Texas A&M; abandons legacy-based admissions

The president of Texas A&M; University announced that legacy applicants will no longer be given an advantage in admissions.

This controversial decision, announced on Friday, Jan. 9, is not the first that President Robert Gates has made regarding admissions. In December, Gates decided that Texas A&M; would not use race as a factor in determining admissions criteria.

Prior to the decision, Texas A&M; awarded applicants related to alumni an extra four points on the 100-point scale it uses to evaluate applicants.

Penn does not use a points system in its admissions process, but it does consider legacy. However, Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said that Penn is not likely to abandon its legacy-based admissions strategy anytime soon.

Gates' decision reflects his desire to move toward an admissions process based solely on the applicant's merits.

"In an admissions process based on individual merit and potential contribution to the university community, prior affiliation with Texas A&M; should not be a criterion," he said.

Gates has been under significant pressure to change his decisions about admissions policies since the announcements.

"I had intended that legacy be addressed in an ongoing view of our admissions procedure," he said. "However, public perceptions of the fairness and equity of our process clearly are important and require prompt action to deal with an obvious inconsistency in an admissions strategy based on individual merit."

Provost and Executive Vice President David Prior echoed these sentiments. "Our position on admissions is that we want people to be here on the basis of merit and their achievements," he said. "Legacy doesn't relate directly to that."

Texas A&M; has an enormous alumni base of over 270,000 former students and their responses, though varied, seem to support the university's decision.

"The reaction, generally speaking, is that they understand and are supportive," Prior said.

Joan Tatge, director of Communications for the Association of Former Students, represents all alumni of the university and has seen all different kinds of responses, mostly positive.

"As a whole, the general sentiment seems to be support for Dr. Gates and an acknowledgement that legacy didn't play a huge role in the admissions policy to begin with," she said.

Alumni are primarily counted on for donations to the university, but Prior dismissed the notion that the question of donations had entered into any decisions dealing with the legacy issue.

Tatge also predicted little change in the donation amount. "Historically, former students have demonstrated outstanding support for Texas A&M; and I don't see this [decision] impacting that," she said.

Penn also has a long-standing history of giving admissions preference to students with an alumni affiliation.

"We have a well-established program to encourage students of our graduates to apply to Penn and have had this program in place for years," Stetson said. "Basically we say we will give a measure of preference to students with an alumni affiliation who apply during the early decision program."

"I would find it difficult to believe we would change the admissions program drastically to eliminate a program that has worked so well for us over the years," Stetson said.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M; continues to review its admissions policies in an attempt to bring greater equity to the process.

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