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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am white, from a privileged background, and have parents and grandparents who went to Ivy league schools, Stanford, and other top universities.  I don't think legacy status should be considered at all.  I mean come on; the truth is the practice does give a leg up to those who are already privileged - aka resource hoarding.  It says little to nothing about the applicant themselves.  There is just no way to defeat that argument.  It is a bs reason to let a kid into a school over another equally qualified applicant (as that is really how its most frequently used).  It should not be considered a hook in any way.

I have one question though that I have never been able to find a solution to - how do you encourage alum to donate if it won't help their kid get in?  It is the number one reason people donate long term.  How do you replace the private scholarships funded for basically the same reason?  How do you replace all that money that the school depends on?  When most don't have enough to give to have a building named for them, and there is no longer any legacy status bestowed on their kids, how do you get donations from the ordinary graduates?[/quote]

Excellent question.  I suspect many who donate more than $100/year do so in hopes of getting legacy status for their kids (I know we did that).  Loosing that $$$ will likely affect Financial aid and merit awards at many schools---I suspect many will stop giving if legacy isn't a thing.  So then you are hurting the exact people you are hoping to help by eliminating "legacy" status.

I'm all for legacy status, as long as the student's have stats to get in on their own.  Otherwise, how do AO decide?  It's a particularly touching essay that grabs the AO's attention? Who knows, but ultimately it's something small that helps them whittle down 40K+ applicants to less than 4K for an ultimate class of 2K.  And 38-39K of those students would all make excellent freshman at university X.  Fact is, it will never be Fair. [/quote]

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