If you follow the news, you've probably seen quite a bit about college admissions recently. We know you're already stressed, so we want to ease that tension by telling you exactly what's going on with college admissions and why they’ve suddenly entered the news.
Today, we're going to be looking at a few of the reasons why college admissions have been such a major topic in the news recently. More importantly, we're going to look at what this means for you.
Why Are College Admissions in the News?
There are two main reasons that college admissions have entered the news cycle. The first reason is that on June 29th, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Affirmative Action was unconstitutional and that colleges and universities could no longer account for race during their admissions processes. The second reason is that in July of 2023, the United States Department of Education opened up a civil rights investigation into the so-called "legacy admissions" practices of Harvard University, instigating a nationwide conversation about the ethics and effects of legacy admissions in American universities.
These two actions by the United States government have triggered a firestorm of opinion pieces discussing the perceived inequality of college and university admissions standards, with many (perhaps most notably Justice Neil Gorsuch) bringing up the particular situations of student athletes and the children of donors and faculty. Whatever the case may be, college admissions have just changed in a big way and may change even more still. With all of this information, you have to be asking yourself a few questions, and we're here to answer them. We'll start with the basics.
Affirmative Action:
What is Affirmative Action?
Affirmative Action is "the use of policies, legislation, programs, and procedures to improve the educational or employment opportunities of members of certain demographic groups (such as minority groups, women, and older people) as a remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination against such groups" (Merriam-Webster dictionary).
That's a lot of words, but it basically works like this: there are groups of people in the United States (and everywhere, but let's focus on home right now) that have historically and today been put at a disadvantage. Whether it's through outright legal discrimination or more insidious and less obvious policies like gerrymandering, many minorities have been deprived of their rights and livelihoods based on their race, gender, sexuality, religion, able-bodied status, age, or national origin. Affirmative Action is an attempt to correct the harmful effects of this discrimination by directly improving the educational and employment opportunities for these minorities.
In the context of university admissions, this means that, for example, a university may look at a student's race when making admissions decisions. In order to correct the past injustice of people of color students being literally or effectively forbidden from the school, the university will factor in their race in the admission process.
Why Does Affirmative Action Exist?
Simply put, the people who have advocated for Affirmative Action have done so to both account for previous discrimination and to undo the long term effects of discrimination. When the Civil Rights act was passed in 1964, not even 10% of Black people in the United States had attended college, and almost none of them came from prestigious schools like Harvard, which in 1970 had only 9 Black students in a class of 486. That's less than .02%.
Nowadays, after decades of Affirmative Action and many other large scale social changes, the rates of college attendance for students of color have skyrocketed, though they still aren't totally equal. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, White students still attend college more often than any race besides Asian students. And even still, there are some measures indicating that this gap is getting larger faster than it's getting smaller. Affirmative Action was designed to fix this issue, and depending on who you ask, it did the job.
What is the History of Affirmative Action?
The history of the term itself is not terribly important, but the practice began on university campuses in the late 1960s as a result of the civil rights movement. Colleges and universities began a conscious effort to admit more students of color onto their campuses, but the policies were frequently unpopular, receiving challenges from many White students.
The policies received their biggest challenge in 1978 when the Supreme Court ruled on the subject, deciding that racial quotas were not allowed but that race could be considered as a general factor in the process of college admissions. This meant that a university could no longer, for example, decide ahead of time that 10% of its spots will be reserved exclusively for Black students, but they could still make a conscious effort to recruit Black students.
This set the status quo for the remaining several decades, allowing universities to value and promote diversity for their student body and to still aid in repairing the damage done by centuries of discrimination.
Is Affirmative Action Fair?
Like anything, it depends on who you ask. Some people believe that race shouldn't be considered at all in the college admissions process, and others believe it's an important step to correcting racial and social inequality. What cannot be challenged, however, is that since colleges began considering race in their applications, the massive gap between White college attendance and Black college attendance has shrunk dramatically, providing much more opportunity for students of color who previously didn't have access to the privilege of a college education from the nation's elite schools.
Why is Affirmative Action in the News?
Affirmative Action is a perennially controversial topic, especially when it comes to college admissions, but it recently came to even greater prominence when the Supreme Court voted to end the practice in a historic reversal of established legal precedent. Much the same as Affirmative Action itself, this decision by the Supreme Court has been a subject of controversy. Some have defended the right of college admissions to continue to think of race in their admissions processes while others have celebrated the court's decision. Wherever you stand, we now live in a different era for college admissions.
How Does the End to Affirmative Action Affect Me?
