The Top 1 Percent’s Admissions to Highly Selective Colleges

Do admissions committees of the most selective colleges consider family income along with applicants’ academic accomplishments, athletic achievements, legacy status, and extra-curricular activities? Given the outsized benefits of attending an “Ivy-plus” college (the eight Ivy league colleges plus Chicago, Duke, Stanford, and MIT), understanding whether children from highest-income families enjoy higher rates of admission compared to middle-class applicants with similar credentials is critical for understanding ongoing privilege and for considering policies to broaden opportunity and promote social advancement. David Deming joins EconoFact Chats to discuss his findings on these issues, drawing on his latest paper 'Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges,’ co-authored with Raj Chetty and John Friedman. David is the Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and a Professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.