Legacy admissions – next on the chopping block?

Wesleyan University, an elite liberal arts college based in Connecticut, formally ended its legacy admissions process this week and will no longer grant preference to applicants with family or donor ties.

With the move, the university joins a number of other schools that have already dropped legacy admissions, including Johns Hopkins, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon. And like baby ducks following mom across the street, more could soon follow.

👍🏫 Background: Legacy admissions at colleges have been around for about a century, first appearing in the 1920s. And while it’s unclear how many students benefit from these policies, studies suggest the numbers are significant – and that those benefiting tend to be overwhelmingly white.

• An Associated Press review of some of the top universities in the US showed legacy cases comprising between 4% and 23% of first-year students.
• A recently filed legal complaint against Harvard's legacy admissions process cites studies indicating ~70% of its legacy and donor-based applicants are white. And at some prominent universities – including Notre Dame, USC, and Cornell – there tend to be more legacy students than Black students.

Legacy applicants also tend to receive preferential treatment. For example: Harvard’s acceptance rate for legacy applicants stood at 34% between 2014–2019, compared to 6% among those without legacy status.

🤔 Yes, but: The argument in favor of legacy admissions goes like this – nearly 75% of legacy students offered admission are accepted, compared with 47% of non-legacy offers. Colleges say this allows for better planning when it comes to school finances and admission cycles.

👀 Looking ahead… Though more and more schools are voluntarily dropping legacy admissions programs, this decision may soon be out of their hands entirely. Following the recent Supreme Court ruling that bans affirmative action and any consideration of race in college admissions, a civil rights group filed an ongoing lawsuit targeting the use of legacy admissions at Harvard University on the grounds that it discriminates against students of color.