Affirmative Action for the Privileged Rich

The admittance rate for Harvard’s class of 2025 was 3.43%, the lowest ever . . . except for “ALDCs”:  athletes, “legacies” (children of Harvard alums), “dean’s interest list” (children of rich donors) and children of Harvard faculty and employees (“fac brats“). Naturally these offspring of the school’s “Old Boy’s Club” are largely White:

.”.. 43% of Harvard’s white students are either recruited athletes, legacy students, on the dean’s interest list (their parents have donated to the school) or children of faculty and staff …. The kicker? Roughly three-quarters of these applicants would have been rejected if it weren’t for having rich or Harvard-connected parents or being an athlete.”

— “Turns out, Harvard students aren’t that smart after all,” Tayo Bero, The Guardian

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Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-y52

Image (“Harvard Legacy Admissions”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

GWU Misrepresents Admissions Policy. Again.

You won’t find DC’s George Washington University in the US News & World Report ranking of best colleges. Last year GWU admitted that it had been inflating admission data for a decade. The school claimed that 78% of incoming freshmen were in the top 10% of their high school graduating classes, but the real figure was 58%. The stats may have been goosed to get a higher ranking in the USN&WR college listing.

Until October 21st the website of this $60,000-a-year school reassured applicants that “Requests for financial aid do not affect admissions decisions.” That was another misrepresentation. The first sorting of applications is done “need blind,” but after that applications from rich students go to the head of the line while those from the less-wealthy are wait-listed.

Before The Hatchet student newspaper revealed the truth, GWU’s website claimed that its admissions policy was “need-blind.” The university now admits it is “need-aware.” The school’s motto is Deus Nobis Fiducia, “God is Our Trust.” perhaps it should be “Got a Trust Fund?”

George Washington University may be named after a man who “cannot tell a lie,” but it seems to be run by Pinocchio.

More:

“Pretending to Be Need-Blind,” Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed

“George Washington University Has for Years Claimed to be ‘Need-Blind.’ It’s Not.” Marian Wang, ProPublica

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-hEA

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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Legacy Admissions

Colleges call them “legacy admissions,” high school students who get admission preference because their parents are rich alumni. A new publication edited by Richard D. Kahlenberg calls them what they are: Affirmative Action for the Rich.