Forgot to mention one other thing that they can do to skew the admit pool to those from higher income families: use legacy preference. Legacies by definition are not first generation, and are likely to have a higher income distribution than the general population (since they are 100% college graduates versus ~30% college graduates and college graduates have a higher income distribution than others).
As a student, I don’t really frequent the parents thread but I can’t resist. Based on the racial dynamics of this society, America has been left with a legacy of institutional racism. Since racial discrimination is based on skin tone, regardless of income statistically those who fall with a certain category of melanin pigmentation have a propensity to be discriminated against in the system. Is it better to be a minority and rich? Of course! It helps a lot if you can buy your self out of a situation, but are you still affected? Do you have less institutional backing that whites in general? Yes. This means discrimination based on name alone often. I think often it’s easy to posit that minorities living in affluent neighborhoods are less likely to deal with Ferguson like racial problems. Thus is of course true, yet in society people who fit a racial stereotype will be affected, of course, until things get better. Should SES be considered a lot? I think it’s an easy yes. But I think it’s easy to disregard the institutional racism that may not affect us directly either because we’re not a minority or can’t see it directly.
@mom2collegekids “I have a cousin who very likely got an admissions boost to Stanford because of his URM status (1/4 URM)…yet his parents make well over $200k per year. The fact that every elite school that he applied to admitted him indicates that he was given a boost. He had very good stats, yes (but not tippy top)”
please define “not tippy top”