Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of legacy status in admissions

Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by el_nahual on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @12:30PM (#36789096)

The cynical(?) explanation is that it is precisely because of the dismantling of standardized testing that getting rid of legacy admissions tenable...because it means schools can still proxy for class in admissions decisions (except veiled as extracurriculars, or "oh, this student knows calculus" in boston/sf).

If Harvard or USC were on the list I'd wager this to be the case, but MIT, Mellon & Pitt are serious schools so I believe them when I say it's in favor of increased rigor.

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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by ghaff on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @12:42PM (#36789337)

Some schools probably have a higher academic floor. The other thing that happens is that a fair number of good but not spectacular students who nonetheless want to get into the best school they can will put somewhere like Harvard on their list even though they know it's a long shot. If they have so-so SATs (especially in math) they won't even try for MIT--and probably wouldn't like it anyway.

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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by mlyle on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @12:47PM (#36789416)

I'm not sure it's deliberate, but I broadly agree with you that getting rid of tests favors class (despite the reasons purportedly being for equity). While you can buy small improvements in test scores, most things that have replaced tests in admissions decisions are easier to buy.

> MIT, Mellon & Pitt

MIT still requires SAT scores, so it's a non-factor there.

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