We’ve all heard the justifications elite colleges used to use for the boost they would give to legacy applicants. From arguing that it’s just a matter of tipping the scales in favor of the legacy candidate when up against an equally competitive candidate to suggesting that legacy applicants simply outperform their counterparts, elite colleges have been trying to justify a system that unfairly advantages the already advantaged for decades. When one considers the insidious antisemitic origins of the practice, legacy admissions starts to appear entirely out of place in the 21st century. That’s why we at Ivy Coach have long sounded the alarm bells against legacy admissions and have consistently recommended a pragmatic strategy for highly selective schools to begin phasing it out, which protects the admissions boost given to the children of major donors so as not to jeopardize financial aid programs.

Many Top Schools Have Quietly Stopped Reporting Legacy Applicant Data

In light of the fall of Affirmative Action, the legacy admissions boost has received much scrutiny at places like Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. It should come as no surprise that these schools have quietly begun to cease reporting data on legacy admissions, which overwhelmingly favors white applicants. According to reporting by The Daily Pennsylvanian, for example, Penn toned down its language to support the legacy admissions boost during the 2026 admissions cycle. Let’s take a look:

Previous Legacy Policy Wording	Current Legacy Policy Wording
“We appreciate that attending Penn is a tradition for many families, so an applicant’s affiliation with Penn, either by being a child or grandchild of alumni, is given the most consideration through Early Decision.”	“We appreciate that attending Penn is a tradition for many families. The Admissions Office identifies legacy applicants based on the information provided in a student’s application and defines “legacy” as being either a child or grandchild of alumni. Legacies who apply to Penn—like all applicants—receive thorough consideration in the application process.”

At the same time that they made this change, Penn also stopped reporting the proportion of the student body with legacy status, which they had previously computed each admissions cycle. During the four prior admissions cycles, roughly 1 out of every 4 Penn students had legacy status:

Proportion of Student Body With Legacy Status	University of Pennsylvania
Class of 2025	22%
Class of 2024	24%
Class of 2023	23%
Class of 2022	25%

While Penn is usually considered one of the worst offenders when enshrining the legacy advantage, its Ivy League counterparts are not too far off. “According to data from Princeton in 2018, over 30 percent of applicants with a legacy connection are admitted, compared to less than five percent overall,” wrote The Daily Princetonian. Put another way, legacies are over six times more likely to get into Princeton than non-legacies! Oy vey! But that’s not all. The Dartmouth reported that “from 2014 to 2019, Harvard legacies enjoyed a 33.6% admit rate, more than 5 times higher than the general admission rate of 5.9%.,” while a 2023 New York Times study found that the legacy acceptance rate across the Ivy League sits at around 37%!

No More Illusions: The Legacy Advantage Is Still Alive and Well in Admissions

Don’t let these schools fool you. Despite their many attempts to obscure the data and redirect focus, Ivy League schools still give legacy applicants (along with recruited athletes) an expedited track to an elite education. It’s high time that this outdated practice be kicked to the curb and replaced by the purely American value of competitive meritocracy without unfair advantages. We would only caution — from a practical standpoint — against any plan to dismantle legacy admissions that does not carve out exceptions for the children of major donors (a.k.a. “development cases”), whose admissions secure the affordability of these schools to low-income students.

In the meantime, to ensure you’ve optimized your child’s odds of admission to the school of their dreams, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form and we’ll be in touch.