Amherst to stop offering legacy preference in admissions

Data10
Thu, 28 Oct 2021 16:51:16 +0000

BKSquared:

If we look at @Data10 post in 162 above, we can see that White ORM LDC applicants have generally higher Academic ratings (54% have a 1-2 rating while only 45% of White non-ALDC are 1-2). This is consistent with what the Yale AO has said on various occasions to interviewers and alums whose kids are applying. The advantage is if out of 100 admits of 2,000 applicants, 12-15 spots are set aside for legacies, and if the number of legacy applicants is say 50, the admit rate for legacies would be 24-30% vs the overall admit rate of 5%. It could well mean in fact that the average accepted legacy has higher academic qualifications than the average admit because the competitive pool is much stronger.

Rather than looking at portion of applicants with different academic ratings, it may be more meaningful to compare admit rate for those legacy and non-legacy applicants with a constant academic metric. For example, the admit rate by applicant Academic Index decile and Academic Rating is below for LDC vs non LDC. The admit rate for non-ALDC kids in top 3 Academic Index deciles was similar to the admit rate for LDC kids in the bottom 3 Academic Index deciles. The analysis found that the average boost was ~10x for legacy and 22x for double legacy, after controls for academic qualifications of applicants, hooks, REA vs RD, etc.

Harvard Admit Rate for White ORM Applicants by AI (decile is reference to full applicant pool)
Top AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 57%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 15%
2nd AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 57%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 11%
3rd AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 47.5%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 7.5%
4th AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 36%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 5%
5th AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 32%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 4%
6th AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 26%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 2.5%
7th AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 23%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 2%
8th AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 17%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 0.5%
9th AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 12%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = ~0%
Bottom AI Decile: LDC Admit Rate = 6%, Non-ALDC Admit Rate = 0%

Harvard Admit Rate by Academic Rating
Academic Rating = 1: 97% Admit Rate for LDC, 68% for non-ALDC
Academic Rating = 2: 49% Admit Rate for LDC, 10% for non-ALDC
Academic Rating = 3: 18% Admit Rate for LDC, 2% for non-ALDC
Academic Rating = 4: 3.5% Admit Rate for LDC, 0% for non-ALDC
Academic Rating = 5: 0% Admit Rate for LDC, 0% for non-ALDC