The Herald’s spring 2025 poll found that just 15% of Brown students support legacy admissions, with athletes, those with legacy status and conservative students more likely to approve compared to their counterparts. Still, over 80% of Herald poll respondents said they would approve of their children attending Brown.
Community approval of legacy admissions has taken on new prominence over the past year as Brown is continuing to review its legacy admissions policies following a March 2024 report by the University’s Ad Hoc Committee on Admissions Policies. The advisory group recommended the University maintain legacy preferences while seeking input from community members on the practice.
Legacy status at Brown only applies to students whose parents received an undergraduate degree from the University, and not to those with alum grandparents or siblings.
Despite a sizable approval, those who are pro-legacy have been much less vocal compared to their anti-legacy peers, such as the campus activist organization Students for Educational Equity.
The Herald spoke to pro-legacy students about their position on the issue.
Austin Reiner ’26, a legacy student, said that Brown “opened so many doors” for his father. “While I might come from a well-off socioeconomic background, my dad did not,” he said. “I think legacy admissions are part of what helps cement that turnaround for a family.”
Reiner added that he believes students who have legacy status have “a deeper pride in the school.”
Will Vogel ’26, who is not a legacy student, said the values Brown has instilled in him — including hard work, intellectual rigor, an open mind and emotional maturity — have provided him with a different perspective on legacy. These values “can be passed down, and often are, from the parent to the kids,” he added.
Neither Reiner nor Vogel are involved in publicly advocating for legacy admissions. But both said that, among friends, they are open about their stance on the issue.
Both agree that legacy status should not be a make-or-break factor in an admission decision.
“Legacy is just a tipping point,” Reiner said. “It’s not really what makes an application. It’s just another little dot on it.”
“The academic standards and admission process for legacy applicants are the same as for all other applicants,” Amanda McGregor, a spokesperson for the University, wrote in an email to The Herald. “There is no separate process for reviewing legacy applicants.”
Vogel said that legacy admissions would ideally only act as “one extra data point” in college admissions: “It shouldn’t be a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Alecia Mahato, a college admissions counselor at IvyWise and a former admissions officer at Duke University, said that advising legacy applicants is not much different from advising other students.
But “students who are legacy applicants generally have experienced many aspects of campus life, whether that’s attending events on campus, or visiting campus multiple times throughout their lives,” she added.
Still, “a lot of people are pretty worried about nepotism,” Reiner said. “It does really suck if you see someone — who you feel is less qualified than you — get something just because of who their parents are or who they know.”
Vogel said he believes there is a “lack of nuance” in conversations surrounding legacy admissions. “I understand why people are against legacy admissions. It’s been misused a lot,” he said. “But I’m not sure that warrants wiping the slate clean.”
Last spring, when the University reviewed “family preferences” in admissions practices, the committee found that “students whose parents attended Brown tend to be exceptionally well-qualified, with academic records that are stronger than that of average matriculants” and have higher enrollment rates.
In an interview with The Herald, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 said if the University “were concerned primarily with socioeconomic diversity, it would make sense to eliminate this practice.”
When schools abolish legacy admissions altogether, he added, they “throw the baby out with the bathwater.” Without looking at legacy status, Vogel said, “you’re just ignoring the fact that people are impacted by their parents, and parents are impacted by the schools they went to.”
Vogel said that he believes having two parents who went to Brown has a more significant impact on the child’s upbringing than just one parent, and thus “should actually count a little more.”
Vogel said witnessing some of his friends share the Brown experience with their parents — “even if it’s 30 years apart” — is meaningful: “I think it’s nice for people to be able to share that experience on an emotional level.”
Teddy Fisher is a senior staff writer who studies International and Public Affairs and is passionate about law, national security and sports. He enjoys playing basketball, running and reading in his free time.
Annika Singh is a senior staff writer from Singapore who enjoys rewatching Succession and cheating on the NYT crossword.
