“… I believe that Davidson College grants certain students an advantage by sole virtue of their status as an early decision or legacy applicant and that this advantage unfairly benefits a population of students more likely to be white and wealthy.” …
Opinion in Davidson student newspaper
I am no fan of ED, and it is somewhat concerning to me that schools are more heavily relying on ED to fill 50+% of their classes with ED. That being said, this is true for almost all schools offering ED. However, the benefit goes not just to white, wealthy students, but to students of any race who either (1) don’t need financial aid; or (2) are assured of receiving almost a full ride from financial aid.
Look at Duke: accepts almost 50% of its class from ED, and white percentage of its class is around 50% (under US average). Obviously, exact percentages depend upon the applicant pool. The author needs to do a tiny bit of research.
I would have expected a better-reasoned and better-supported argument from a Davidson student. The article is just a rant. Since the author is a legacy, its poor quality, ironically, shows why legacies should not be favored in admissions.
I bit my tongue when I first read the article, but have to agree with @HappyAlumnus. Yikes, that’s a college student’s persausive argument? Surprised it was published honestly. Not a good argument for continuing to favor legacies…