BOSTON — Facing time in prison for her role in the nation’s largest college admissions scandal, the actress Felicity Huffman grew tearful, her voice breaking as she told a courtroom that she wished she had never taken part in a scheme to inflate her daughter’s SAT score. Earlier, she sat silent and stoic as a prosecutor ticked off all the reasons probation would not be sufficient punishment.

In the end, a federal judge in Boston sentenced Ms.