That makes Amherst among the very few elite privates which do not consider legacy status in their admissions. The others are MIT, Caltech, and JHU.
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WOW, very big deal.
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And, H*ll has officially frozen over.
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Amherstās announcement:
https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2021/10-2021/amherst-college-to-end-legacy-preference-and-expand-financial-aid-investment-to-71-million
Amherst also announced that students with family income below median household income ($67,500) will receive financial aid grants to cover tuition, room, and meals, and students with family income below 80th percentile household income ($141,000) will receive financial aid grants to cover at least tuition.
However, students with uncooperative divorced parents will still face a barrier to financial aid at Amherst.
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Thatās great. Given that my D22 is applying this year, too bad more schools have not eliminated legacy preferences. Still, something to celebrate for future college applicants.
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Amherst isnāt Havard but the step it took is an important milestone and will influence other similar colleges. The dam will break when Harvard makes a similar announcement. I think itās just a matter of time.
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Thereās a reason they havenāt.
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Iām a supporter of legacy preferences. I think they are beneficial for schools.
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Why do you think they havenāt?
Good! Letās hope this sets up some positive peer pressure.
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Money ā specifically, the money that is raised by development officers from parents, grandparents, etc., who have children, grandchildren, etc. as students in the school. The DOs know that alumni have more of an emotional interest in giving when a family member is at the school (āaffinityā in development terms); and if that parent or grandparent also has the financial wherewithal to contribute money (ācapacityā in development terms), then the institution is in a better position to receive a monetary contribution from that alum. Itās a practical financial relationship for the school.
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Will be interesting to see how your daughter feels if she attends Amherst next year and 30 years out has a kid applyingš
Pretty brutal on their alumni if it is effective immediately as I am sure legacy kids have planned on ED and are late to change paths. Amherst ED deadline November 1st!
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Iām more likely to donate if there is the possibility my kid would attend in the future. I think it is helpful even if the kid isnāt a current student.
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When a colleges has more than $1.2 million endowment per student, they need a lot less support from alumni. Of the others, MIT, JHU, and Caltech get an enormous amount of money from patents, research, and services.
Harvard wonāt - while financially they are not dependent on alumni donations, they are dependent on alumni for influence and connections. They are about branding, and legacy preferences is important for that.
We may see Pomona drop legacy preferences, and perhaps Williams and/or Swarthmore, and perhaps Olin. That will be it.
Being an āeliteā college costs money, and tuition doesnāt provide that money. Unless there is an alternative source of income, alumni donations are where the colleges get money, and legacy admissions increase donations. Not the large donations by big names who want to have a building named after them, but the middling donations of $1,000-$100,000.
When a college though has a large enough endowment, that endowment can continue to generate money, and that may replace the donations of alumni whose kids are also alumni.
For most colleges, which donāt already have more than a million dollars in endowment per student, it can be a trade off between legacy admissions and being full-need-met and need-blind.
Is legacy fair? No, but the college graveyard is full of colleges which took financial risks.
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I think weāre talking about highly competitive elite privates here. Nearly all of them are well endowed. If you exclude the very large donations made by alumni who were likely to donate regardless of legacy preferences, alumni donations arenāt relatively that significant for most of these schools. In terms of alumni engagement, many of us have fond memories of our alma maters and would be willing to help in whatever ways we can. Some of us, myself included, donāt want our kids to be burdened by the feeling that their successes (including admissions to our alma maters) were somehow tainted.
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I really donāt think Amherst was in the habit of admitting very many unqualified legacies.
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Lol. Tainted? Are you saying someone who got a boost because they are a URM? Tainted if their parents have enough money for tutors/prep classes? Recruited athletes? How about a kid with learning differences that received extra time on tests?
There is no level playing field. Most people have some advantages and disadvantages. Funny how most people only see the advantages of others while thinking that they have none and achieve things solely based on merit.
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Iād stop my middling donations if my alma maters did away with legacy preferences.
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I applaud what Amherst just did, but this thread isnāt really about Amherst (thatās why it isnāt in the Amherst Forum). Some schools give legacies stronger boost than others and I donāt know how much Amherst admission decisions were influenced by legacy consideration prior to this announcement.
For most of these elite privates, legacy applicants are probably more qualified as a group compared to an average applicant. However, thereāre less qualified legacy admits who wouldnāt otherwise be admitted. If not, neither the colleges nor the parents would care about legacy preferences, would they?
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I think the less qualified ones are the ones whose parents donate big dollars. Otherwise it is just a boost among similarly qualified applicants. And yes, I want the boost for my kids. Not going to pretend otherwise. Iāve already told my kids they need to have competitive grades/stats to have a chance.
Anecdotally, I know of a legacy applicant to the Ivy I attended who had a 4.0, a 1570, took all the tough classes, etc. he got rejected.
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