Geoff: A new study out today
shows how college admissions
practices benefit the richest
applicants.
Opportunity insights, a group of
Harvard economists, analyzed
data from 12 of the country's
top colleges from 1999 to 2015.
They found that among students
with the same test scores,
applicants with families in the
top 1% of earners were 34% more
likely to be accepted.
Those from the top .1% were
twice as likely to be accepted.
And schools gave preference to
legacies and student athletes,
among others.
Overall, one in six students at
ivy league schools had parents
in the highest income bracket.
Raj chetty directs opportunity
insights and co-authored the
study and he joins me now.
Based on your research, how are
elite institutions giving it
admissions advantage to students
who come from wealthy families?
Raj: What we are finding in the
study, looking at detailed
admissions data from many ivy
league and other highly
selective colleges, is that
there are three key factors that
lead to higher admission rates
for kids with the very highest
income rates.
Families making more than
$600,000 a year.
First is legacy admissions, if
your parents went to the
college, you have a five or six
fold higher chance of getting
into the college.
The exact same appellation
credentials -- application
credentials.
Second, recruited athletes have
a significant advantage of
getting into these colleges and
they tend to come primarily from
very high income families.
Third, we find that nonacademic
credentials, things like
extracurriculars or other
activities, leadership traits
outside the classroom, these
credentials tend to be much
stronger among kids with very
high income families, and much
stronger among kids who went to
elite private high schools,
which of course tend to be
attended primarily from kids
very high income families.
Together, those three things
explain why kids from the
highest income families are
about two times as likely to get
in as kids for middle-class
families.
Geoff: There are certainly
people who will hear this and
think being wealthy affords all
sorts of advantages in life.
It stands to reason that would
extend to college admissions.
Why in your view should this
research give people pause?
Raj: What is surprising to us
about the study is not simply
that there are more high income
kids than middle-class kids at
these colleges.
As you noted, we might expect
that given there's advantages
that kids from high income
families have.
Better schools, better
neighborhoods, over many years.
What is critical we are finding
in this study is that's not
enough to explain why you have
one in six kids coming from the
top 1% at our nation's top
colleges.
Even relative to all those
benefits.
You look at their sat scores at
the point they are applying to
college, 7% of kids with the
highest sat scores are coming
from families in the top 1%.
But 16% of kids attending our
nation's top five colleges are
coming from families of the top
1%.
That is telling us that even
above and beyond the advantages
they've had in childhood, kids
from high income families are
getting an additional boost in
the admissions process.
Geoff: Our team reached out to
some of the elite universities
mentioned in your study.
A spokesperson from princeton
university says the status is
from 2015 and the share of low
income students has changed
since that.
"The percentage of Pell eligible
students at princeton has more
than doubled since the first of
the cohort chetty analyzed.
Lower income students make up
more than a fifth of the student
body at princeton."
What do you make of that and is
it a mistake to look at this
data from eight years ago as if
it captures the current moment?
Raj: That's a great point.
We look at how things are
changing over time as well.
Princeton in particular has been
a leader in admitting and
recruiting more kids from lower
income families.
What we are finding in
particular is it is the middle
class that is being squeezed,
that is missing from these
colleges.
In particular, if you look at
admissions rates, they are
lowest from kids and what you
might think of as upper middle
income families.
Going to what you would think of
good public schools, living in
good neighborhoods, those kids
have the lowest chances of going
in.
Lower than kids at the bottom
end of the income distribution,
and especially much lower than
the kids at the very top, of the
income distribution, many of
whom are going to private
schools and so on.
That piece of it still persists
today to the present point, and
I think it is extremely
important to think about that at
princeton and other colleges.
Geoff: If it is the kids from
affluent families that are
getting the advantages, and kids
from the lower income families
in some cases that are getting
the attention from these schools
that are focused on diversity,
how should these universities
make sure that their student
bodies reflect economic
diversity and include more
middle-class families, as you
mentioned?
Raj: I think it comes back to
thinking about the three factors
we identified as driving the
very high income admissions.
Does it make sense to have
legacy preferences?
Does it make sense to be
recruiting athletes in
particular from the highest
income families?
Does it make sense to focus on
nonacademic rentals --
credentials?
When we follow these kids over
time and look at their outcomes
after college, you can ask is
that the case that kids with a
stronger credentials,
extracurriculars and so on,
maybe they are more qualified
candidates?
Maybe they are doing better 10
years after college and merit
that they are admitted at higher
rates.
Actually we find when we look at
a wide variety of outcomes,
incomes, chances of working at a
prestigious firm, going to a top
graduate school, there is no
evidence that the kids getting
those admissions advantages are
doing any better.
One simple answer to your
question is revisiting whether
those make sense, possibly
pulling back on them could allow
more middle-class kids a shot at
these opportunities.
Another possibility is to take
an affirmative approach and
recognize kids coming from
lesser resourced schools, maybe
they reserve a boost as well.
Geoff: Raj chetty, professor
R of economics at Harvard
university, thank you for being
with us.
Raj: My pleasure.