I’m not sure it comes as a surprise to most people that rich people have an extra leg up (or two) in life.

That said, you might have assumed that any person applying to a university would have to be smart enough to get in.

According to these recent documents, though, that’s not the case if you have enough money to make admissions look the other way.

A 2022 antitrust lawsuit named more than a dozen schools, including heavy hitters like Georgetown, MIT, and Cornell, that ensure the offspring of wealthy donors were admitted even if they wouldn’t have otherwise made the cut.

Many of the schools named in the lawsuit settled out of court for hundreds of millions of dollars, but the others are the target of another more recent filling.

The plaintiffs are all former students at these elite schools who believe their own financial aid was limited in order to favor wealthy applicants.

Georgetown’s school president allegedly had a list of 80 applicants on a list titled “Please Admit,” and contained no details about their academic records. There are several other examples cited of applicants whose wealthy parents seem to be the only consideration for their admission to an incoming class.

Similarly, MIT’s director of admissions stated two children were placed on a “cases of interest” list, regardless of the fact that they “would really not have otherwise admitted” them.

There is also correspondence from a Notre Dame enrollment official that says “sure hope the wealthy next year raise a few more smart kids!”

The schools are defending their actions, stating that the cases in the suit present a “limited and inaccurate view” of their admissions process, but that’s not stopping the antitrust suit from moving forward.

Again, I doubt many folks would be shocked to find out this is happening regularly, but it can still be jarring to see it written in black and white.

Hopefully this suit lets the universities, as well as the wealthy, know they are on notice.

Just because something has always been deemed acceptable doesn’t mean it always will be – and it’s past time for practices like these to stop.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about why we should be worried about the leak in the bottom of the ocean.