Preferences in College Admission

This article examines the college scandal which revealed the influence of wealth on admission into elite institutions. Hess (2019) proposes the selection process for students into elite colleges should be upended and future students should be selected through a lottery-based system. However, such a proposal eliminates the standards of meritocracy and questions the vitality of race-based policies such as affirmative action in college admission. Preferences-based admissions give students a competitive advantage in college admission based on legacy status, race, and/or atletism—race being the most controversial. With the growing attention on the recent college scandal, this article explores the weights given to preferences-based selection into elite institutions and concludes with a consideration of race-neutral alternatives that acknowledges the influence of wealth.