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The impact of legacy status on undergraduate admissions at elite colleges and universities

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  • Hurwitz, Michael

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the impact of legacy status on admissions decisions at 30 highly selective colleges and universities. Unlike other quantitative studies addressing this topic, I use conditional logistic regression with fixed effects for colleges to draw conclusions about the impact of legacy status on admissions odds. By doing so, I eliminate most sources of outcome bias by controlling for applicant characteristics that are constant across colleges and college characteristics that are constant across applicants. I estimate that the odds of admission are multiplied by a factor 3.13 due to legacy status. My results also suggest that the magnitude of this legacy admissions advantage depends greatly on the nature of the familial ties between the applicant and the outcome college, and, to a lesser extent, the selectivity of the outcome college and the applicant's academic strength.

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  • Hurwitz, Michael, 2011. "The impact of legacy status on undergraduate admissions at elite colleges and universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 480-492, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:30:y:2011:i:3:p:480-492
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    Cited by:

    1. Adam Altmejd & Andrés Barrios-Fernández & Marin Drlje & Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Dejan Kovac & Christine Mulhern & Christopher Neilson & Jonathan Smith, 2021. "O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling Spillovers on College and Major Choice in Four Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1831-1886.
    2. Hurwitz, Michael & Goodman, Joshua Samuel & Smith, Jonathan & Fox, Julia, 2015. "The relationship between siblings’ college choices: Evidence from one million SAT-taking families," Scholarly Articles 22805380, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Arcidiacono, Peter & Kinsler, Josh & Ransom, Tyler, 2022. "Asian American Discrimination in Harvard Admissions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Goodman, Joshua & Hurwitz, Michael & Smith, Jonathan & Fox, Julia, 2015. "The relationship between siblings’ college choices: Evidence from one million SAT-taking families," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 75-85.
    5. James A. Dearden & Suhui Li & Chad D. Meyerhoefer & Muzhe Yang, 2017. "Demonstrated Interest: Signaling Behavior In College Admissions," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(4), pages 630-657, October.
    6. F. Aleskerov & I. Frumin & E. Kardanova, 2016. "Heterogeneity of the educational system: an introduction to the problem," Papers 1701.07322, arXiv.org.
    7. Goodman, Joshua & Hurwitz, Michael & Smith, Jonathan, 2014. "Sibling (Non) Rivalry: The Relationship between Siblings' College Choices," Working Paper Series rwp14-028, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    8. Joshua S. Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Christine Mulhern & Jonathan Smith, 2019. "O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling-Spillovers in College Enrollment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7974, CESifo.
    9. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Emmanuel Saez & Nicholas Turner & Danny Yagan, 2020. "The Determinants of Income Segregation and Intergenerational Mobility: Using Test Scores to Measure Undermatching," NBER Working Papers 26748, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Goodman, Joshua & Hurwitz, Michael & Smith, Jonathan & Fox, Julia, 2016. "Reprint of “The relationship between siblings’ college choices: Evidence from one million SAT-taking families”," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 125-135.
    11. Peter Arcidiacono & Josh Kinsler & Tyler Ransom, 2024. "Divergent: The Time Path of Legacy and Athlete Admissions at Harvard," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(3), pages 653-683.
    12. Smith, Jonathan & Hurwitz, Michael & Howell, Jessica, 2015. "Screening mechanisms and student responses in the college market," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 17-28.
    13. Philippe Cyrenne, 2020. "Elite Universities, Program Capacities and the Student Admission Decision," Departmental Working Papers 2020-02, The University of Winnipeg, Department of Economics.

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