Amherst to stop offering legacy preference in admissions

Data10
Thu, 28 Oct 2021 21:15:41 +0000

Thorsmom66:

Essentially, if you are unhooked at Harvard you have virtually no chance of admittance unless you happen to fall into the highest academic rating category. Not sure this is a surprise and I’d be shocked if it is much different at other Ivy League schools.

Few applicants or admits have the highest academic rating. That category usually involves faculty review of academic works. It may also include persons who have national/international level achievements in certain academic contests. The bulk of unhooked admits instead have a 2 academic rating. The admit rate for 2 academic rating kids is relatively low (10% at time of lawsuit sample) because a 2 academic rating alone is insufficient. Unhooked admits also generally do well in the non-academic criteria of the application, such as ECs, personal, LORs, etc. Some specific numbers are below. The admit rate jumped to 43% for applicants that had three 2 ratings such as 2 academic, 2 EC, and 2 personal. I expect this is the most common rating combination for unhooked admits.

Ratings for Academic, EC, Personal, and Athletic
1 EC Rating – 48% admit rate, 220 admits
1 Academic Rating – 68% admit rate, 450 admits
1 Athletic Rating (recruited athlete) – 88% admit rate, 1200 admits
Three 2 ratings and one 3+ rating – 43% admit rate, 4000 admits