BUILDING SOLID FOR LASTING SUCCESS
In The Price of Admission, Pulitzer winner
Daniel Golden names names, along with grades and test scores. He reveals how the sons of former vice president Al Gore, one- time Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist leapt ahead of other applicants at Harvard, Brown and Princeton. He explores favoritism at the Ivy Leagues, Duke, the University of Virginia and Notre Dame, among others. He reveals that colleges hold Asian American students to a higher standard than whites; comply with Title IX by giving scholarships to rich women in “patrician sports” like horseback riding, squash, and crew; and repay Congressmen for favors by admitting their children. He also reveals that Harvard main- tains a “Z-list” for well-connected—but underqualified—students, who are quietly admitted on the condition that they wait a year to enroll. Legacy admissions may bring to mind a
similar First Amendment Rights argument: “I hate them, but defend the right to have them.” George W. Bush—himself a legacy ben-
eficiary—and Barack Obama have openly criticized legacies. Several Congressmen have suggested legislation to ban the practice. New America Foundation’s Michael Dannenberg says, “Depriving colleges of the ability to shape their freshman classes as they see fit, as long as they abide by anti-discrimination laws, amounts to denial of an important aca- demic freedom.” He suggests that there would be unintended consequences as a result of banning legacies. • Reduced Diversity. If preferences for legacies are barred, so might those for minorities, athletes, tuba players or modern dancers. Colleges, not legis- lators, should determine their optimal mix of students, one that isn’t neces- sarily based solely on grades and SAT scores.
• Revenue reductions. Encouraging the children of alumni, including alums who are steady givers, is an economic necessity for colleges that are not elite brands. Curtailing those donations would inflict serious financial damage. • Limited Loyalty. Colleges like legacy
students for the same reason they like “early decision” applicants. Students who really want to be at a college add spirit, carry on traditions and get involved in activities that benefit all students
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, legacies are most
likely here to stay. As a result of the economic downturn, some observers estimate they will reach 30 percent at private schools. Legacy relationships certainly meet the ‘start early’ criteria. Arguably the legacy relationship begins on the day the parent graduates and gets a boost on birth date of each child.
know the receiving colleges’ admissions poli- cies, practices and personnel. To college admissions folks a feeder
school is a known quantity. Admissions offi- cers know how rigorous the classes are, how good the sports teams are, and the quality of their extracurricular programs. Families are willing to relocate to enable their children to attend feeder high schools. As a result the students are much more focused on getting into Ivy League schools. Also, high schools like Stuyvesant often have more resources, extracurricular programs, and opportunities for students to excel at a national or inter- national level. But all prep-school and feeder-
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, legacies are most likely here to stay. As a result of the economic downturn, some observers estimate they will reach 30 percent at private schools.
Feeder Schools I went to a Jesuit prep school that fed the Jesuit Colleges. My son went to a WASPy prep school in Richmond, Virginia that fed UVA, William & Mary, VMI, Hamden Syd- ney and other Virginia colleges. The regional and affinity communities that result from friends and family that attend feeder schools continue to build on themselves. John Chang, author of Hopeless to Harvard,
offers advice to high school students trying for admission to elite universities. He cites the value of the elite feeder high schools and offers pointers for aspirants who don’t attend them. Feeder high schools send students in sig-
nificant numbers year after year to the same Ivy League schools like Princeton and yale or to Stanford. Examples include Stuyvesant High School in New york, Montgomery Blair High School in Maryland and many top California public schools including Saratoga and Monta Vista. Their guidance counselors
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school students do not get into the elite colleges. They are good recruitment candi- dates for any college. Community colleges can serve as feeders,
too. In many states students graduating from the community college system are guaranteed admission to a four-year campus. Included are Hawaii, New Hampshire, Virginia, Connecti- cut, Massachusetts and California, among oth- ers. This is sometimes referred to as dual admissions. Under 2+2 articulation in Florida, students who earn associate degrees from one of the state’s community colleges are guaran- teed admission to one of the state’s four-year universities. The University of Central Florida and the University of North Florida have carved out additional relationships with home state community colleges.
Dual Enrollment and Dual Credit The US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics has published
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