The Problem with College Admissions

In our last Regressives episode, we went over affirmative action and why it might soon be a thing of the past. Today, we’ll go through a less-discussed practice in college admissions: legacy admissions. For a century, it’s allowed elite schools to cater to elite families, giving blatantly preferential treatment to the nation’s wealthiest sons and daughters. It’s created a hyper-exclusive pipeline, designed to keep donations flowing to universities while ensuring the most qualified students aren’t the only ones getting in. On this episode of Regressives, Ravi dives into the past, present, and future of a practice that the American aristocracy would rather leave undiscussed.