I go to the University of Southern California and I am proud of my school, I am proud of the Trojan family, and I am proud of myself for attending this amazing university. I would be lying, however, if I said that I wasn't disappointed, yet not surprised, about the latest scandal regarding USC, UCLA, Stanford, Yale, and many other top schools. For those of you who do not know, approximately 50 people were indicted in a conspiracy to send students to elite schools through cheating, bribing, and coercing their way through the college admissions process. Among these 50 were high profile celebrities like Lori Loughlin, actress in Full House and its' reboot, Fuller House, her husband Mossimo Giannulli, designer for Target, and actress Felicity Huffman from Desperate Housewives. More information about those indicted can be found here.

In Loughlin and Giannulli's case, they had their daughters Olivia Jade and Bella, social media influencers, pose as recruits for the University of Southern California's rowing team so that they would be subject to different admission standards as athletic prospects. They also paid $500,000 to their contact within USC to achieve this special treatment. These shocking circumstances rattled the student body at this great university, and it has been the talk of the campus since news broke last week. Personally, I wasn't surprised by the news. USC has become synonymously known as the "University of Spoiled Children," due to its high tuition, and "University of Scandals and Coverups," for its history of being in hot water. I would have to say that I was disappointed more so in the people involved in the scandal than the university itself.

Those involved clearly have the financial means to do and pay whatever it takes to get their child into an elite university, however, instead of choosing the legal way of hiring tutors and seeking extra help outside the classroom, they chose to take the easy way out. I come from a small town in Wyoming, from a divorced, blue-collar family who didn't have the money to pay for tutors or anything outside my already free public education. However, I used every opportunity I could to give myself a competitive edge in the college admissions process. I had an extracurriculars list through the door, my grades were high, and my test scores were above average. This isn't me gloating, rather, I'm trying to prove that even without the financial means to take an advantage over other students in high school, I was still able to get into an elite university. My hard work and my passion for education paid off, rather than me paying someone off.

To be quite frank, I'm angry at the people involved in the college admission scandal. If any of you are reading this, shame on you. Not only have you exploited your wealth and power, you've concurrently marginalized those of us without the resources to do what you have done. There are probably thousands of students just like me who applied to USC with similar resumes, scores, and qualifications to attend this elite university, yet they didn't get in. Yet you, someone who may or may not have been qualified to be here, couldn't leave it to the same chance the rest of us had to face. You bribed and extorted your way into this school and tarnished the Trojan name.

How does it look to attend a university that has a scandal like this? I've heard many things from different people. Perhaps the most obvious conclusion is that it will lessen the legitimacy of my degree from USC. The academic stature of this college could be tarnished because some rich people couldn't be bothered to act like normal people for once. What a shame that is. The converse of that, however, is that USC is being mentioned in the same breath as other universities like Stanford and Yale, two highly selective, respected colleges in the United States. If people see that students and their parents were willing to go to such lengths to get into USC (a majority of the students caught in this scandal were enrolled at USC), Stanford, and Yale, the academic stature of my college could benefit from being associated with the other two.

I don't know what is going to happen to the University of Southern California moving forward. The University has stated that they're handling this case-by-case for every student found involved in this scandal, but the resonating controversy will haunt the school for years to come no matter how they handle it. I hope the best for the Trojan Family, as well as for Stanford, UCLA, and other universities involved, and I hope that people finally learn that money can't buy everything in this world. I hope at least from all of this my degree in Public Relations will become more valuable as USC seems to be well seasoned in the art of manipulating their failures and still coming out on top.