Is Harvard Admission Thanks to Parents?..."Top 1% Children Significantly Advantageous"

Harvard Economics Professors Analyze Elite University Admissions Results
"Students from Top 1% Wealthy Families Have Higher Acceptance Chances"

In the admissions process of prestigious U.S. universities, represented by the Ivy League, children from wealthy families were found to be favored over those from ordinary families.

According to the New York Times (NYT) on the 24th (local time), a team led by Harvard University economics professor Raj Chetty analyzed the admissions results of prestigious U.S. universities and found that even when SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) scores were the same, applicants from the top 1% wealthiest families had a 34% higher chance of acceptance compared to other applicants.

Harvard University. [Image source=Yonhap News]

To be in the top 1% economically in the U.S., an annual income must exceed $611,000 (approximately 780 million KRW). In particular, applicants from the ultra-wealthy top 0.1% families were found to have nearly twice the chance of acceptance to prestigious universities. In the case of Dartmouth College, a member of the Ivy League, applicants from the top 0.1% families had a five times higher chance of acceptance than those from ordinary families.

Accordingly, among students at the eight Ivy League schools, Stanford, Duke, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Chicago, and other 12 universities, one in six students was found to come from the top 1% wealthiest families.

Professor Chetty’s team pointed to "legacy admissions" as the background of this phenomenon. Legacy admissions are a type of special admission that favors children of alumni or donors. Additionally, a system that awards extra points to applicants from private schools over those from public schools also seemed to work in favor of children from wealthy families. The team also analyzed that admissions for students with special talents in certain sports such as fencing worked advantageously for wealthy children.

However, at public universities such as the University of Texas and the University of Virginia, there was no observed advantage for children from wealthy families in admissions. Ultimately, the wealth of applicants’ families influences admissions more at prestigious private universities.

Harvard economics professor Susan Dynarski pointed out, "The conclusion drawn from this research is that Ivy League universities do not want low-income students, which is why there are practically no low-income students enrolled."

Meanwhile, Professor Chetty’s team analyzed income tax data of college students’ parents from 1999 to 2015 to reveal the impact of applicants’ family economic status on the admissions process beyond academic achievements, awards, and personal statements.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.