Yes it has. Especially with class availability. I hope they figure out how to bring it down to 2500.
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Most of it was the large number of students who took a gap year or semester during covid. My daughterâs graduation was smaller than normal. There were only 610 degrees conferred. There will likely be an especially large February commencement, and next yearâs commencement will likely be particularly large, as will the commencement of Class of 2025, since these will have the gap years of '2023 and '2024.
I think that most of the students who took a gap year were from the Class of 2023 and the Class of 2024, so these should be done by Spring of 2025.
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Interesting discussion (that might be merged with this one?):
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Breaking News:
Wesleyan University Joins Amherst in Ending Legacy Admissions
Wesleyan University Ends Legacy Admissions - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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From the article:
Legacy status played a ânegligible roleâ in admissions, Michael S. Roth, Wesleyanâs president, said in an interview. But, he added, the practice was becoming a distraction and âa sign of unfairness to the outside world.â
Mr. Roth said he did not know precisely how many past Wesleyan students were helped by legacy status. An applicantâs family ties could, for example, be used as a tiebreaker or to help whittle down a pool.
Hmmmmm. This doesnât seem very forthcoming or accurate.
Well, I think itâs pretty easy to look up the number of admits who are legacies. Roth seems to be parsing the whole issue of whether they were actually helped by being a legacy. I agree that itâs needlessly picky.
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But that doesnât mean they were admitted because they were legacies. They may have been athletes, or written killer essays, or been tippy top of their class with a ton of ECs and been admitted without needing the tiebreaker the legacy status brought.
My sorority stopped giving additional consideration to legacies about 4 years ago. It hasnât changed much except for THAT legacy who is sad she wasnât picked. It hasnât changed the overall make up of membership much at all. Are some legacies admitted? Of course. They may go the extra step to make a good impression, talk about the philanthropy work sheâs done for our charity, ask the ârightâ questions, just like a Wesleyan legacy might make it a priority to impress Wes.
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This is so important. Legacy can be (and often are) very strong candidates. Strong ones that will yield. I think these schools long ago stop bending the standards for legacy students as itâs simply not aligned with their mission to perpetuate privilege. The student may get a second read, but so do many other students, for many other reasons.
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Itâll be interesting to see whether, and to what degree, this affects alumni fundraising.
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I think neutral overall for the average alums . Remember the admit rate for legacies is still well under 50% for the selectives where legacies even matter, so each admissions cycle you risk pissing off all the alums whose kids got rejected. Large donor preferences, like preferences for famous/powerful people are unlikely to go away â looking at you Trumps, Obamas and Bidens.
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I note briefly there have been some empirical studies suggesting it might have little immediate effect, but some colleges have basically argued they are looking at effects on the scale of multiple generations, which of course are hard to really evaluate with shorter-term studies.
So it may be a while before we really know the answer (and I suspect very likely no one will even remember it was a question by then).
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Heâs the Chair:
Woah. I hope heâs better at governing Goldman.
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Itâs difficult to know from that article what really happened at that meeting.
Iâm not supporting Solomon and know nothing of his efforts or lack there wrt fossil fuels or climate change, just saying that some college age students are wary and distrusting of any wealthy white male.
It is a fact Solomon is in a position of power, especially so when at Hamilton.
Goldman has been having its issues, and Solomon has been part of that both as CEO and with his growing DJ career.
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A later version of the same news report includes the following press release from Goldman Sachs:
âDavid Solomon has enormous respect for the students at Hamilton College. He did not and would not say things to offend them. We strongly dispute the claims that he did.â
So, âweâ meaning, Goldman Sachs, are basically calling the students liars?
The whole thing is so painfully awkward.
Solomon is an interesting dude.
And this part seems even worse!
The students also accused Solomon of offering a âracially-charged sentimentâ when he claimed they benefited from financial aid in order to [attend the college].
âHe pointed at each one of us, claiming that all of us must be on financial aid; he implied that we should show immense gratitude because we are in debt to the collegeâs endowment and that we should not complain about its investment portfolio,â the students wrote in the letter. âOnce we all looked shocked at the claim, he quickly backtracked, citing the statistic that something like 80% of Hamilton students are on some kind of financial aid.â
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Yeah, nothing about that entire conversation (about which weâve only heard one side) suggests that Solomon is data-driven.
Yes, the incident with the Hamilton students is actually part of a much bigger story/scandal concerning the worldâs 4th biggest investment bank. There are more details in this original investigative piece for New York Magazine:
A Goldman spokesperson disputes the studentsâ claims as false. But they took notes on the encounter, writing down everything Solomon said, and shared them with me.
At least one of the students left the encounter in tears. âIt was just so upsetting and appalling that someone would talk to us with that much blatant disrespect and disregard for us,â she told me. âIn my life, I had never really been talked to like that, which was kind of stunning.â
Solomon appeared to think the interaction was a success. Later that evening, he approached one of the students at a campus pub and said that he âreally enjoyed our conversation earlier.â
Goldman Sachs vs. David Solomon (nymag.com)
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