As a result of a study by its sociologists that found legacy students with lower SAT scores do worse than equally below-average students at prestigious colleges, Princeton University will review the academic performance of its legacy admits, according to a statement from the university's president, Shirley Tilghman.
According to the study, legacy students who are accepted into prestigious universities with below-average SAT scores for that particular institution perform at a lower level academically than their non-legacy peers with similar scores and credentials.
The two sociologists who conducted the study, Douglas Massey and Margarita Mooney, used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen that assesses 4,000 freshmen at 28 competitive American colleges, according to a March 29 article in the student newspaper, Daily Princetonian. The study also includes students' self-reported SAT scores, which were then compared to the respective university's average, along with students' GPAs.
Tilghman stated that she found the results surprising and that she asked Princeton Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel "to look at the Princeton-specific data to see if his results accord with what happens at Princeton," according to the Princetonian.
Brown Dean of Admission James Miller '73 was not available for comment on Princeton's review, but in a Feb. 23 Herald article he said the Office of Admission has not recently considered ending the practice of giving preference in admission for legacy applicants.
"Every legacy student I know does well here and I think that legacies have the backgrounds necessary to be competitive applicants," said Jake Donoghue '09, whose mother is a Brown alum and father is a professor of neuroscience at the University. "I don't think the school should admit students who aren't qualified to be here, but I also don't think that most legacy students have this problem either."
Donoghue added that he is unsure of what to make of the study when looking at Brown. "It seems like the data for the study are statistics that would weigh more at schools like Princeton, Yale and Harvard. I'm not sure how that fits into Brown."
"If the numbers are really that low, then I do think universities should rethink admission policies for legacies, but I do feel like legacy admits are important to the school because it builds up family loyalty to the University," said Anna Kentros '09, whose father is an alum.
"I know that Ivies do factor in the legacy not only for family tradition but because of funding as well," Kentros added, "yet it's because of this funding that other students benefit from lower tuition costs, so it's helpful to the University and its students."
In the Feb. 23 interview with The Herald, Miller said maintaining alumni support is an important component of sustaining the University. "We and all other private universities rely heavily on the efforts of our alumni to sustain ourselves. We rely on our graduates to staff committees, donate money, recruit students and do a whole variety of things that (alumni of) public institutions don't do. In turn, I think it's important for us to continue to have continuity with families," he said.
