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“I worry that this story is so egregious and bad that parents won’t see themselves in it.” -Rick Weissbourd on the recent college admissions scandal. Read the full piece by Caitlin Gibson and Ellen McCarthy in The Washington Post.

Jenny Rickard, President and CEO of the Common Application, and Eric Waldo, Executive Director of Reach Higher, write about how to make the college admissions process work for all students. They also mention our recent report: “Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education’s Turning the Tide Campaign is a great example of an effort to help underrepresented and low-income students see themselves in a college environment while encouraging university admissions professionals to consider a broader set of experiences when evaluating applicants. Their report suggests reshaping the college admissions process to promote greater ethical engagement and reduce excessive achievement pressure.”

"This is a real time to be a moral mentor for your kids and model how not to do those things, to send a message to your kids that you can't just do what's convenient or what serves your interest. You've got to think of the collective good and think about fairness." -Rick Weissbourd in U.S. News & World Report.

“This is like an arms race, and people keep ratcheting each other up. It fuels the constant competition that a lot of parents feel in this process, and it lowers the bar for unethical behavior. If you’re a parent who is just helping a kid on an essay too much, which is not a good thing to do, you might feel like, ‘Well, compared to these other parents, what I do is really benign.’” Making Caring Common’s Rick Weissbourd spoke with Caitlin Gibson about parenting and college admissions. Read the full piece in The Washington Post.

Rick Weissbourd spoke with Jennifer Graham about the college admissions scandal and our new report:

“The scandal is mind-bogglingly immoral and dumb from my perspective. And it’s not really the problem. It’s a problem in the sense that it’s an awful thing, but (what the indicted parents did) is not common. What we’re writing about (in the report) is very common forms of behaviors, things that parents do that cross a line.”

Read more in Deseret News.

Jenny Anderson spoke with Making Caring Common’s Rick Weissbourd about the recent college admissions scandal: “‘I fear that parents won’t see themselves in this,’” he says. Of course, the alleged bribery ring was both illegal and ‘mind-bogglingly unethical and dumb.’ But the lack of consciousness about equity? He argues that’s way more common. Helping kids write their college essays, allowing them to fudge their extracurriculars or volunteering, hiring high-priced tutors to help with the applications? ‘It gives their kids unfair advantages.’” Read the full piece in Quartz.

“Is there is a way to get through the college admissions process in a sane and healthy way?

It's possible, says psychologist Richard Weissbourd, a Harvard University Graduate School of Education professor and the faculty director for its Making Caring Common Project. But here's the catch: Parents must be willing to do some work of their own — and he doesn't mean researching colleges for their children or emailing admissions officers on their behalf.

Instead, in Making Caring Common's recently-released ‘Turning the Tide II’ report, Weissbourd and his colleagues recommend prioritizing concern for others instead of amassing personal accolades for the purpose of gaining entrance to an elite university.”

Read the full piece in TODAY.

Rick Weissbourd joined the discussion of college admissions and ethical engagement on WSHU.