UVA muddies the legacy waters
Last month, UVA changed the way applicants report legacy status. Rather than checking a box, they can respond to an optional essay prompt about their
“personal or historic connection with UVA. Such relationships might include, but are not limited to, being a child of someone who graduated from or works for UVA, a descendant of ancestors who labored at UVA, or a participant in UVA programs.”
This isn’t a material change.
Having, eating cake
UVA doesn’t want to get rid of legacy admissions because it wants donations from alumni for another generation and higher yield. Yield is the share of admitted kids who go on to enroll, and legacy kids are usually likelier to enroll if admitted than non-legacies. Colleges like high yield for lots of reasons.
So UVA has its profit- and prestige-maximizing reasons for keeping legacy preference. But it has to appear to be wringing its hands, because more colleges are dropping legacy preference now. It can’t be seen to do nothing in the wake of the Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action.
How to do both? UVA tried to confuse matters a bit by inviting an essay instead of a box to check. It threw a mention of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves in for good measure. But the college did not say it would end legacy preference! It has just changed the way it collects the information.
UVA’s PR move seems to have fooled some reporters. The Washington Post said the "University of Virginia will limit ‘legacy’ factor in admissions.” Inside Higher Ed said UVA’s policy “threads the needle.”
Since the incentives to favor legacies haven’t changed, and UVA did not announce any actual change in the way it treats legacies, the college’s behavior probably won’t change much.
How will we know?
UVA would have to tell us if the legacy admission rate changed. The student newspaper is quite good at getting legacy admission statistics out of the admission office, so I’m going to keep an eye on it.
If Richmond instructs and pays UVA to change its legacy policy, that would probably change the college’s behavior. Sacramento has been leaning on and funding the UCs to increase in-state enrollment, and those colleges are obeying.
What does that mean for your kid?
If you went to UVA and are concerned that your kid might enjoy less of a legacy admission boost because of this change, I wouldn’t be. Unless the state government gets involved or UVA announces some other change.
If you’d like to work with someone who looks at admission news with a critical eye and isn’t fooled by colleges’ PR, I’m the admission counselor for you. You can take my on-demand seminars here or book a one-on-one consultation here. I look forward to working with your family!
