Guilty Admissions: The Bribes, Favors, and Phonies Behind the College Cheating Scandal

Journalist LaPorte (The Men Who Would Be Kings) delivers a riveting rundown of Operation Varsity Blues, the 2019 FBI investigation that led to the arrests of Hollywood celebrities Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, among dozens of other wealthy parents, in a scheme to manipulate the admissions process at some of America’s most elite universities. LaPorte details the übercompetitive “social and educational milieu” of affluent L.A. neighborhoods, where parents pay up to $25,000 a year for preschools that feed into prestigious primary and secondary schools and, from there, into top colleges. To improve their children’s chances, parents network, donate money, and hire independent college counselors like Rick Singer, the mastermind of the scheme uncovered by the FBI. A former basketball coach, Singer charged as much as $1.2 million to guarantee admission to Georgetown, Yale, and other name-brand schools. With test proctors, college coaches, and athletic directors on his payroll, Singer falsified exam results and created fake athletic profiles to get his clients accepted as student athletes. LaPorte provides plenty of juicy gossip about the rich and famous, but also probes systemic flaws and “inequities of class” in American higher education. Readers will be captivated by this entertaining look behind the headlines. Agent: Daniel Greenberg, Levine Greenberg Rostan (Feb.)