Legacy and Athlete Preferences at Harvard

Peter Arcidiacono, Josh Kinsler and Tyler Ransom

No 26316, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The lawsuit Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard University provided an unprecedented look at how an elite school makes admissions decisions. Using publicly released reports, we examine the preferences Harvard gives for recruited athletes, legacies, those on the dean’s interest list, and children of faculty and staff (ALDCs). Among white admits, over 43% are ALDC. Among admits who are African American, Asian American, and Hispanic, the share is less than 16% each. Our model of admissions shows that roughly three quarters of white ALDC admits would have been rejected if they had been treated as white non-ALDCs. Removing preferences for athletes and legacies would significantly alter the racial distribution of admitted students, with the share of white admits falling and all other groups rising or remaining unchanged.

JEL-codes: I23 I24 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-09
Note: ED LE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published as Peter Arcidiacono & Josh Kinsler & Tyler Ransom, 2022. "Legacy and Athlete Preferences at Harvard," Journal of Labor Economics, vol 40(1), pages 133-156.

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Working Paper: Legacy and Athlete Preferences at Harvard (2019)
Working Paper: Legacy and Athlete Preferences at Harvard (2019)
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