Do Colleges Need to Be Need Blind?

[ucbalumnus]

@northwesty

Accordingly Harvard designs (or you could say “rigs”) its admissions policies so it can hit its 20/35 ratio year after year. Having sky high selectivity is the biggest factor in skewing student SES to where it needs to be. Legacy admissions helps too. Having a big sports program also helps. Most Ivy League sports trend upper SES.

Other ways to tip the pool toward wealth, without having to be need-aware for individual application reading are listed in reply #2.