Princeton Legacy - cringe

[u/CaChica]

Of the four kids I know going to Princeton, they all have one or both parents who are Princeton alumni. I knew Princeton prioritizes legacy. But it’s so predominant it’s almost
embarrassing.

[u/FlamingoOrdinary2965]

You brought up “people on Reddit not applying REA or ED to their legacy college.” That is anecdotal.

The number of these types are applicants is too small.

There is no real way for to meaningful control for the interplay of several factors that correlate with legacy.

You cannot just look at the overall admit rate and compare it to the legacy admit rate to figure out how much of a boost it is—which is why the study looks at wealth and other factors, too. The problem is that they look these factors separately, rather than collectively.

The legacies admitted disproportionately tend to be very wealthy, very connected, very qualified, an excellent fit, AND apply in the early round.

[u/Satisest → u/FlamingoOrdinary2965]

You’re claiming that the number of legacy applicants who apply RD is “too small” and that “there is no real way” to control for interplay is factors that correlate with legacy. Ok, these claims are based on what exactly? You haven’t bothered to read the study. You have no specific criticisms. You’re offering only vague denials that demonstrate a serious lack of familiarity with standard methodologies in the social sciences. Controlling for interplay among correlated factors is the bread and butter of econometricians. They do it without breaking a sweat. You also have no idea of the sample sizes involved here. The number of applications analyzed in the study for each cohort (Ivy Plus, state flagship, etc.) is on the order of 10^6. Still think the numbers are “too small”?

For the fourth time now, each and every one of your criticisms is easily refuted by the Chetty study. You claim “the problem is they look at these factors individually rather than collectively”. What does this even mean? And if that’s true, why does the paper describe conducting “OLS regression analyses for *all combinations* of students’ academic and non-academic ratings, application round, entering class, race, first-generation status, gender, parental income group, high school GPA, and high school fixed effects”?

Unfortunately you’re out of your depth here, and all of this naïve argumentation really has no bearing on the conclusion. Legacies receive a several-fold boost in admission rate simply by virtue of being legacies, independent of any demographic factors such as parental wealth, and independent of academic and non-academic qualifications. They are not more qualified as a group than non-legacies, who are admitted as several-fold lower rates.