College admissions is really messed up. Both colleges and students are ranked numerically, and the each tries to get the highest scoring counterparts.
This is dehumanizing to students, and makes all colleges look the same.
The advantage of legacy admissions is they aren’t going to the college because it’s the best ranked one. They’re going because they know that college specifically, and want that specific experience.
This obviously doesn’t apply to top tier colleges, but few colleges are top tier.
There are ways around this. Many colleges have “side door” admissions policies for students who clearly are interested in that specific college.
For example, “I want to study nuclear engineering, and your college is the only one in the country that has a live reactor for students to use” gets you fast tracked to Reed.
This is completely legitimate.
Of course a legacy admissions would know the side doors. Nothing wrong with that.
But I think these rules are really intended towards elite colleges, ignoring the fact that few colleges are elite.
This is dehumanizing to students, and makes all colleges look the same.
The advantage of legacy admissions is they aren’t going to the college because it’s the best ranked one. They’re going because they know that college specifically, and want that specific experience.
This obviously doesn’t apply to top tier colleges, but few colleges are top tier.
There are ways around this. Many colleges have “side door” admissions policies for students who clearly are interested in that specific college.
For example, “I want to study nuclear engineering, and your college is the only one in the country that has a live reactor for students to use” gets you fast tracked to Reed.
This is completely legitimate.
Of course a legacy admissions would know the side doors. Nothing wrong with that.
But I think these rules are really intended towards elite colleges, ignoring the fact that few colleges are elite.