That was Germany in the 2000's. This is the USA in the 2020's. College is a game. They are getting rid of even having tests as a requirement for your application. And the admissions process is openly racist, even though this is directly banned by our constitution (for public universities). But don't mention this, or you will be called racist. You will be required to take "distribution requirements" (courses that have nothing to do with what you are there to study) for up to 2 years of credit hours depending on the school. The reason they do this is because department funding is set by the "asses in seats" formula where each student enrolled in the class is assigned a dollar value to the department. And, if you are an unpopular department, these 300 seat 1 level distribution requirement classes will be the vast majority of your funding. Departments typically squabble with each other about how many classes they get to have on the list. And everybody gets an A. Wouldn't want to have a reputation for being hard, or nobody will enroll in your cash cow class. These are all 1 and 2 level courses, which means they are basically high school level, or sometimes not even that. But they are not free like high school! Most people will be deep in debt when they graduate. And there is no way to distinguish yourself. The grades are so inflated that the median GPA is around 3.7 / 4.0! So I can't blame anybody for cheating the system that is cheating them.