Harvard’s Z-List gives the children of major donors with institutional ties to Harvard and the children of influential public figures a secret backdoor to gain admission to the most prestigious college in the world. A common misconception we at Ivy Coach often dispel for prospective clients is that just anyone can get their kid into Harvard through the Z-List if they’re willing to sign a check for the right amount. For one thing, the average parent of a college-bound high schooler could never afford the $10,000,000 minimum price tag that comes with getting an academically underperforming student onto the infamous Z-List. But perhaps more importantly, money isn’t the only thing required to open this secret back door to an elite education.

As reports Jamie D. Halper for The Harvard Crimson in a piece entitled “’Z-List’ Students Overwhelmingly White, Often Legacies,” “According to SFFA’s filings, the Z-list is well over half white students — at 70 percent of the Z-list admits for the classes of 2014 to 2019, white students made up more of the group than Asian, Hispanic, and black students combined. Black students comprised only 2 percent of those admitted through the deferred admission program. The filings also show that children of Harvard alumni made up a significant portion of the Z-list in recent years; 46.5 percent of students on the Z-list in the classes of 2014 to 2019 were legacies, according to the documents.”

So the Z-List is essentially a way for mediocre students from a cross-section of the world’s richest and whitest class to be admitted to a school that routinely denies applicants who are more than qualified for acceptance. All while Harvard and many other schools maintain unfair advantages for legacy applicants and recruited athletes. How is this possible? Where is the public outcry?

Ivy Coach’s Brian Taylor Sits Down With Malcolm Gladwell to Discuss Harvard’s Z-List

Ivy Coach’s managing partner, Brian Taylor, recently sat down with one of his literary heroes, Malcolm Gladwell, to answer some of these questions and discuss the precarious place of the Z-List in higher education. Let’s take a look at a snippet of the conversation that ensued:

Gladwell: Why isn’t this a bigger deal? The vast majority of families with kids who want to go to these schools go through the front door, right? And their chances of getting in are being constrained by all of these loopholes [such as the Z-list] that these schools aren’t even particularly pretending to hide.

Taylor: Correct.

Gladwell: Why isn’t there more anger about this?

Taylor: These schools even used to — until a few years ago — say in their press releases about the incoming class that “20% of our students are legacies.” They were bragging about it! They no longer do that as they cannot list the ethnic breakdown of an incoming class. It’s no longer justifiable. But why do they have [the Z-List]? It’s because the development cases subsidize, rightly or wrongly, the education of so many low-income students. They don’t want to dip into their endowments to pay for their aid.

Gladwell: But if I was a normal graduate of Harvard, I would be very upset about this. Doesn’t it devalue the meaning of my degree if some portion of people who went to my school just got in because they’re on the Z-List?

Taylor: Yes. This is supposed to be an American meritocracy, not an aristocracy. But that’s not how college admissions is designed in this country.

Gladwell: Yeah. So now, what would happen if some exclusive school called you up and said, Brian, we want to make you our admissions director?

Taylor: They would never make that call, Malcolm.

Gladwell: [laughter] But look, I’m wearing a Washington and Lee t-shirt here. Washington and Lee calls you. They’re a resonably selective school.

Taylor: Are you asking what fixes I would make?

Gladwell: Yeah, I want to hear the Brian Taylor admissions approach.

Taylor: Ok, so it’s not your lottery system. I don’t believe in that. The reason I don’t believe in the lottery is because even if you had the lottery of only kids with perfect grades and perfect scores, you’re going to get a very boring class. Just because you get great grades and scores doesn’t make you interesting. Something that’s correct about the system is they are picking interesting kids. There are literally people who are flagging students who have compelling stories, students who are future change-makers, students who are going to return to wherever they’re from and make it better in one small, specific way. It’s why they haven’t sought well-rounded students for decades. But for my system — and it’s totally not perfect — but at least it’s a little bit better: eliminate legacy, with the exception of development cases. It’s a compromise. And I know development cases should not have a leg up but they subsidize the educations of low-income students and we need those low-income students to have access to education. Remove the recruited athlete slots. That’s going to open up so many slots to deserving students and to students of color who no longer have a leg up. We have a crystal ball at Ivy Coach and it’s usually right. It was wrong this time when we predicted that legacy admission would fall like dominoes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling. Legacy admission stands. I don’t know how it stands. What I would say is that where Harvard goes, the rest tend to follow. Harvard is currently investigating legacy admissions. What are they investigating? They know the leg up that legacy admission gives. For years, they said it was like an extra ten points on the SAT. It’s not an extra ten points on the SAT. If that were the case, 15-20% of Early admits would not be legacies.

Gladwell: Yeah, yeah. I agree with you. You got to have room for the weirdos. When I look back at my college experience, 100% of the fun came from people who were atypical. If you can’t meet strange people in college, what’s the point of going to college? So, you want to do away with all favors except for the children of the rich.

Taylor: Not because I think they should have a leg up, but because we need to subsidize the education of these deserving low-income students.

Gladwell: Wait, so let’s assume that hell freezes over and Brian Taylor is appointed to replace William Fitzsimmons at Harvard, are you keeping the Z-List?

Taylor: No, the Z-List doesn’t need to remain. If Harvard goes down in the US News rankings, do you think people will stop applying to Harvard?

Gladwell: Yeah, but my point is: there’s a distinction here that you can say you’re willing to give a leg up to the smart kids of rich people. But the thing about the Z-List is that we’re also interested in the dumb kids of rich people. So what I want to know is will you only let in the smart kids of rich people or dumb kids of rich people?

Taylor: We might have to let in a couple of dumb kids here and there. But at least it would hurt our US News ranking.

Gladwell: [laughter] I applaud your openness.

Taylor: I never said it would be a perfect system. I said it would be a better system.

Gladwell: I like the idea. I’m so in love with the title the Z-List and the kind of frankness with which they acknowledge that it’s the last letter of the alphabet. That’s what we’re doing here folks. They could have called it the X-List, which would have suggested there was some room below. No, it’s Z baby!

Taylor: Yeah.

Gladwell: So you’re saying if my daughter comes to you, would you steer her in the right direction?

Taylor: Malcolm, your daughter doesn’t need our help. She’s the daughter of Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell: [laughter] You didn’t have to say that! That’s very sweet of you though.

Ivy Coach’s Solution: Phase Out Legacy and Recruited Athlete Advantages, Save the Z-List

What we’re about to say might be a surprise (unless you’re an avid reader of our college admissions blog). The Z-List is somewhat of a necessary evil as admitting major donors to Harvard ensures that the school remains accessible to students who need financial aid to attend. Considering less than 4% of any given incoming class at Harvard came in through the Z-List, while upwards of 25% of students got in via the legacy or recruited athlete boost, the Z-List is far from the worst crime perpetrated by Harvard’s admissions officers.

That’s why we advocate for the Z-List to remain intact even if the athletic recruitment process and legacy status were to face the chopping block! Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering, lays out our two-fold plan for protecting low-income students while returning Harvard to its meritocratic ideals.