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brooklynite

(93,873 posts)
Wed Oct 20, 2021, 10:58 PM Oct 2021

Amherst College Ends Legacy Admissions Favoring Children of Alumni

Source: New York Times

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.

“We want to be a leader among higher education institutions, in policies and programs that support access and equity,” said Matthew L. McGann, Amherst’s dean of admissions and financial aid.

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.


Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/us/amherst-college-legacy-admissions.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
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Amherst College Ends Legacy Admissions Favoring Children of Alumni (Original Post) brooklynite Oct 2021 OP
that's huge. I bet stanford and Harvard will never do that. got to get that $$$ Demovictory9 Oct 2021 #1
This is huge Mary in S. Carolina Oct 2021 #2
The pessimist in me says that what they're really saying is that... NullTuples Oct 2021 #3
I agree Sherman A1 Oct 2021 #5
Nature vs. Nurture rages on bucolic_frolic Oct 2021 #4
This should always have been illegal Johnny2X2X Oct 2021 #6
When I was at (my alma mater) UMASS/Amherst BumRushDaShow Oct 2021 #7
When my daughter got into Mt. Holyoke someone remarked "Why is she going to an all girls school? CTyankee Oct 2021 #10
... BumRushDaShow Oct 2021 #11
My daughter loved it. She was and is pretty but she was terribly shy. Mt. Holyoke gave her CTyankee Oct 2021 #12
I do think BumRushDaShow Oct 2021 #13
Mt. Holyoke claims Emily Dickenson. Vasser claims Meryl Streep. CTyankee Oct 2021 #15
Well Dickinson BumRushDaShow Oct 2021 #16
I live in New Haven and it should be noted that Yale changed one of its residential colleges name CTyankee Oct 2021 #17
That's great!! BumRushDaShow Oct 2021 #18
The Game (as it is called) was always a point of controversy at my Thanksgiving dinner where my CTyankee Oct 2021 #19
.... BumRushDaShow Oct 2021 #20
misleading, since MOST "exclusive" colleges abandoned that practice years ago..... getagrip_already Oct 2021 #8
That's news to me. Do you have a link or reference? Thanks. TheRickles Oct 2021 #9
Fairer..but speaktruthtopower Oct 2021 #14

Demovictory9

(32,324 posts)
1. that's huge. I bet stanford and Harvard will never do that. got to get that $$$
Wed Oct 20, 2021, 11:01 PM
Oct 2021

legacy is the informal way parents pay to get their kids into big named schools...

NullTuples

(6,017 posts)
3. The pessimist in me says that what they're really saying is that...
Wed Oct 20, 2021, 11:52 PM
Oct 2021

...just being an alumni is not enough. One must be an "active" (read: donating) alumni.

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
6. This should always have been illegal
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 08:01 AM
Oct 2021

In a country where these elite schools are a meal ticket for life, these opportunities should be reserved for those that most deserve them.

I don't think people realize how the children of the rich cannot fail, their whole lives are handed to them, and when they get into these elite colleges undeservedly, they're just there to make the connections that will guarantee them the "right" job.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
7. When I was at (my alma mater) UMASS/Amherst
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 09:02 AM
Oct 2021

we used to go to an occasional Amherst college party.

They were part of the area's 5-college Consortium so you had UMASS, Amherst College, Mt. Holyoke College, Smith College, and Hampshire College and you could take courses at any of them if you went to any of those schools.

Amherst was originally all-male and became co-ed a few years before I started (vs Smith and Mt. Holyoke that were, and still are, all-female).

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
10. When my daughter got into Mt. Holyoke someone remarked "Why is she going to an all girls school?
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 03:40 PM
Oct 2021

She's so pretty!"

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
11. ...
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 04:03 PM
Oct 2021


I was actually accepted there but chose UMASS since it was (1) cheaper and (2) I had just come from an all-girls high school and wanted to try co-ed, plus there was a small Philly and NYC contingent at UMASS that eventually hung out together.

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
12. My daughter loved it. She was and is pretty but she was terribly shy. Mt. Holyoke gave her
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 07:36 PM
Oct 2021

confidence and she loved the all women environment. Ironically, her three daughters wanted nothing to do with it and chose co-ed schools, the "little Ivies" as they are called.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
13. I do think
Sat Oct 23, 2021, 08:11 PM
Oct 2021

that some do better in smaller, more intimate school settings and the 4 other schools in the area certainly fit that criteria. And then there was ZooMass.

I would way, at least when I was up there in the late '70s/early '80s, Mt. Holyoke was more low-keyed than Smith. They were both part of the "7 sisters" (Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Radcliffe, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley (Hillary Clinton's alma mater), and Vassar).

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
16. Well Dickinson
Sun Oct 24, 2021, 09:45 AM
Oct 2021

was born in that area (Amherst), so she wasn't "far from home".

(one of the dorms in one of the residential area complexes at UMASS was named after her)

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
17. I live in New Haven and it should be noted that Yale changed one of its residential colleges name
Sun Oct 24, 2021, 10:22 AM
Oct 2021

from Calhoun College to Grace Hopper College. It was hardly a revolutionary act against white supremacy and for feminism when they did it. It could have sent that message earlier.

I was at the Yale Bowl (go bulldogs!) and its marching band (always up for mischief) features a female baton twirler. She was terrific and well received. And not skinny and I thank them for that. The marching band itself is a parody of Big Ten marching bands. I used to love their antics during half time.

BTW, another highlight of our Yale home football schedule came during half time when Yale was playing Army (dunno why) and a plane flew over the field and a parachutist delivered the game ball. I think that was a first and we all loved it.

Several years ago, unbeknownst to us, Paul McCartney attended the big Harvard/Yale game (his grandson was at Yale at the time). My son was thrilled.

And two years ago was The Game's highlight when climate change activists followed the band at half time and sat down on the field, among them Sam Waterston. It went on and on and finally we left because darkness was falling and with no lights, I was afraid we wouldn't be able to see our way to the parking lot (no lights at the Bowl).

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
18. That's great!!
Sun Oct 24, 2021, 10:32 AM
Oct 2021


My dad was a computer programmer at the VA (back when it was still called the "Veterans Administration" ) from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s (he died of a heart attack young at 50 sadly) and he was taught COBOL by Admiral Hopper (although she wasn't an Admiral at the time). My mom would tell us about how he raved about her.

I know the Harvard/Yale game was a big rivalry, like the UMASS/UCONN rivalry or interestingly, UMASS/Temple (both have similar shool colors).

CTyankee

(63,771 posts)
19. The Game (as it is called) was always a point of controversy at my Thanksgiving dinner where my
Sun Oct 24, 2021, 10:45 AM
Oct 2021

ex husband attended. Since The Game was always played the week earlier it was something we could argue about, since he went to Harvard (AND, he "said", he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club which I doubt).

UCONN should stick to women's basketball, IMO...viva Geno!

getagrip_already

(14,250 posts)
8. misleading, since MOST "exclusive" colleges abandoned that practice years ago.....
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 10:34 AM
Oct 2021

There are only a handful of schools that still permit it. Not that it doesn't still happen, even at schools where it isn't an official part of admissions.

But how about focusing on the few that still do it, rather than making it seem unusual that one school abandoned it. Almost all have.

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