Z-List

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Can anyone tell me the purpose of the Z-list? How many kids get the letter, and how many of them will expect to get merit or other scholarships? Rumor has it, the well-connected financially have a better chance to get in through this "other door." </p>

<p>Or is that wrong information?</p>

2

<p>Good luck at Penn next year!!</p>

3

<p>Does that mean you do not know the answer to the question?</p>

4

<p>some background reading, albeit a bit muckraking in tone:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=214982%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=214982&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=254645%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=254645&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>


No, it means I sometimes find it a little tiresome when people from other schools decide to amuse themselves by trolling on the Harvard board.</p>

6

<p>Thanks Scott</p>

<p>And to the other guy, CC has been a great source of info on many colleges and related topics. </p>

<p>It is always so dull when some idiot like you think that someone's motives are to slam one college or another.</p>

7

<p>Most Z-listed applicants have some kind of tie to Harvard but couldn't withstand the competition in the year that they applied. As The Crimson indicates, Z-listed applicants are legacies of families that have donated buildings and endowed professorships at Harvard. It is really a no-brainer that Harvard wants to maintain a friendly relationship with these families.</p>

<p>In the end, Harvard (and all other private universities, I might add) is a business. A business caters to its own interests, does it not? The Z-list is one way Harvard is able to maintain good relationships with families that no other university is able to do. </p>

<p>However, there is a considerable number of students who do not have any tie. I know several students in the Class of 2009 (my class) who were Z-listed but did not have any ties to Harvard at all.</p>

<p>And also, remember that being a legacy does not mean the student is an automatic admit if they had great test scores, academics, etc. It is merely a "tip factor," meaning if there were two applicants that had the same credentials in the admissions committee's eyes and there was one spot, the spot would go to the legacy.</p>

8

<p>


Hmm, I seem to have struck a nerve.</p>

<p>Yes, CC is a great source of info on many colleges and related topics. In fact, here's a very recent, informational (see second page), non-trolling thread on this very topic:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=203350%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=203350&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>:)</p>

9

<p>TY Cosar,</p>

<p>That answered the question exactly.</p>