascombe gave up a beloved theater program in 交流 for a second math course at the advice of her 指導／手引 助言者／カウンセラー.
While it was "heartbreaking" to give up a class that 供給するd an escape, she said, "I had to 焦点（を合わせる） on making my transcript really good."
Several schools 伴う／関わるd in the スキャンダル have 開始する，打ち上げるd 調査s and rolled out 改革（する）s 目的（とする）d at 妨げるing fraudulent admissions, raising the prospect of a more fair 過程 going 今後.
For Bascombe, the スキャンダル was not enough to abandon her Cornell dream.
"I know this happens and I can´t do anything to 支配（する）／統制する it," Bascombe said. "The only thing I can do is 証明する my place and continue to do what I do."
But she has decided to take theater again in her last year of high school. (報告（する）／憶測ing by Matthew Lavietes in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and 法案 Berkrot)
