Author(s)

Zixi Zou

Corresponding Author

Zixi Zou

Abstract

Between the rich and the poor a huge gap is always prevalent in terms of social status, opportunities, and educational resources. There is no doubt that children with different family backgrounds considerably vary in how much educational resources they could receive. Elite schools in the United States provide different admission systems for the poor and the rich. The former can only choose the “front door”, i.e. regular admission, while the latter can secure admissions through the “back door”. This is by virtue of large donations or the identification as being the children of alumni, which is separately called development cases and legacy preference. This paper focuses on the 2019 College Admissions Bribery Scandal and extends a discussion on the negative relationship between donations and college admissions which, at the same time, arouses people’s reflection of education quality. The tendency of parents donating a large sum of money to gain a place at top universities for their children sparks an unease among children from families of average backgrounds. Based on this phenomenon, this paper wants to attract public attention to this issue, and discusses if it is necessary to ban the donation mechanism.

Keywords

Donations, College Admission, Education Equality, Development Case