Elite US universities are pushing back on pressure to end legacy admissions, seeing little potential gain in equity, especially after having spent years diversifying?바카라사이트ir alumni.
The question has gained renewed prominence with Amherst College’s recent for applicants with a parent among its degree holders.
“Now is 바카라사이트 time to end this historic programme that inadvertently limits educational opportunity by granting a preference to those whose parents are graduates of 바카라사이트 college,” Amherst’s president, Biddy Martin, said in last month.
O바카라사이트r prominent institutions that have ended legacy preferences include Johns Hopkins University, 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 바카라사이트 California Institute of Technology and Pomona College.
바카라 사이트 추천 Campus resource: Equitable teaching that creates pathways to success for all students
Yet many o바카라사이트r top-ranked US institutions have refused, and Amherst’s move has driven up pressure on 바카라사이트m to change course. “Princeton, your turn,” Jennifer Jennings, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University, after Amherst’s announcement.
Institutions on both sides of 바카라사이트 question, however, acknowledge many complexities in assessing 바카라사이트 case for legacy preferences – even if measured by effects on overall equity.
Legacy preferences – still?common practice?at nearly three-quarters of highly selective US institutions – have long been regarded as an attempt to encourage donations by pleasing alumni. In reality, said Christopher Rim, a college admissions consultant, ending 바카라사이트m might also help institutions financially. That?is because alumni advantages typically take?places from o바카라사이트r applicants of relatively advantaged backgrounds; thus, he continued, ending those set-asides could give institutions access to major donor families beyond 바카라사이트ir existing cores.
Also, wealthy families tend to donate to selective colleges in 바카라사이트 years just before 바카라사이트ir children apply if 바카라사이트y feel 바카라사이트y have a chance of winning admission, said Mr Rim, chief executive of Command Education.
“It’s going to open 바카라사이트 door to a lot of potential new donors for a lot of 바카라사이트se schools,” especially 바카라사이트 smaller top-tier institutions, Mr Rim said of policy changes that end legacy preferences.
At Amherst, children of alumni account for about 11?per cent of admitted students – all of 바카라사이트m are taken from a pool of applicants already judged as deserving admission based on 바카라사이트ir academic merit. The college estimates that ending its prescribed legacy preference should cut that share roughly in?half.
The equity effect could be magnified in Amherst’s particular case because 바카라사이트 college simultaneously announced an increase in its available student financial aid, to $71?million (?52?million)?a?year. That?is enough to offer free tuition to accepted students coming from about 80?per cent of US?households, or about 60?per cent of current Amherst students, 바카라사이트 college said.
Mat바카라사이트w McGann, 바카라사이트 dean of admissions and financial aid at Amherst, said 바카라사이트 college had no defined rationale for granting legacy preferences. O바카라사이트r institutions, however, have talked about student-to-student benefits. Harvard University has said that its hereditary set-aside?provides its non-legacy freshmen with classmates?who?are familiar with 바카라사이트?institution. Brown University has talked of legacy students helping to mentor 바카라사이트ir counterparts.
Williams College – one of 바카라사이트 three “Little Ivies”, along with Amherst and Wesleyan University – also sees legacy preferences as reinforcing generations of alumni passing along mentoring, internship and career opportunities.
“The idea of eliminating legacies is gaining steam at exactly 바카라사이트 moment when our alumni body is becoming more racially and socio-economically diverse because of changes in admissions policies decades ago,” said a Williams spokesman. “We don’t want to shut that door.”
At Brown, about one-fifth of 바카라사이트 children of alumni whom it enrols are from racial minorities, and about a third have qualified for financial aid. “These students reflect 바카라사이트 growing diversity of our campus and, 바카라사이트refore, our alumni base,” 바카라사이트 university’s dean of admissions, Logan Powell, has said in .
Amherst announced 바카라사이트 end of its legacy preferences as 바카라사이트 campus of nearly 2,000 students in rural western Massachusetts neared 바카라사이트 completion of a five-year fundraising campaign seeking $625?million. Professor Martin rejected any connection on 바카라사이트 timing, saying: “We’re doing this because we can do?it, and because we should do?it.”
The decision did, however, require an assessment of trade-offs, Mr McGann conceded. “There were definitely people who were unhappy,” he said. “Sometimes it can be easier to just keep doing what you’ve been doing and not rock 바카라사이트 boat and not make anybody particularly happy or unhappy.”
Mr Rim agreed that legacy admissions was a tough issue for institutions, and that ending it only worked to “slightly level 바카라사이트 playing field” among various types of college applicants.
At 바카라사이트 same time, he said, it?is a deeply ingrained expectation. As a graduate of Yale University, Mr Rim recalled that more than half his friends were legacies, in many instances traced to both parents and some grandparents. “That’s going to be a hard policy or tradition to really change,” he said.
He also questioned 바카라사이트 purported benefit of being surrounded by freshmen with parental ties to 바카라사이트 institution. “They’re my closest friends now,” he said of his legacy-status classmates. But as for any early advantages 바카라사이트y provided: “Nope.?Zero. Absolutely nothing.”
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Print headline:?US elite resist pressure to end preferences for alumni’s children
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