Many people have given answers to this very good question. But I'm going to ask another: WHY does the admission process need to take into account the social cl

Many people have given answers to this very good question. But I'm going to ask another: WHY does the admission process need to take into account the social class of the student? - Fairness? College admissions at Ivy Leagues are not a fair process. It advantages legacies, donors. - Diversity? Then why not also account for race or national origin too? - An attempt to fix the inequities of US society? Why do this at the college level when 90% of the scars of a poor childhood are already set in stone? Why do it with a student class of only 5000? Why not admit 50,000 into Harvard each year then? Ivy Leagues' admissions standards are designed to optimize one thing only: the prestige of the institution. That's it. That's why it has mostly rich kids but also a few poor ones to make it look like it's an egalitarian place. That's why it admits some black and brown students even if their SATs are not that high - so it can make it look like it's an institution that promotes racial justice. Society should not look to Harvard and Yale to fix all its racial and economic inequity problems. Parents of Asian kids should not look to Harvard and Yale as the ultimate universal badge of academic merit - it's not. Harvard and Yale are going to look after their own interests - and it's all about prestige. And yes I went to both an ivy league and state university. I know the game.