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Less than a third of Harvard students come from a household with income greater than $100,000/year. Almost half the students come from households with income between $30,000 and $75,000/year. One in six students comes from a poor family.
Harvard is firmly middle class. The data simply doesn’t support the argument that Harvard admissions is some old money New England conspiracy.
"The median family income for Harvard undergraduates is $168,800—more than three times the national median, according to a recent study."
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/1/25/harvard-income-...
There is the non-elite "meritocracy" and elite finishing school, side by side. Which are the suckers propping up the other? You tell me.
I’m curious to learn more about this. Do you have a good source for this data?
Why do you tell me to "keep in mind" essentially the very point I was making?
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No. Only 25% of households in the US have annual income between $35,000 and $75,000. About one in five families in the US is below the poverty line. So middle class students are over represented at Harvard. Students from poor families are only slightly underrepresented, and considering that household income and academic achievement are correlated, it’s actually a testament to their efforts to have socially conscious admissions. The facts do not support your argument. On this you are simply wrong.
It is legal to influence the instituions themselves with money as they have ownership of all resources involved. The admissions scandal demonstrated the difference quite well. Of course the admission has other unspoken reasons for wanting them - contacts for tbeir network and their own pride and flatrery about "cultural worth". Stupid human social trick stuff of skewed priorties.