What is the point of legacy admissions?

Legacy admissions – a practice in which colleges give special consideration to children of alumni when deciding who to admit – have been making headlines. Colleges are increasingly being called on to rethink the merits of the practice – and some colleges are beginning to heed those calls.

How important is legacy for Harvard?

The fact that legacy policies allow for such students to be preferenced in an admissions toss-up between them and an equal but less advantaged applicant makes our heads spin. Harvard bucking its legacy policy has enormous potential to make college admissions writ large more equitable.

How do college legacies work?

An applicant normally has legacy status at a college if a member of the applicant’s immediate family attends or attended the college, but at certain schools it might also mean a grandparent, aunt or uncle, and cousin. That’s a big deal for colleges that admit less than 10\% of applicants!

How much of Harvard is legacy?

In reality, 43\% of Harvard’s white students are either recruited athletes, legacy students, on the dean’s interest list (meaning their parents have donated to the school) or children of faculty and staff (students admitted based on these criteria are referred to as ‘ALDCs’, which stands for ‘athletes’, ‘legacies’, ‘ …

What are the benefits of going to a top college?

Why applying to a top university matter?

• Why applying to a top university matter? #1. Access to virtually every resource.
• #2. Access to Alumni. Every single school has alumni who make their schools proud.
• #4. Job offers at prestigious big companies.
• #5. More favorable starting positions and higher salaries.

Why does legacy matter for college?

A study of thirty elite colleges, found that primary legacy students are an astonishing 45\% more likely to get into a highly selective college or university than a non-legacy. Fellow Ivies, The University of Pennsylvania and Brown also admit upwards of 33\% of legacies, more than double their overall admit rate.

What are legacy admissions and why do they matter?

“Legacy admissions,” Stevens says, “have been a central part of the way in which universities have promulgated that sense of identity and fealty.” (On a less palatable note, elite schools first implemented legacy preferences in the early 20th century in order to limit the admission of immigrants, particularly Jews .)

Does a preference for legacies benefit alumni and colleges?

Still, given that admissions at selective colleges are more competitive than ever—last week, several of them announced record-low acceptance rates —it’s clear that a preference for legacies benefits alumni and their children. But what does this tradition—which is exceedingly rare outside the United States —do for colleges?

Is the legacy preference necessary?

“Colleges have defended the legacy preference by saying it’s necessary for fundraising,” says Michael Dannenberg, the director of strategic initiatives for policy at the think tank Education Reform Now. But he observes that the legacy preference, as a fundraising tool, isn’t very precise.

Why do schools care so much about legacies?

The belief is that when schools admit children of alumni, those alumni will be more likely to stay involved with the school (such as by going to reunions, serving on committees, etc.) and donate money to it. Many schools also believe that legacies will be very active alumni due to their family connection with the school.