Olivia Jade: The College Scandal Gone Viral [EDITORIAL]

Back in March of this year, dozens of parents and students faced allegations of fraudulent applications and admissions to some of the most prestigious American universities. The allegations included claiming inaccurate test scores and extracurricular activities on applications and even bribing people upward of millions of dollars to cheat the system.

Of those accused were Lori Loughlin, an actress best-known for her role in the show Full House, and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, a fashion designer worth millions of dollars. The two share two daughters, Isabella Rose Giannulli, 20, and Olivia Jade Giannulli, 19; both of which who attend the University of Southern California.

At first, the scandal was heavily focused on the accused parents’– and wealthy parents in general’s– use of financial power to unjustly get their children spots in these universities; both legally and, allegedly, illegally. Soon, though, the spotlight shined on youngest daughter Olivia Jade, a social media influencer who has gained a following of over a million on both Instagram and YouTube. The question became: should Olivia Jade receive consequences for her parents’ actions and, if so, how severe should those consequences be?

Especially after she affirmed that she had no knowledge of her parents’ efforts, people began analyzing her academic history in search of signs that she is worthy of a being a USC Traveler. What many found was a YouTube video in which Giannulli stated that she isn’t so much interested in the academic side of school, but more so the social side.

In reference to her maintaining both an influencer career and a college career, Giannulli said, “I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend, but I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone and hope that I can try to balance it all. I do want the experience of game days, partying…I don’t really care about school, as you guys [her subscribers] all know.”

Many were turned off by this sentiment, as it seemed as though she was taking her already underserved admission for granted.

Looking even further back, a former peer at their elite Los Angeles high school made a YouTube video claiming that the high school was more like a college in terms of coursework, and that it was probably impossible for Giannulli to have gotten good grades being that she was often absent to travel for her influencer career. Even if Giannulli maintained decent grades, they probably weren’t good enough grades to get into a university with an 18 percent acceptance rate, such as USC. Additionally, the peer said that she is positive Giannulli wasn’t a rowing star, nor even on the rowing team, as Loughlin, allegedly, told USC. Similarly, it makes sense that Giannulli didn’t fully commit or commit at all to high school athletics when she had regular trips to tropical islands with brands that sponsored her.

On the note of sponsorship, many, including her ex-sponsorships with Sephora, Estee Lauder and TRESemme, concluded that the scandal revealed an undesirable side of Giannulli. As insinuated, she lost her paid partnerships with the above brands. While some have said that she should lose her influencer career entirely, it might be unreasonable to say this incident should have a drastic effect on her future career opportunities; especially in the case that she wasn’t aware of her parents’ reprehensible behavior.

However, considering some of her influencer career was focused on being an overall admirable college student, you must admit that a faulty admission into a world-renowned educational institution, on top of a lack of dedication to that institution, doesn’t quite fit the bill. Weeks later, Giannulli has decided to leave the university that some say she didn’t even want to go to in the first place and, clearly, shouldn’t have gone to in the first place. Now, she can focus on her true passions and actually earn her successes.