Comment on By Ending Legacy Admissions, Amherst Aims to Change the Makeup of Its Student Body

By Ending Legacy Admissions, Amherst Aims to Change the Makeup of Its Student Body

Since Johns Hopkins University stopped giving admissions preference to children of alumni seven years ago, its percentage of low-income and first-generation college students has jumped considerably. Now, Amherst College has announced it will do the same amid growing demands to level the playing field in college admissions. Legacy preference, the longstanding practice of giving an admissions advantage to children of alumni, is used by 73% of the most selective universities — those, like Amherst, that admit less than 25% of applicants, according to a 2019 survey on admissions practices. “Legacy preferences that benefit wealthy and white students are frustrating the good efforts that colleges and universities are making to diversify by class and race,” says Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who edited a book on legacy preference, titled Affirmative Action for the Rich.

 

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