From College Matters: Mr. Varsity Blues Claps Back
Solvable
Pushkin Industries
4.4 • 602 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
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Summary
We're sharing a preview of College Matters from The Chronicle, a podcast from The Chronicle of Higher Education. After 16 months in a federal prison camp, William (Rick) Singer has had time to reflect on his role as the architect of a college-admissions bribery scheme that became known as Varsity Blues. The college consultant has apologized for concocting a plot that helped wealthy families, including some Hollywood celebrities, secure admission for their children to prestigious universities. But he isn’t slinking into the shadows. Singer says he’s already back in the consulting business. And he has come out of prison swinging, blasting the FBI, the college-admissions system, and anyone who might question the credentials of the students he represented.
Related Reading:
‘It’s an Aristocracy’: What the Admissions-Bribery Scandal Has Exposed About Class on Campus (The Chronicle)
Higher Ed’s Bribery Scandal Is Decadent and Depraved. Here Are 8 Truly Tasteless Allegations (The Chronicle)
We, the Privileged Parents That Matter, Applaud the Netflix College-Admissions Scandal Doc (The Chronicle)
Admission Through the ‘Side Door’ (The Chronicle)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:06.0 | Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. |
| 0:08.0 | I'm Dr. Elizabeth Pointer, chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at the Atria Health Institute in New York City. |
| 0:14.0 | I'll be talking to top researchers and clinicians and bringing vital information about midlife women's health directly to you. |
| 0:21.9 | A hundred percent of women go through menopause. |
| 0:24.9 | Even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? |
| 0:28.0 | Listen to decoding women's health with Dr. Elizabeth Pointer wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:50.2 | Bushkin. Today, we're bringing you an episode of College Matters from The Chronicle, a podcast from the Chronicle of Higher Education. |
| 1:00.0 | In it, you'll hear Jack Stripling, host of the show, interview Rick Singer, who you might remember as the mastermind of the varsity blues college admission scandal. |
| 1:06.2 | This episode first aired in late May, not long after Singer was released from a federal prison camp. |
| 1:12.1 | You can listen to College Matters from The Chronicle on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 1:17.5 | This is College Matters from The Chronicle. |
| 1:18.9 | Am I right? |
| 1:19.7 | Absolutely. |
| 1:21.2 | I'm 100% wrong. |
| 1:25.6 | But I compartmentalize this to think, ah, what's the big deal? |
| 1:26.7 | It's one kid. |
| 1:30.4 | He gets his chance to go to a school that he's qualified to go academically, but the test is going to stop him from getting into any good school |
| 1:39.2 | that he wants to go to. In an expansive college admission scheme that led to the convictions of more than 50 parents, |
| 1:48.2 | coaches, and others, one man stood out as uniquely culpable. |
| 1:52.9 | Over a decade, according to prosecutors, William Rick Singer, a college consultant, |
| 1:58.6 | orchestrated an elaborate system of bribery and fraud with one goal in |
... |
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