They benefited from legacy admissions — and now they want them to end.
 | By Amanda Su Opinion Video Fellow |
Even as calls to end legacy admissions, the preferential treatment given to children of alumni in the college application process, have recently come to a head, many schools continue to defend the practice. But the stigma surrounding legacy admissions — and its beneficiaries — has intensified on campuses. |
As a recent graduate who has witnessed this stigma among my classmates, I knew it would be difficult to find legacy students willing to take on legacy admissions publicly. Still, our Opinion Video team felt that the perspective of these students would be necessary to move the needle on this debate. So the search began. |
Most students and alumni I managed to speak to over the phone ultimately declined to be interviewed on camera. Many cited feelings of embarrassment, even shame. They worried that exposing themselves as legacies would change how their classmates, friends and even future employers perceived them. They feared it would raise questions of whether they really earned their spot at their universities — or simply got in because their parents attended. |
It's uncomfortable to speak out against an unjust system that you benefited from, and to admit that your accomplishments can't be fully attributed to your own hard work or talent. It's even harder to do all of that on something of a national stage. |
And yet, in an Opinion video published today, a few people actually did rise to the challenge. The video, produced by the journalist Alexander Stockton and me, features five recent college graduates, all legacies, who candidly confront the unfair advantages they received in the college admissions process with admirable vulnerability and humility. While calling out their alma maters that still uphold legacy preferences, the graduates also grapple with their own privilege and complicity. |
All five felt a personal responsibility — for some, partially motivated by guilt — to help dismantle a system that once favored them, even if it meant risking public scrutiny. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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