Elite Colleges’ Quiet Fight to Favor Alumni Children
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Anonymous
Maybe for sports a true "minor league System" would be useful. I'm a music major. I'm also an engineer. You are not very bright if you think those two should be grouped together. Music is not "vocational". Perhaps you need more arts in your life and you might be more balanced person? |
Anonymous
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I've been an HYP alumni interviewer since the 1990's. Every year, some of the legacy admits are among the top applicants by any objective measure: grades, scores, and extracurriculars. Driven Type A's often raise driven Type A's.
Every year, however, there are also some legacies who get in who have lower grades, lower scores, and less impressive extracurriculars than many of the unconnected applicants that we've seen that year. The gap is larger with very wealthy parents. It's also kind of disturbing how entitled my fellow interviewers feel about spots in the class for their own kids. I'd be happy to get rid of legacy admissions. I suspect my child won't apply, as their interests lie elsewhere. The idea that, out of all of the universities in the world, my kid would pick the same one I picked decades ago seems statistically unlikely. |
Anonymous
Exactly!! JHU likely wasn't the kid's first choice, but they were applying ED when Legacy gave a benefit as they wanted to attend a T20. Once the legacy hook is gone, the kids pick their true top choice to ED. Not really that difficult to understand. Where to ED is part game, once you have determined where you want to go---most people pick a school where they might have an advantage, however slight it is. |
Anonymous
+1000 Wouldn't want to attend college where everyone had a 1600 and 4.0. But each T20 school could fill their freshman classes with students just like that (or very close to it). People need to get over the idea that there is a huge difference in intelligence between a 1500 and 1600 (98% vs 99%+), but there really isn't---the 1600 is likely just a better test taker. Both kids are extremely smart. Holistic admissions creates a much more balanced class. It would be boring if a university had only 3 clubs, because that's all the kids are interested in. Diversity on all levels makes life much more worth it and more enjoyable, and prepares your kids for real life where diversity abounds. |
Anonymous
This^^^ Just like kids who apply to all the Ivies are not really researching colleges and best fit. They are all so different, there is not way that Cornell and Yale are in reality the same kid's dream school. They are just stuck on Rankings and the Ivy names/perceived prestige; not what is actually best for their kid. Ironically, my last kid did apply ED to my university. But that's because my kid is also planning to major in Engineering like me, and has secondary interest in the performing arts (I have a 2nd major in one). So yes, while I made sure my kid visited the university along with others on their list, I did not push my school---I loved it but want my kid somewhere they will love as college is their experience. But given that it's a T10 school with amazing engineering and a beautiful campus, my kid decided to use their ED there. However, my kid did not want to attend the Ivy their dad graduated from, as it wasn't the best fit for them. |
Anonymous
Agree. The person you quoted clearly has missed the liberal arts ideal of being well rounded and thinks of college as trade school. Arts and sports complement the academic facets. (Also, btw, music can be very academic.). Just because someone excels at arts or athletics, it does not mean they want to major in it (which is why the vocational idea is laughable). Being balanced and well rounded is healthy and desirable. It’s a shame the person you are quoting doesn’t get that. They must be very one dimensional. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
The unhooked UMC kid is the most disadvantaged. No hooks. Legacy families have a network that their kids can tap into. Unhooked UMC family doesn't have that network. |
Anonymous
Yes. Great for them. Work your butt off and you can have this too. |
Anonymous
+1. Don't dream that getting your kids into Harvard will open doors for you. I married into an old money WASP family and they all know each other from Dalton and Deerfield, they smell desperation from miles away, and despise social climbers. Attending an elite college will not create a network for you. The most successful networks are those created by Penn and UM at Ann Harbor. |
Anonymous
100 percent true. My son is friends with a bunch of kids like this thru sleep away camp (an old camp in Maine). These are genuine friendships and the boys keep in touch all year long and visit each other over breaks, but the parents definitely have walls up when it comes to "outsiders." |
Anonymous
Let’s assume you’re correct in that assessment (I happen to disagree), that’s not really what we’re talking about here. The number of URM kids with 1500+, great grades and APs etc is minuscule. When they look at the impact AA on admissions it’s on the order of 300 points. So, do you think a kid with a 1300 is just as intelligent as a kid with a 1600? |
Anonymous
see.... this smacks of privileged elitism that wants to keep the "others" out of the legacy institutions. Eerily similar to how they kept Jews out with legacy admissions way back when. |
Anonymous
Given that you disagree with my statement that the Dif between 1500&1600 is minimal, I have not doubt that we wont' see eye to eye on much in life. And that's ok---I don't think I could live with myself If I thought the way you do. Yes, a 1300 SAT kid who never had opportunity take AP courses, who worried more about where dinner was gonna come from than what to post on TikTok or what to wear out on friday night, who didn't have many role models who went to college other than a few teachers, who did not have access to tutoring starting at age 5 to make them better at math, who didn't retake the SAT 4 times after spending $2k+ in tutoring, who had to work 20 hours+ per week job in HS to help pay the bills and is gonna worry about how the hell they can pay for college and the extras associated with the even if they get FA, etc...why yes I do think when you look at overall intelligence, there's a really good chance they are just as smart. That kid has had none of the advantages that many other kids have had in life. If you cannot see that in 2022 from your privileged position, then I'm not sure how to help you actually see that. Even amongst privileged kids, some are simply not good test takers, so might only get 1500 as their top score due to learning disabilities, anxiety, etc. Does not mean they are any less intelligent than someone who can manage a 1600. Finally, I don't think SAT is a great measurement of "intelligence". There are many many other facets that come into play. 98 percentile vs 99+percentile is not very different at all. Being friends with you and your family must be rather boring, if you look down on everyone for not being as "intelligent". If my own kid can go from 87% to 98% with 4 hours of tutoring and the privileged upbringing they've had (top notch schools all the way being a major part), I have no doubt at all that an underprivileged kid who scored the same as my kid's first SAT is equally smart if not smarter. |
Anonymous
OMG, you posted this a million times. You are not a discriminated Jew. You are a MC government contractor salivating to get his child into investment banking or consulting so someone can finally make 500K in our family and take you to Europe so you can post all over Facebook and make your siblings and HS acquaintances jealous. |