I wonder how the points of view vary on admission based on: 1) financial compensation (ranging from bribes as described in the article all the way to large don

I wonder how the points of view vary on admission based on: 1) financial compensation (ranging from bribes as described in the article all the way to large donations) 2) affirmative action both of those approaches result in the admissions process deviating from being 100% meritocratic, and yet both of those approaches can be argued to help the educational institution and society overall (better facilities, more research, adding different perspectives, helping a disadvantaged group etc). I thought about this topic and this comparison in particular on my own over the weekend, so the coincidence of this being posted so soon feels a bit uncanny to me.