A Parent-Professor’s Hard Truth About College Admissions
Dear Magicians,
The college decision.
A moment that feels bigger than it is.
Some kids get in. Some don’t. And for a while, it feels like the world is sorting winners from losers. It isn’t. Not at age 18. It couldn’t be so. Fat envelope or thin here’s What Parents Should Do now:
- Give Perspective.
- This is just a step. Not a final verdict on life.
- Success isn’t tied to one school. It never was. - Separate Identity from Achievement.
- Acceptance doesn’t make your kid a genius. A rejection doesn’t make them a failure.
- Show them that their value is bigger than this. - Prepare Them for Reality.
- College won’t hand them confidence. They have to build it.
- Struggles will come. They need to know how to handle them. - Model Resilience.
- Your reaction teaches them how to react.
- If you crumble, they will too. If you stay calm, they’ll learn that setbacks are just that. - Stop Worshiping College as an Idol.
- College is not a trophy for parents. It’s not proof you raised a perfect child.
- The higher the rejection rate, the more we glorify it. Why? What does it actually mean?
Don’t believe college is a false idol? Remember The Varsity Blues Lesson.
Just before the pandemic in 2019, the world watched as wealthy parents — celebrities, CEOs, people with every advantage — were caught bribing their kids into elite colleges. Fake athletic profiles. Rigged SAT scores. Millions spent. The Varsity Blues scandal exposed a vast college admissions fraud orchestrated by Rick Singer, who facilitated illegal admissions for wealthy parents by falsifying SAT scores and fabricating athletic credentials to secure spots at elite universities like USC, Yale, and Stanford. Celebrities Lori Loughlin ($100M net worth, 2 months in prison) and Felicity Huffman ($45M net worth, 11 days in prison), along with CEOs and hedge fund managers, paid up to $6.5M to game the system — proving that for the ultra-wealthy, merit was optional. Singer, who orchestrated the scheme, pled guilty to multiple charges but avoided jail time. At the same time, several parents served brief sentences, exposing the deep corruption of an admissions process many already suspected was rigged.
Olivia Jade, daughter of actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) in 2018. At that time, USC’s acceptance rate was approximately 13%. Olivia, already a popular YouTube influencer, admitted she “didn’t really care about school” and was more interested in brand deals than academics, highlighting the absurdity of parents risking prison for institutions their kids had no genuine desire to attend.
Why risk jail time to boost your kid’s odds from 1/7 to 1/1?
Because college is the ultimate stamp of approval. If your kid gets into Harvard or Stanford, what does that say about you? It says you won parenting.
Except it doesn’t.
Those kids? They weren’t smarter. They weren’t better. Their parents just played a different game.
And for what? What do you actually care about in someone else’s kid?
Not their grades. Not their test scores.
You care how they treat you, how they treat your kids.
But we don’t emphasize that. We emphasize grades.
What do we say when a kid isn’t smart, athletic, or good-looking?
“He’s a good kid.”
It’s a consolation prize. But it should be the most important thing.
My Story: Rejected. Then Accepted.
I wanted Cornell. My dad had taught there. I never wanted to use his name to boost my chances [we don’t have the same last name]. I wanted to get in on my own merit. Guess what? I didn’t get in.
But that didn’t deter me. Four years later, I applied again, this time to be a grad student. Guess what happened this time? Rejected again.
Both times, it felt like a punch to the gut. I thought it meant something about me. Maybe I wasn’t smart enough. Perhaps I didn’t work hard enough.
I was wrong.
I ended up as an undergraduate Case Western Reserve University. A school I hadn’t imagined for myself. I never even saw campus before the first day of orientation. And yet — it was exactly what I needed. Thirty years later, I returned to accept a prestigious award as an ‘outstanding alumni’ of good old Case.
Rejection didn’t matter. What mattered was what I did next.
The truth is, no school can guarantee success. No school can define you.
What you do, the choices you make, the work you put in — that’s what matters.
Never allow the notion of “this (high school or college) is the best time of your life!” to enter their minds. Tell your kids the truth: There will be higher highs. Lower lows. This is just a moment.
Their story is just beginning.
Until next time, have a M.A.G.I.C. Week,
Brian
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