Competition among peers gets tougher everyday. There once was a time when someone could graduate from the sixth grade and have enough education to last them a lifetime.

Now ask any business owner who they would hire and they’ll tell you anyone at least needs a high school diploma, but preferably a college degree. Some even argue the need for a master’s degree or doctorate.

To make the situation worse, competition is no longer friendly, but vicious. The concept of people stabbing each other in the back to get ahead has long been around (think Caesar and Brutus), but competition has gone too far.

According to an Oct. 20 Chicago Tribune article, high school seniors are now using other students’ past transgressions against them to gain the favor of top universities. The article claims students send incriminating evidence including newspaper clippings of arrests or hints to look at Facebook accounts to see photos depicting illegal activities.

Thankfully, this is not a problem at colleges and universities which have open door policies.

“We have nothing like [admission sabotage] since we have open door admissions,” said Larry Apperson, vice president of student services at Kishwaukee Community College.

Apperson said community colleges use students’ applications not to be selective but as information to be entered into their database. The exceptions are specialized departments, such as health programs, because there is limited lab space.

Brent Gage, assistant vice provost for Enrollment Services, said he is not aware of application sabotage at NIU. Gage said if admissions received a tip to check out an individual’s Facebook page because of a photo, it probably would not be pursued.

“Housing has a methodology on checking the background of those who have committed a serious crime other than a misdemeanor, so a random news clipping probably wouldn’t hold much weight either,” Gage said.

Tattling on someone to get ahead is simply in poor taste.

Leave bashing to politicians and focus more on what we can offer universities and graduate schools instead of assuming what others cannot offer based on skeletons in the closet.