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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]…to highly selective colleges (8 ivies, Stanford, MIT, UChicago, Duke)

https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CollegeAdmissions_Paper.pdf

The analysis shows that highest income applicants (top 1 percent) have an admission advantage over the average applicant due to: 1) legacy admissions; 2) athletic recruitment; 3) non-academic factors (e.g., private school extracurriculars). In fact, legacy admissions explain about half of the gap between acceptance rates between highest income and average applicants.

Also, attending IvyPlus colleges does improve earnings and leadership prospects after colleges. The authors do a nice job of identifying the causal effect of IvyPlus attendance.

Putting these findings together, the implication is that more socioeconomic diversity can be achieved [b]without sacrificing academic quality by eliminating legacy admissions and athletic recruitment.[/b] [/quote]

This is a great paper, and really interesting. Thanks for sharing! However, it does not say the bolded. They do not weigh in on "academic quality" of the student in college. The only measure they use is future earnings of the student. The problem with that measure is that I know many students from wealthy backgrounds who do not chase high-income careers, but choose public service, arts, or research careers instead. This does not mean they were not the engaged or intellectually curious students who contributed to academic quality of the college. It just means that they didn't earn as much later on. 
[/quote]

1000%!

Also, there are plenty of kids from wealthy backgrounds that end up in "high income careers" simply because of their connections.  connections that would happen whether they went to Salisbury or Harvard.

Many lower income students at T25 schools struggle, to fit in and take full advantage of the perceived perks of being at a T25.  They are not spending spring break skiing in Europe or xmas break in Europe with their friends.  [/quote]

The paper looks at other outcomes too, not just income. Public service, etc. [/quote]

They did not report any public service outcome measures that I can see. If I’m wrong please show me the figure because I am not reading this whole paper. The only outcome measures they listed in their regression figures were 1) top 1% of income 2) prestigious grad program placement, and 3) working at top firms.

[b]Interestingly, being an athletic recruits does seem to correlate well with ultimate high income when compared to non-recruits, but just doesn’t correlate as well as high SAT.[/b]

But of these 3 types of outcome the only one I find indicative of the kind of academic quality I admire is 2. However, I would want to see academic research or public service grad programs separate from the sheer number of professional grad programs such as law school, med school, etc.[/quote]

Athletic recruits overall are a wash in terms of 'high income'. What is in the paper but not mentioned is that Athletic recruit along with high SAT score is the a potent combination. That would imply recruiting more high academic athletes if one want to optimize chances for 1% but it would go against the goals of the paper.[/quote]

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