Harvard’s last Affirmative Action program is for the rich

Jayson Weingarten served as an admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania, where he rose through the ranks over the course of four years. He is now a Senior Admissions Consultant at Ivy Coach, guiding students through the highly selective college admissions process from the other side of the desk.

Harvard has a secret backdoor.

Most applicants have never heard of it. Harvard doesn’t advertise it on its admissions website. There’s no box to check on the Common Application. Yet each year, a small cohort of applicants is offered admission through a different pathway.

They don’t enroll with the incoming class. Harvard admits them on the condition that they wait a year before matriculating.

It’s called the Z-List. Over the years, it has become notorious for just who gets ushered through Harvard’s back door. They’ve often included children of uber-wealthy donors, connected alumni, and heads of state. Some have academic credentials that would make admission through Harvard’s front door highly unlikely.

For decades, preferences like these were part of the peculiar ecosystem of elite college admissions. Then came June 2023. When the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions at Harvard and UNC, it was obvious what should come next. Legacy admissions would have to go.

As a former University of Pennsylvania admissions officer who now serves as a senior admissions consultant at Ivy Coach, a leading college consulting firm, I saw an unmistakable contradiction. How could America’s most selective universities continue favoring children of alumni after the Supreme Court prohibited them from favoring underrepresented minority applicants?

At many schools, legacy students make up roughly the same share of the class as first-generation college students, those who are the first in their immediate families to attend college.........

© Fortune