At Harvard, “over 33 percent” of legacy applicants, the children of alumni, were admitted to the classes of 2014 through 2019. The figure comes from filings by the plaintiffs in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. They said legacies were admitted at roughly five times the rate of other applicants. Harvard called their methods “deeply flawed.”
In July 2023 the Education Department opened an investigation of Harvard’s donor and legacy preferences. Amherst, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and Wesleyan had ended legacy admissions.