On March 12, 2019, news broke out that celebrities, college athletic coaches, and other wealthy individuals were involved in a college admission bribery scam.

Hearing these news did not surprise me but it did shock and piss me off confirming how truly shady the admission system is when it comes to money.

I was angry because I worked extremely hard to attend one of the schools involved in the whole scandal and there are people who are here not based on their hard work or great athletic skills but rather because mommy and daddy bribed their way into this school with money.

UCLA was always a goal of mine since I was in high school but I knew I would never get in because my grades in high school were average, I didn't participate in very many extracurriculars, and economically I couldn't afford to take the ACT or SAT, let alone afford a four-year institution. So I chose to attend community college to try to redeem myself and the hard work paid off.

During my time in community college, I was a full-time student, worked full-time, and balanced extracurriculars and my social life. Juggling all of this was not easy because I knew I had to work so much harder than others since I am very much so low-income, I am a first-generation college student, and I'm not musically nor athletically talented.

The way I "bribed" my way into top schools in the nation such as UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and UCLA was with my personal statements, my grades, my participation in organizations, and showing as best I could that I was a hard-working candidate worthy of attending a notorious institution.

The system is rigged and I am extremely happy to see that this shady truth is finally getting exposed and these people get the repercussions they rightfully deserve. Especially when their spoiled kids want to attend a school just for "game days and the parties" and not give one fuck about the education they're gonna get.

It isn't fair to the students who worked so hard to showcase their merit that was never altered and who have dreamt of attending top institutions and then get rejected because someone with money illegally secured a spot that was deserved by someone else.

Even though I attend a top university, I feel guilty about it because sometimes I feel like I didn't deserve it. I know how hard I have worked to get to where I am due to my circumstances and obstacles but at the same time, I feel like there was someone else who is much smarter and did way more than me who deserved to take my spot even more than I did.

Yet, after this news broke out, I felt proud of myself that I got myself to where I am and didn't need my family's money to buy all SEVEN of my acceptance letters.