New York Times, Amherst College Ends Legacy Admissions Favoring Children of Alumni:
Amherst College announced on Wednesday that it would no longer give the children of alumni a boost in the admissions process, becoming one of the first highly selective colleges in the country to abandon a practice that has held back efforts to diversify the top echelons of American higher education.
With the announcement, Amherst, a private liberal arts school in Massachusetts, joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University and the California Institute of Technology in the handful of highly selective schools that have opted against having so-called legacy admissions programs. …
About 11 percent of the students admitted to Amherst in recent years have been children of people who graduated from the college. Most members of this year’s freshman class are students of color, and 18 percent are first-generation college students.
- Amherst College to End Legacy Preference and Expand Financial Aid Investment to $71 Million
- Statement to the Community About Financial Aid, Legacy Announcement
- The Atlantic, College Admissions Are Still Unfair
- The Daily Princetonian, Amherst College Ends Legacy Admissions Policy, Sparking Conversation at Elite Institutions
- Wall Street Journal, Amherst College Drops Admissions Advantage for Children of Alumni
