My familiarity with the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal was pretty much limited to what I had seen in People magazine (Aunt Becky and one of the Desperate Housewives on the cover) and during late-night television (think SNL as well as monologues by various hosts). And as a former college instructor and a fan of various college sports, I had a superficial awareness of recruiting. Finally,  as someone who had seen friends agonizing about their childrens’ efforts to get into a “good” school and their hiring of admissions counselors (which I had never heard of when I went to college), I admit I found the whole thing fascinating. Thanks to the incredible amount of research by Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz for their book Unacceptable, we have a definitive account of the whole thing – which I was surprised to learn was WAY bigger than the few famous names in the news.

Rick Singer has become well known as the “bad guy” in the story, portrayed as a sleazy guy who would do pretty much anything to get someone into their chosen college or university for the right price. And actress Lori Loughlin, her husband Mossimo Giannuli, and actress Felicity Huffman have been portrayed as parents who would pay whatever it took to get their kids into a chosen school. But this book documents many more examples of the dozens of people caught up in the federal investigation into the criminal conspiracy designed to influence admissions officers at eleven schools.

Singer definitely is the central figure in the crimes, controlling two firms (Key Worldwide Foundation and The Edge College & Career Network) that were central to the fraud. The whole story started to come out when one of the (non-famous) parents, who happened to be under investigation for an unrelated securities crime, offered to give information about the admissions fraud that he had become aware of when the soccer coach at Yale asked him for $450,000 in exchange for helping get his daughter in to Yale. That coach pled guilty and led the Feds to Singer. As the scandal unfolded, many parents (including Felicity Huffman) pled guilty to mail fraud. Those who didn’t plead guilty (including Lori Laughlin) received additional federal charges of money laundering.

As it turned out, in addition to facilitating outright bribes such as those involving the Yale coach mentioned above, Singer frequently did the following: bribed exam administrators to facilitate cheating on SAT and ACT exams (including both hiring someone to take the exam in the applicants’ places and having someone change the applicants’ answers on the exams to improve scores); worked with coaches and administrators to nominate unqualified athletes as elite recruits for various sports; and used his charitable organization to launder payments. The whole thing was huge and complex, and he will serve decades in prison for his role.

I was glued to the book for days, with a few strong reactions. First, I admit I went into reading this book with the attitude that I sort of agreed with the defense attorneys that “Their clients were just doing what persons of prosperity have forever done to give their kids an edge.” Second, powerful people really do stick together in times of crisis: “One of the people who wrote the judge…was Jared Kushner.” And third, who knew that USC was so hard to get into? Long known by those of us from SoCal as the  “University of Spoiled Children,” many of us thought that pretty much anyone could get in, if they had a famous name or a big enough wallet. But times have really changed. For example, “In 2015, the USC athletics department hit its $300 million fundraising target.” And that is just ONE year, one school.

I felt like I was reading an ENDLESS string of crimes involving various rich people, and about 60% of the way through, I was wondering how much more there could possibly be. But then, at 63%, it was over! The rest of the book is footnotes/citations/documentation (including links to videos, documents, etc.). So anyone wondering how certain stories or events happened can definitely find the answer. It is very well done, and written so it reads like a novel. With thanks to Penguin Group/Portfolio and NetGalley, this one is definitely worth five stars.