In the wake of Texas A&M University's decision to abolish its preferential admissions policy for relatives of alumni, some have questioned the treatment of legacy applicants at Duke.
The admissions process at any University is an easy target for criticism, as its stated purpose is to relegate people into two groups--accepted and denied. While the process is a necessary one, it inevitably breeds negative speculation when characteristics like achievement, race and legacy status are used as evaluative criterion.
Giving legacy applicants an edge over non-legacies may seem unfair from the outside. However, the larger benefits reaped by the University and its students from a strong sense of institutional commitment outweigh other considerations.
A great deal of animosity toward the preferential treatment of legacy applicants is rooted in the common misconception that a significant number of severely underqualified students are admitted to Duke expressly due to their legacy status. A few exceptional cases notwithstanding, this notion is simply false. Legacy status most often comes into play when evaluating applicants of similar qualifications.
At a school as competitive as Duke, and given the difficulty of assessing a person through college application materials, there will often be little reason to admit one individual while denying another.
In such situations, it makes sense to accept the student with prior connections to the University, whose families have obviously demonstrated a great deal of institutional commitment to Duke.
This idea of institutional commitment may seem far-fetched at first, but it is a major component of success for Duke, as it strives to bolster its national and international reputation. Schools like Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and Yale have attained their superstar status largely because their alumni maintain such intimate connections with their college long after they graduate, supporting the school financially, and encouraging their children and relatives to attend. The fact that alumni want their kids to be educated here is a compliment to the University, and an important step in building up Duke's alumni foundation.
With these positive corollaries to the legacy policy in mind, it is necessary to acknowledge that the amount of money given by a legacy applicant's family is a factor in admissions decisions. A family with a strong contribution history has an extremely good chance of seeing their children admitted. This may appear less than just to some, but is important to remember the significance of alumni donations to the livelihood of many of Duke's programs--especially the need-based financial aid that allows students in need of economic assistance to attend this University. From a practical perspective, the University gains more than it loses when it comes to granting an edge to legacy applicants, and to a degree, their acceptances contribute to the ability of other students to attend as well.
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is correct in keeping its legacy admissions policy intact. Institutional commitment is essential to Duke in multiple areas, the least of which being prestige and support for its financial future.
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