By Ramishah Maruf | CNN
New York — Legacy college admission is an advantage given at birth, in which the children of a school’s alumni receive special consideration in the college admissions rat race. But after the US Supreme Court overturned race-based admissions over the summer, attention toward this already criticized practice intensified.
While many students from minority or low-income backgrounds are likely the first in their families to attend college, legacy students are mostly White, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision on race-based admissions, Wesleyan University and the University of Minnesota dropped legacy admissions. Other schools, such as Johns Hopkins University and Pomona College, made the decision even earlier.
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“It was clear we should get rid of it,” Wesleyan President Michael Roth said on “CNN This Morning” in July. “The Supreme Court’s decision saying we shouldn’t consider the groups with which students are identified — racial groups — made it even more clear to me that it was indefensible to give preference to the children of alumni.”
How widespread are legacy admissions?
A 2022 report from nonprofit think tank Education Reform Now found that colleges were turning away from legacy admissions. Eighty-nine percent of college admissions directors did not support the use of legacy admits, and three-quarters of public colleges and universities didn’t even provide a legacy preference.
The American public also isn’t in favor of the practice. The Pew Research Center found 75% of respondents to a 2022 poll did not support legacy admissions, even before the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision.
But children of alumni maintained a significant advantage at the schools that upheld the practice — those happen to be America’s most…
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