The future of legacy admissions at USC

The admissions process within elite universities has come under strict scrutiny in recent years, following the 2019 Varsity Blues scandal and the Supreme Court decision this past June to overturn affirmative action, a measure that allows universities to consider race in admissions. 

Students for Fair Admissions, the group that brought cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina to the Supreme Court, made legacy admissions a cornerstone of its fight against affirmative action, arguing that the universities’ attachments to affirmative action were detrimental to other — particularly non-white — students. 

Justice Neil Gorsuch criticized legacy-preferential admissions in his concurrence, writing that “while race-neutral on their face,” policies of legacy preference “undoubtedly benefit white and wealthy applicants the most.” The U.S. Department of Education filed an investigation of Harvard, which has an overall admission rate of 3.2%, but an admit rate for donor-related applicants of 42% and legacy admit rate of 34%.

The battle over the ethical implications of legacy preferences in university admission decisions reached California earlier this month when State Assemblyman Phil Ting proposed eliminating access to state financial aid, or Cal Grants, for universities that offer preferential admission to the children of alumni or those with relationships to donors. At USC, that would mean losing more than $26 million in aid for nearly 3,000 low-income students. 

Per the 2023 Annual Report of the University of Southern California on Admissions Practices, each application is “tagged” with different labels marking the qualities and achievements of the applicant. Legacy applications are labeled with a “special interest tag,” which “ensures a second look by a senior Admission staff member, but the applicant is assessed by the same evaluators based on the same criteria as the general pool,” according to the report.

While not as stark as Harvard’s nearly 34% higher legacy admission rate, there was a small difference in the qualifications of legacy and non-legacy accepted applicants in 2021-2022. 

“The middle 50% of first-year alumni/donor-related admits had unweighted high school

GPAs between 3.83 – 4.00,” the report read. “The middle 50% of the overall admitted first-year pool also had unweighted high school GPAs between 3.87 – 4.00.”

A myriad of factors could explain the difference — including legacy status — or that legacy students are more likely to be able to afford private high school tuition, expensive extracurricular activities and standardized testing prep. USC Undergraduate Admission ranks class rigor, test scores, application essays and GPA with equal importance. 

Clare Jordan, a senior studying business administration, comes from a long line of Trojans: Her mother, father, grandmother, aunt, two sisters and two cousins are all current students or alumni. Though she said she felt reassured that her grades and extracurriculars were more than enough to afford her a spot on USC’s campus, she faced criticism from her high school peers over her legacy status. 

“I wish that when I was applying, [the admissions office] wouldn’t have known that my family went here,” she said.

Jordan said, however, that her connections inside USC offered a major advantage once she was a student. Beyond already having an on-campus network, her sister helped her navigate applying for academic accommodations and web registration, and her cousin helped her find her first apartment. 

First-generation student Lauren Burgess, a junior studying data science and environmental studies, said she never harbored resentment against legacies for their advantages, but felt that USC could have done more to ease her transition into college and professional life. 

“I’m definitely lost in certain aspects and feel like I’m behind the curve,” she said, “both in school and my professional life. I was hoping USC would help out more, but I had to do it all myself, like figuring out how to survive and progress in my career.”

Beyond navigating the logistics of college, Burgess, who is Hispanic, also faced criticism from fellow students because of her perceived advantages in the admissions process.

“I’ve definitely had comments made at USC from students saying that affirmative action is the reason why I am here,” she said. 

Despite coming from the “ideal” Trojan Family, Jordan said she doesn’t see legacy admissions as necessary — or even helpful. 

“Not everyone’s parents had the ability to go to college,” she said. “It’s not because they weren’t smart enough or because they didn’t work hard enough … [it’s because there was] a lot of discrimination, a lot of systemic racism and oppression of various minorities. So I don’t think that giving preferential treatment to legacies is fair … it’s just sort of perpetuating a lack of diversity in the system.” 

Naseem Nowroozi, a junior studying political science and the daughter of two Trojans, felt similarly to Jordan.

“I understand the privilege that I have in that flag [on my] application,” she said. “It’s just difficult to compare students who have had all of these privileges lined up for them from when they were born — the community that you grew up in, the schools that you go to, the access to different higher levels of education. There’s so many different resources that are only available in certain areas and certain communities that only legacy students have.”

Beyond donations, many also perceive community ties as a hesitation universities have against removing legacy status as an admission factor: At USC, that’s the idea of a generational “Trojan Family.” However, students suggest that a simple perception change could navigate this issue. 

For Burgess, not having parents in the Trojan Family didn’t stop her from bonding with her loved ones over the university experience. 

“My parents are very supportive and very active in the whole Trojan community,” she said. “They’re here for football season, they have season passes. So I feel like they’re part of the Trojan Family: They’re always here on campus and love USC.”

Though she was raised at Trojan Tailgates, Jordan agreed with Burgess’s sentiment. 

“[Removing legacy preference] would reaffirm that the only people who deserve to be here would be here,” she said. “And that doesn’t change the fact that everyone’s family’s gonna want to come to a tailgate, now it just means that their son who goofed off in high school doesn’t get a free pass to go here just because he’s their son. He has to work hard and get here the same way.”

In a statement to the Daily Trojan regarding legacy admissions, the University said that it is “deeply committed” to the diversity of its student body. For the 2022-23 academic year, 22% of students were first-generation, 22% were eligible for Pell Grants, 28% were from underrepresented groups and 74% were students of color.

“All admitted students meet our high academic standards through a contextualized holistic review that values each student’s lived experience, considers how they will contribute to the vibrancy of our campus, thrive in our community, benefit from a USC education and fulfill the commitments of our unifying values,”  the University wrote. “We continuously evolve our recruitment, admission and financial aid programs to ensure the diversity of our student body continues as the law in this area develops.”

The future of legacy preferential admissions at USC is unknown, but for the time being, students hope that the admissions process will evolve to become as equitable as possible. 

“This is a crossroads for most universities across the country in the wake of the affirmative action decision by the Supreme Court,” Jordan said. “I think they have an opportunity to move forward but also an opportunity to move backward. I’m just hoping that USC chooses a positive direction, but we’ve definitely seen USC stumble before, so we’ll see what happens.”