Prospective college students and their parents were rocked these past weeks with news of the college admissions scandal involving many elite universities across the nation. Wealthy and well-connected parents, some famous, resorted to helping their highschool students cheat to get into coveted spots at sought after universities, including Stanford, UCLA and USC. From having other people take their child’s college entrance exams, to falsifying athletic profiles and bribing university coaches, these parents robbed other well-deserving students of those same spots. Though the public just became aware of this scandal, using wealth and connections to achieve college admissions is nothing new. There are legal forms of such unfairness that often fly below the radar.
Legacy admissions is one such way the affluent and well-connected have an edge over their competitors. Here, children of alumni are favored over other applicants merely for the reason that their parents went to the same school. The university wants to continue a relationship with the family in hopes of alumni support and future donations. In 2017, according to the Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s graduating class of 2021 was made up of over 29 percent legacy students. For a university with a very low acceptance rate, 29 percent is considerably high. To put it in perspective, a legacy admit has a 5 time greater chance of admittance than the rest of the applicant pool. Some parents have also gone as far as making substantial donations to fund new campus buildings. These donations are made with an expectation, and with the significant support received, universities feel obligated to return the favor. Unfortunately, the favor comes at the expense of deserving and more qualified applicants.
While college acceptances should function largely based on merit, other factors play a role in a student’s likelihood of getting admitted to a particular college. Not all students have access to the same resources that help secure a spot at a university. Many tools like private tutors, SAT prep courses and private college counseling are not privileges that all families can comfortably afford. Without some of these assets, the college application process becomes a lot more daunting for non-affluent applicants, putting the odds of admittance against them.
From the time they were young, students have been taught that results come with hard work and merit, but the flaws in the college admissions system reveal how the playing field is not equal for all. Wealthy applicants accumulate a number of advantages in the college admissions process. Some wealthy parents resort to cheating while others use their wealth to obtain preferential treatment. Middle and lower class families are not conferred with the same type of benefits. With rising economic inequality, efforts should be made to create a more just system. For the greater good of all college applicants, universities need to abolish legacy admissions and any preferential treatment that favor alumni, family connections and donors over those who genuinely deserve the right to attend their institutions. The focus of college admissions needs to be shifted to where it belongs: the merit contained within the student’s application.