Everything about Legacy Preferences totally explained
Legacy preferences or
legacy admission is a type of preference given by educational institutions to certain applicants on the basis of their familial relationship to
alumni of that institution. (Students so admitted are referred to as
legacies or
legacy students.) There is a long history of this practice at American universities and colleges. The
Ivy League institutions are estimated to admit 10% to 15% of each entering class based upon this factor.
Former
Harvard University president
Lawrence Summers has stated, "Legacy admissions are integral to the kind of community that any private educational institution is." In the 1998 book
The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions, authors
William Bowen, former
Princeton University president, and
Derek Bok, former Harvard University president, found "the overall admission rate for legacies was almost twice that for all other candidates."
Legacy preferences in comparison to other programmes
Although university officials state that legacy preferences are used only as a tipping factor in admissions, the strength of the programme is actually quite strong. According to a study by two Princeton academics, Espanshade and Chung, legacy preference admits are given an equivalent of 160 point boost in their SAT scores (out of 1600) and can account for as much as a 300 point boost. However, this is actually a smaller advantage than for recruited athletes or affirmative action, which give equivalent boosts of between 185 and 230 points, respectively.
Criticism
Opponents accuse these programmes of perpetuating an
oligarchy and
plutocracy as they lower the weight of academic merit in admissions process. Another criticism is that the wealthy are given an insurmountable advantage which hinders economic mobility within the society.
However, some couple their stance on the two policies, either supporting or opposing both affirmative action and legacy preferences simultaneously. For example, the conservative former
Regent of the University of California,
Ward Connerly, opposes both affirmative action and legacy admissions. Some supporters of the elimination of all non-academic preferences also point out that many European universities, including highly selective institutions such as
Oxford and
Cambridge, don't use any racial, legacy, or athletic preferences in admissions decisions.
Further Information
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