I agree, but to clarify a point: the "nearly half" number includes athletes, legacy admits, children of faculty and big doners, whether or not they would have o

I agree, but to clarify a point: the "nearly half" number includes athletes, legacy admits, children of faculty and big doners, whether or not they would have otherwise gotten in on academic merits. The authors estimate that only a quarter would have. I didn't read deeply enough to see if they broke that number by legacy admits only.