The unfortunate truth of the matter is that it's too early to tell. Statements from Chief Justices and questions about how this new normal will be enforced have led to much confusion and uncertainty. According to one New York Times article, colleges themselves still don't know exactly how they're going to handle this. What we know for sure is that, at the specific level, colleges will no longer be able to access the race-question on the Common App and that questions about how much your race can figure into your application at all are as yet unanswered.
It's important to note that the decision does not outright ban the subject of race from college admissions. Chief Justice John Roberts said that mentions of an applicant's race in college essays are perfectly fine as long as they appeal to the individual's personal abilities and experiences. While this statement seems fine enough, it is, in practice, very vague, and the right course of action is not always going to be easy for students to define. The short answer to all of these questions is that it's just too early to tell.
Legacy Admissions:
What Are Legacy Admissions?
A legacy admission is when an applicant is given preferential treatment in college admissions because the applicant is related to an alumnus of the school. This could be a parent, a grandparent, a cousin, an uncle, etc., but in many schools in the United States, students with alumni relatives are given some amount of preferential treatment. It varies from school to school, with some having none at all, others valuing legacy status only a bit, and others highly valuing it, but the fact remains that it's one more point on the scorecard in college admissions.
Why Do Colleges Have Legacy Admissions?
There are plenty of factors at play, but one thing should be understood first: having alumni relatives doesn't guarantee you a spot in the school if you aren't already close to their existing academic standards. It may have a strong influence over the college's final decision, but it isn't the only factor considered in most cases. As for why students with alumni relatives receive preferential treatment, there are a few reasons, but the general consensus seems to be that colleges have legacy admissions for economic reasons. Legacy students might be more likely to attend the college they're accepted to and pay tuition. They might be less likely to require as much financial aid. They are more likely to donate after graduation, and their attendance incentivizes the related alumni to donate more.
Even still, legacy status is not the primary thing considered for the vast majority of applicants at the vast majority of schools, though it does matter. Some colleges explicitly do not practice it (such as MIT or Johns Hopkins), but many do, and it's worth considering in the application process.
Are Legacy Admissions Fair?
Legacy admissions, by their very nature, only help people whose families have already been fortunate enough to attend the type of schools that have legacy admissions (e.g., elite private institutions). First-generation college students or applicants whose families attended less prestigious schools will not benefit from this institution. That isn't to say that students with alumni relatives aren't "good enough" to attend the schools to which they're accepted, but it is an edge with varying amounts of influence that certain students have over others regardless of their academic or personal qualifications.
Why Are Legacy Admissions In the News?
In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to end Affirmative Action, both the Biden administration and the public at large have brought attention to another admissions practice perceived as unfair. It was Justice Neil Gorsuch who argued recently that Harvard, for example, could "nearly replicate the current racial composition of its student body without resorting to race-based practices" simply by "[eliminating] tips for the children of donors, alumni, and faculty". More concretely, the Department of Education has opened up a civil rights investigation into the legacy admissions practices of Harvard, after three Boston-based civil rights groups filed complaints against the university, alleging that the practice of legacy and donor admissions unlawfully discriminates against students of color.
How Does an End to Legacy Admissions Affect Me?
Unlike Affirmative Action, an end to legacy admissions isn't yet assured, so at present there's no reason to worry or cheer. Some schools ended the practice of legacy admissions long ago, and others, like Wesleyan University, have done so now in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling, but it is not yet a matter of national policy, and there's no guarantee it will be in the near future.
All that said, the concept of legacy admissions is definitely something you should keep in mind throughout your application process. Wherever you apply, you should look into the school's policy on legacy admissions to see how it's relevant to you, but only one thing's for certain. No matter where you apply, having alumni relatives at a school can't hurt you.
What Else Is Going On With College Admissions?
These two actions by the Supreme Court and the Department of Education have caused a flurry of activity and controversy among the American public. Long-standing concerns about educational accessibility and racial inequality on college campuses have been brought back to the forefront of public consciousness, and they're not going away any time soon. What's more, questions are now being raised about the ethics of admitting less academically qualified student athletes or any other equivalent extracurricular. College admissions could be changing in very big ways in many different directions, but right now, it's too early to tell exactly how.
We're going to keep our eyes peeled for all the new developments in college admissions because that's kind of our thing. For now though, in an era of uncertainty, head over to College Rover and start comparing your top college choices on the things you can know for sure. We make it easy to compare schools based on the metrics that matter most to you, and in the meanwhile, we keep track of all the stuff that's a little harder to display as data. As you go through this process, stay tuned for all the upcoming developments and answers to your questions about all things college.
