Reply to Elite Colleges’ Quiet Fight to Favor Alumni Children

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I did a degree at an Oxbridge school, and my classmates there thought my stories about my legacy undergrad roommate at my Ivy were funny. She went to an elite boarding school, and had a very rich family but had about a 2.7 GPA which is very difficult to do at an Ivy where most people get a 3.0 without trying just because of the ways grading curves are structured.  My roommate was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was a legacy and she got in.  These Oxbridge students who wore gowns and coattails regularly and bowed to the Queen and were part of a 1000 year old college thought it was ridiculously backwards that an American student might get into college with a big boost because their parents had attended the same college before them.  [/quote]

Sure, remember last year when teachers could just assess A levels and boarding school students where all qualified to attend schools they weren't remotely qualified to attend? [/quote]

sh** happened during CoViD.  It wasn’t perfect but it was a once in a century pandemic.  What’s America’s excuse for giving people a leg up based on where their parents went to school. My spouse and I have 4 Ivy degrees between us (although I guess the graduate ones don’t count for legacy status for our kids) so we have a lot to lose if legacy preferences go away but I can’t defend my kids having a probability of getting admitted at 5x the rate of a comparable student in the applicant pool.  It’s really unmeritocratic [/quote]

But why does a kid who happened to have been born with a better capacity for doing well in high school than my learning disabled kid have a much better chance of getting in? He isn't a better person. He didn't work harder. He probably won't contribute more to making this world a better place. He was just lucky enough not to be born with a learning disability. Why does he have a better shot at a top school than my kid? Why is that fair?[/quote]

colleges have no way of observing how hard a kid works to get a grade-they only see the grade.  I also don’t know how you think colleges can assess how applicants will or won’t contribute more to making the world a better place.  Maybe your kid is great but how would you assess that in an unbiased way beyond the essays, extracurricular and teacher references which they ask for already. [/quote]

You can't. Which puts him a great disadvantage. Why is that fair? Why does a kid who can easily show it have more of a chance to get into a top school? According to this site, colleges have some sort of moral obligation to build their communities according to the highest GPAs, starting from the top and going down. Fortunately, the people who run those colleges aren't as stupid and narrow minded as the people who think this. They know they need diverse communities and a a strong foundation to stay relevant and solvent. People say "it's not fair" that legacies get an advantage. I say that it's not fair that neurotypical kids get an advantage. You see, fairness doesn't come into play and the stupid people on here complaining about it will never get it. They just think their neurotypical, above average, one-dimensional GPA chases is entitled to something more than others. [/quote]

The debate about legacy is about a kid getting a substantial edge on admissions to an elite college over a kid with equivalent stats and extracurriculars simply because of who where their parents went to college.  I don’t know why you’re complaining that college admissions officers can’t magically see that your special needs kid is better than a neurotypical applicant.  Start your own thread if you want to complain about that.  [/quote]

Missing the point. There are many unfair aspects of college admissions. Ones that put some kids at advantages over others. Why does legacy get everybody so stirred up and not other things? The neurotypical kid has an edge on admissions over a kid born without that particular advantage simply because of who he was born to, just like the legacy kid. Why is that any more fair? And not, I really don't feel like starting my own thread. This is actually about the whiny babies who weren't smart enough to get into good colleges and are now mad that they can't get their kids into one either. [/quote]

No you’re missing the point. The legacy kid will get admitted over the equivalent applicant or in many cases the superior applicant by virtue of being born to an alum.  The kid born with special needs is presumably not performing as well as the neurotypical kid in the scenario you’re describing so it isn’t a case of a higher performing student being denied admissions. You may think that’s unfair because your child is a “better person” than the neurotypical applicant but colleges don’t admit applicants because their parents say they are better people than other applicants without any evidence to back up that assertion.  And that is fair.  [/quote]

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