Do Brown University legacy applications receive preferential treatment in the admissions process? Much like many other highly selective universities, Brown gives an admissions edge to legacy applicants. But just how does Brown define a legacy and how does legacy admission work?

Who Qualifies as a Brown Legacy Applicant?

Brown’s undergraduate admissions office has this to say about legacy consideration:

Brown takes into account the natural affinity for the University that often emerges among family members of our graduates. In particular, we will note when an applicant has a parent who has graduated from Brown. While such a relationship may be a consideration when it comes to choosing among equally strong candidates, it does not ensure admission. Brown has a strong responsibility to create a new generation of successful college graduates.

According to reporting from The Brown Daily Herald, applicants to Brown are only given legacy status if they have at least one parent who is an alum of the undergraduate program, unlike some other Ivy League schools. For example, the University of Pennsylvania gives the children of graduate school alumni legacy status. Brown’s policy might seem more equitable at face value, but it just further entrenches the unfair privileges of certain wealthy families who have called Brown their own for many years.

Why Legacy Status Should be Phased Out at Brown University

Ivy Coach has long decried the unfairness of legacy admissions in the Ivy League. Legacy applicants are overwhelmingly white, wealthy, and the recipients of a lifetime of privilege. Of course, many of them are academically-distinguished and qualified for admission to Brown in their own right. But as increasingly competitive admissions cycles continue to drive Brown’s acceptance rate downward (only 5.35% of applicants were accepted into the Class of 2030), there is no excuse for a lesser applicant with legacy status to take the place of a well-deserving applicant who did not grow up with such privilege.

With the power of Affirmative Action curtailed last summer, students and activists across the country have called for an end to “affirmative action for the rich,”i.e., legacy status and other admission privileges, which appear even more unjustifiable in the current campus climate (although, don’t be fooled — institutions like Brown will still covertly use race-based admission criteria through the Roberts Loophole). 

In 2023, Brown formed an ad-hoc committee tasked with evaluating admissions policies such as standardized testing requirements, the Early Decision round, and yes, even legacy preference. What was the result? Brown is continuing to drag its feet! “Current practices for applicants with family connections — including “legacies” and children of faculty and staff — will remain unchanged while Brown continues to consider a range of complex questions raised by the committee and seeks more input from its community,” writes the administration.

We can’t say we’re surprised at this result. Ivy Coach has a saying: where Harvard goes, the rest of the Ivy League tends to follow! Until Harvard takes action, our crystal ball tells us that Brown will continue to demur on this issue.

The Path Forward for Brown’s Admissions Process

The Ivy Coach solution to Brown’s legacy admission woes is two-fold: do away with the admissions boost given to children of alumni, but protect the admissions boost given to the children of major donors. Children of major donors, i.e. “development cases,’’ only make up a slim proportion of an admitted class, but giving them an admissions boost ensures that Brown’s generous financial aid program will not be jeopardized by disgruntled donors who pull funding because their child was denied.

Brown’s accessibility to low-income students should not be gambled with a policy that does not enshrine a development admissions preference. Legacy admission preference, on the other hand, is a vestige of a time long gone, and should be phased out immediately. We at Ivy Coach call upon Brown and every other elite college or university to push the needle of higher education forward with admissions practices that are more diverse, equitable, and forward thinking!