Should Legacy Status Matter Anymore in College Admissions?

janvier 22, 2023

Should Legacy Status Matter Anymore in College Admissions?

"I grew up with Yale as my frame of reference." So recalls one graduate whose father attended the elite institution on the GI Bill. As a kid, this man—for the sake of this story we'll call him Alex—grew up driving to New Haven to tailgate before football games at the Yale Bowl. "That was where my parents entertained." Alex attended a prestigious private secondary school in New York, where he did very well. And so, he said, "I didn't even think about it: I'm going to Yale.

"It was more naivete than entitlement, really. It was the early '80s. I never seriously thought about going anywhere else." Thirty years later, when Alex's eldest child applied to Yale, he similarly assumed the school was an option. His child was a strong student at a top high school who excelled on the SATs. And he and his wife (also a Yale grad) had been dedicated alums, sending in regular donations to the school, albeit at a modest level. So when his child's early application was not accepted, "it was utter shock," Alex says.

"I was forced to confront the fact that I had internalized this belief that my family, across generations, had a deal with Yale, which was: We will provide the brains, the talent, the whatever, and you will take us. I didn't feel that we had let them down on our end. They just said no anyway."

Alex's story is a cautionary tale as families confront the college admissions landscape of 2023, with its single-digit acceptance rates and shifting enrollment priorities.

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