I cannot stop thinking about this whole admissions scandal thing, where rich, white parents paid huge sums of money to some guy to fake high school athletic experiences for their students and help them cheat on the ACT and the SAT via rules established to assist students with disabilities.
I dreamed of going to a university the moment I learned what a university was. I had no idea how to get into college, however. I had no idea how admissions or finances worked.
I didn’t get into the university I wanted, nor any of the universities that sought me out per my ACT score. I didn’t even know that was a thing – I took the ACT, got my grades, and suddenly got offers to attend various universities. I thought I got to just pick the one I wanted to go to and that was that. To find out that that’s NOT how it works if you have no money… and there was no money… was devasting.
Thanks to a high school counselor who was oh-so-sorry she hadn’t talked to me well before the Spring of my senior year and a colleague of my Mom’s, I got a late admission to a public university in my home state of Kentucky. I went to that school because I could afford it – I worked every summer, sometimes to the point that my mother worried about my health, and my grandparents helped substantially as well.
I was bitter for a while, since my undergrad alma mater rarely elicited a “wow” at the name. It still doesn’t. But over time, I’ve realized that I benefited from college not because of its reputation or a brand name, but because of the experiences I had and the hard work I did. I made the best of it. I also had amazing fellow students who pushed me HARD, and a couple of professors – Mr. Probus and Dr. Quinn – who went all out for me to find quality work and internships experiences that, in turn, lead to amazing professional experiences at very high profile companies and organizations, right alongside many Ivy League grads who have seemed stunned and maybe even a little offended that someone from KENTUCKY was working with them – and, sometimes, was their supervisor for the program or project.
I know that what I’ve accessed and accomplished wasn’t because of the brand name of my alma mater – it was because of educators of the highest quality who thought I was worth investing in, some amazing fellow students (most of whom are still my dearest friends and have accomplished amazing things themselves, professionally or just at being wonderful humans on a day-to-day basis), and my own hard work. And I believe that this can happen at most ANY university in the USA.
Sure, I would have loved more parental support for and during my university time – college just wasn’t something my immediate family valued. But I am SO glad that I didn’t have the kind of parental support that would have made me feel entitled to certain jobs and a certain life just because of a university brand name. Because my experience has been so much richer, so much more satisfying, than what these rich parents were trying to buy for their kids.
I haven’t said the name of my alma mater not because I’m ashamed – I’m not at all. But because that’s not the point. Also, I still consider myself privileged.
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