--- title: "Documents Show How Top Colleges Secretly Admit Terrible Students, as Long as They’re Wealthy" description: "\"Please Admit\" Top academic institutions are under fire amid an alleged price-fixing scandal where university admissions offices purportedly favored the rich over their poorer and higher-performing peers. First filed in 2022, the antitrust lawsuit initially identified more than a dozen schools like Georgetown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell and alleged they took part in a \"price-fixing cartel\" to secretly ensure that children of wealthy donors were admitted while saving on financial aid for students who needed it. Though most of the 17 schools named in the suit have since settled for hundreds of millions of dollars, as the New […]" date: "2024-12-19" modified: "2024-12-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/lawsuit-admissions-wealthy-students" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "academia" - "college" - "wealth" --- # Documents Show How Top Colleges Secretly Admit Terrible Students, as Long as They’re Wealthy ![Top colleges are under fire for an alleged price-fixing scheme that purportedly favored the rich and dumb over the poor and smart.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* Top academic institutions are under fire amid an alleged scheme in which university admissions offices favored the children of the wealthy over their poorer — but higher-performing — peers. First filed in 2022, the [antitrust lawsuit]() initially identified more than a dozen schools including Georgetown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Cornell, alleging they took part in a "cartel" to secretly ensure that children of wealthy donors were admitted while saving on financial aid for students who needed it. Though most of the 17 schools named in the suit have since settled for hundreds of millions of dollars, as the [*New York Times* reports](), the remaining universities are targeted by a [new filing](). The plaintiffs, all former students at these elite schools, are seeking class status and combined damages of $685 million as they continue to accuse the colleges that haven't settled of colluding to limit financial aid while favoring wealthy applicants. At Georgetown, the filing claims, the school's president allegedly drew up a list of roughly 80 applicants whose parents had donated to the school. Though nothing of their academic record was included on the list, the words "Please Admit" were written atop it. The suit went on to tell the story of an applicant whose parents met with former Georgetown president John DeGoia at a business conference that [*Forbes* has referred to]() as "summer camp for billionaires." Though the applicant was initially deferred, extensive communications between DeGoia and the student's parents resulted in their placement on the so-called "President's List." When asked why the student had been admitted, DeGoia "implausibly claimed," as the lawsuit notes, that "he did so because the student had 'overcome obstacles' — namely, that the parents had been divorced." Things were spelled out even more plainly in a deposition reviewed by the *NYT* regarding two applicants recommended by a rich banker who had ties to a university board member at MIT. In that deposition, the school's director of admissions said that the two children had been placed on a similar "cases of interest" list, and that without that designation, "we would really have not otherwise admitted." "Sure hope the wealthy next year raise a few more smart kids!" an enrollment official at Notre Dame wrote to colleagues, according to the suit. In a statement to the *NYT*, a spokesperson for Georgetown said the suit shows a "limited and inaccurate view" of the school's admissions, while an MIT representative said that "the potential for philanthropic gifts had no bearing on these isolated cases." "In fact," that spokesperson, Kimberly Allen, told the *NYT*, "our records reflect that the children of wealthy individuals routinely receive disappointing news from \[MIT\]." Still, the allegations in this ongoing lawsuit sound a lot like affirmative action for the wealthy — even as the demise of actual affirmative action results in [fewer students of color being admitted]() to these prestigious institutions. **More on wealth inequities:** [*Elon Musk's "Charity" Is Hoarding Money Instead of Giving It to the Needy*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()