One of the first things I did when I got to NC State was go to a legacy luncheon with my parents and grandfather, who are NC State alumni. As we ate, the chancellor took the microphone and asked the crowd how many members of their family had attended the university. Plenty went above double digits. The whole event was very interesting; talking to my family about their history here and listening to others was fun. Being a legacy student was exciting.
Unfortunately, being a legacy student also means preferential treatment during the admissions process, which presents an uncomfortable question: “How consequential was the impact of my family tree on my application?” Personally, I’d like to think that merit alone would have qualified me for this university, but I truly don’t know. And in the occasional moments of crisis that come with college life, the question of whether I should even be here only adds to the anxiety.
The impact of legacy on college admissions is vague and bothersome. Additionally, it’s an outdated and regressive practice that any individual, whether they value equality above equity or vice versa, should stand against. Even those who, like me, are some of the lucky few who may have benefited from a broken system need to encourage NC State Admissions to completely ignore this aspect of a student’s background.
Admissions at NC State are fairly competitive, as has been pointed out before. Things like legacy could be the aspect that seals the deal for an applicant. This is ridiculous, since it is literally useless in determining merit or need. Instead, legacy admissions heavily favor applicants whose families are doing well, seeing as, by definition, their direct families have to be college graduates, who on average earn more money than non-graduates.
From a progressive standpoint, this acts against policies like affirmative action that intend to make college education more available. Likewise, from a conservative standpoint, legacy admissions aren’t any better; they simply give preference to a group of people whose background says nothing about their qualifications. Legacy admissions only break down the ideal of merit-based applications.
Ironically, legacy admissions also work against the legacy of the university as a whole. Any university that lets students with unrelated qualities in smears its own public image. After all, it only stands to reason that if students with greater qualifications or more dire backgrounds were admitted rather than legacies, then the positive impact on the world would be much greater.
The current use of legacy qualification is silly and can essentially be boiled down to luck for those from benefiting families. But it isn’t wrong to be lucky. What is wrong is recognizing an unfair tradition and doing nothing to change it, especially if you are someone who benefits the most. All members of the NC State community, especially NC State Admissions, need to focus on changing admission qualifications to not include legacy. Until then, NC State Admissions is giving priority to the most irrelevant aspect of potential students’ identity.
