Rick Singer, the man behind the college admissions scandal, is back at work

The ringleader in the college admissions scandal, a convicted felon who says he has changed his behavior, is trying to get families to hire him again for counseling.

There is a long list of jobs that convicted felons cannot have.

It doesn’t sound like you’re a high-end college admissions consultant.

Proving that point is William “Rick” Singer – the silver-haired leader of the “Operation Varsity Blues” scheme, who pleaded guilty five years ago to charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud and obstruction..

Singer was sentenced to federal prison in January 2023 after cooperating with authorities and helping to expose wealthy parents who had recruited him to exploit the college admissions system to get their children — unfairly and often illegally — into prestigious colleges like the University of Southern California. and Yale.

Nearly two years after his conviction, Singer is out of prison and trying to get back into the college admissions game. This time he has promised to follow the rules (and, more importantly, the law).

In May, social media accounts appeared online for a new college counseling service called ID Future Stars. The website for his company offers “personal coaching, expert guidance and comprehensive support” to guide clients “through every stage of the college admissions process.” There’s even a web page with one mea culpa from Singer himself.

“I am not afraid to tell people who I am and that I made a mistake, take full responsibility and want to share my expertise, passion and desire to help shape the leaders of our next generation by helping everyone attend a university and find a career that is the best.” the right choice for every individual,” says his online testimonial. He also pledges on the web page that he will “continue to leverage our deep relationships with respected decision makers at colleges and universities” while maintaining a “good reputation.”

“The important values I learned during my journey,” he writes, were “to stay away from the gray areas of college admissions and institutional advancement.” He adds: “I will not travel on the rough side of the road, even if the coast appears clear, but will fiercely seek the right guidance and support from expert advisors.”

Singer’s representative and attorneys did not make him available for an interview with USA TODAY, and his representative did not respond to a list of questions he asked. But Singer told the Wall Street Journal: who was the first to report about his return, that he was busy taking on new clients at a halfway house in California, where he was living after serving 16 months in federal prison.

His new venture has caused many in the college admissions world — and some who helped put him behind bars — to roll their eyes. It also underlines the lax supervision of the cottage industry of people in the US who, among wealthy families, label themselves as college admissions savants.

Much has changed in college admissions since Varsity Blues, a multimillion-dollar celebrity-studded scandal, first made headlines in 2019. Yet the same manic concern among some parents about how to get their kids into certain schools remains. , continue. And the number of applications to the richest and most selective universities continues to rise.

“He has, in some ways, found the perfect industry for someone who wants a second chance,” said Jeff Selingo, a bestselling author of books on college admissions and a former editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education. “There are no rules, there are no permits and the fear of parents is greater than ever.”

Singer accuser takes ‘nothing he says seriously’

When Eric Rosen heard that Singer was returning to college admissions, two words came to mind: “Buyer beware.”

Rosen long lived and breathed Varsity Blues as a federal prosecutor in the case. It eventually led to dozens of guilty pleas, including from Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who separately hired Singer to help their children. Rosen, then an assistant U.S. attorney in Massachusetts, estimated he spent hundreds of hours on Singer.

“I know not to take anything he says seriously,” he said.

In March 2019, more than fifty people—including wealthy CEOs and high-profile celebrities—were charged in Varsity Blues, the largest admissions case ever brought by the Department of Justice. Prominent parents and leading athletic coaches were accused of complicity in a nationwide conspiracy, orchestrated by Singer, to cheat on college entrance exams and get colleges to recruit children under the guise of being student-athletes.

Students pretended to have a disability. A studious con man usually made money $10,000 each to take college entrance exams, such as the SAT or ACT for college students, or to correct their answers. Parents paid millions of dollars in bribes.

Beyond the sordid details, the case also struck a chord culturally. It was a story about money, power, access and the unfairness of the American education system.

Working the case was the most stressful time of his life, Rosen said. He now works as a lawyer and supports a series of sentencing reforms. Still, he hopes every parent will be “very, very skeptical” of Singer.

“After what happened, do I think it’s right for him to start a new college admissions company? No,” he said.

How the admissions process has changed since Varsity Blues

A lot has changed in college admissions since Varsity Blues first captured the zeitgeist a year before the onset of COVID-19.

If reliance on standardized testing hadn’t already been weakened by the scandal, the pandemic has pushed universities in that direction. Artificial intelligence has since raised questions about the value of admissions essays. The Supreme Court also banned race-conscious admissions to the types of selective schools involved in the case. And many of those same schools became strongholds of tumult over the past year amid protests over the war between Israel and Hamas.

Five years after the scandal broke, the Justice Department continues to tout Varsity Blues as a major victory that will have a “lasting and far-reaching impact.”

“This case resulted in concrete changes to make the college admissions process more fair,” said Joshua S. Levy, acting U.S. attorney in Massachusetts. in a February statement in honor of the plaintiffs in the case.

If Varsity Blues has accomplished anything, it has affirmed the value of mainstream colleges, says Nick Hillman, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Most students, he said, don’t go to colleges with single-digit acceptance rates accused of taking bribes. Two-thirds of students go to university within 50 miles from home, according to the Institute for College Access & Success.

“In recent years there has been a growing realization that geography really does matter,” Hillman says. “The majority of students don’t go to places like USC or the Ivy League.”

Despite that cultural shift, the competition to get into the most selective colleges has only increased. For that reason, people like Singer may always have a captive market, says Joseph Soares, a sociologist and admissions expert at Wake Forest University, a school involved in the Varsity Blues scandal. (Soares has no connection with the defendants in that case.)

“The people who are obsessed with the most prestigious institutions are still obsessed with them,” he said.

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.