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☆ AMC has best week in ticket sales led by Barbie and Oppenheimer box office wins
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Eva Rothenberg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —AMC Theaters (AMC) hit a revenue record last week, driven by the overwhelming success of the “Barbenheimer” pop culture craze. AMC attributed this 103-year high to the incredible opening weekend of both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” as well as the strong momentum that continued to carry them along. “Barbenheimer” had tremendous staying power in its second weekend in theaters, with “Barbie” grossing $93 million and “Oppenheimer” almost $47 million, according to official studio numbers. It reported that 65 AMC locations across 19 states and Washington, DC, set their own box office records this week as well. In its opening weekend, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” had raked in a stunning $162 million domestically in its first weekend, giving the film the biggest opening weekend of 2023 and the largest-ever debut for a female director.

Persons: Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, ”, Barbenheimer ”, “ Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s “ Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer ”, Barbie, Ramishah Maruf Organizations: CNN, AMC, Warner Bros Locations: Washington

About the role familial connections played in the success of many alumni. About whether the practice of legacy admissions, which has long favored white families, should be eliminated just as a more diverse generation of graduates is getting ready to send its own children to college. About how to reconcile the belief that privileges for the privileged are wrong with the parental impulse to do whatever they can for their own children. A new analysis of data from elite colleges published last week underscored how legacy admissions have effectively served as affirmative action for the privileged. Children of alumni, who are more likely to come from rich families, were nearly four times as likely to be admitted as other applicants with the same test scores.

Persons: James, Chakraborty

Wesleyan University, a liberal arts college in Connecticut, announced two weeks ago that it was ending legacy admissions. Many elite schools say legacy admissions are important for maintaining relationships with alumni, which can help universities raise money that is then available for financial aid to needy students. In a June 2018 legal filing in the case that led to the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision, Harvard argued that “there would be substantial costs” to ending legacy admissions. Legacy students may donate more. In the American Sociological Review study, legacy students were about half as likely to apply for financial aid as admitted students who weren’t related to alumni.

Persons: Johns Hopkins, ”, Mickey Munley, “ It’s, “, Richard D Organizations: Wesleyan University, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, American Sociological Review, Council, Advancement, Wesleyan, American Sociological, Georgetown University Locations: Connecticut, Amherst, Iowa, ”

☆ How ‘Legacy’ Came to Mean an Unfair Advantage
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Ben Zimmer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/legacy-college-admissions-harvard-wesleyan-81746041

Persons: Dow Jones Organizations: harvard, wesleyan

☆ University of North Carolina Bars Race From Hiring and Admissions Essays
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Megan Tagami | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-of-north-carolina-bars-race-from-hiring-and-admissions-essays-73473300

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: carolina

☆ Legacy Admissions debate: Why schools are ending the practice
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailLegacy Admissions debate: Why schools are ending the practiceSara Harberson, Application Nation CEO and founder, and Biddy Martin, former Amherst College President, join 'Power Lunch' to discuss the legacy admissions debate, how much alumni contributions played into Martin's decision to cease legacy admissions, and more.

Persons: Sara Harberson, Biddy Martin Organizations: Amherst College President

☆ How a Harvard grad school dropout launched a startup during the Great Recession—and sold it for $375 million in just 7 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In 2007, while working as a Morgan Stanley analyst, von Tobel started working on a 75-page business plan. A year later, she entered Harvard Business School, assuming she'd need training and connections to launch a successful startup. She credits her detailed business plan, and her conviction that she could tap into an underserved market of people who urgently needed help. Fast forward, I went to Harvard and Harvard Business School, and I remember being taken aback that there was zero education about the wallet and our finances. I was in this extremely cozy, safe cocoon with a clear life plan.

Persons: von Tobel, Morgan Stanley, Von Tobel, Von, hadn't, would've Organizations: CNBC, Harvard Business School, Northwestern Mutual, Harvard, Alexa Locations: New York, America

☆ How Ukrainian DIY Drones Are Taking Out Russian Tanks
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Supreme Court Bans Affirmative Action: What It Means for College Admissions The Supreme Court has banned colleges from using race as admission criteria, essentially ending affirmative action. California did the same 25 years ago. WSJ explains how what happened then can offer a roadmap for what could happen now. / Photo Illustration: Madeline Marshall

Persons: Madeline Marshall Organizations: College Locations: California

☆ An Ivy League degree won't boost your salary much compared to a good state school, a study finds. You're just more likely to have an elite-sounding job.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A new study finds that an Ivy League degree doesn't meaningfully increase a graduate's future income compared to attending a good state school. Americans are debating the merits of affirmative action and legacy admissions at Ivy League schools. While attending an Ivy League school only increased students' future income by 3% on average, the researchers found that it boosted any one student's chances of reaching the top 1% in income at age 33 by 59%. So while attending an Ivy didn't meaningfully boost students' odds of making more money on average, it did boost their odds of getting super-duper rich. Age 33 income levels were projected using a student's current income and data on their employers and graduate schools.

Persons: —, Alan Kruger, Ivy, Ivy — Organizations: Ivy League, Service, Ivy League university —, Opportunity, Harvard, Princeton, Ivy, ACT, Ohio State University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Michigan, University of North, University of Texas, University of Virginia Locations: Wall, Silicon, University of North Carolina

☆ How Harvard makes so much money — and why a major funding source could be at risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Education Department's inquiry into the school's legacy admissions process could shake up funding sources. Harvard fiscal year 2022 operating revenue sources. According to the school's 2022 financial report, philanthropy, which includes gifts from donors and alumni, accounted for 45% of total revenue. "In fiscal year 2022, Harvard received current use gifts from alumni, foundations, and others totaling $505 million, representing approximately 9% of operating revenues," the school said. When it comes to actually spending all that money, Harvard said it uses endowment funds to "support nearly every aspect of University operations."

Persons: Johns, Harvard Organizations: Harvard, Service, Harvard University, Ivy League, Education Department, Community Economic, Greater Boston, Network, Amherst, Research, University Locations: Wall, Silicon, New England, Johns Hopkins

☆ Biden’s Fight With Harvard Is a Political Winner and Policy ‘Band-Aid’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Reid J. Epstein | More About Reid J. Epstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

People involved in the campaign to make higher education more equitable and accessible described the question of legacy admissions as limited to a few applicants to elite universities. At less competitive schools, often state universities, legacy students are recruited and celebrated. is in my blood.”Liz King, the senior program director for education at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said the Education Department’s civil rights office had been obligated to begin an inquiry about Harvard’s legacy admissions process after receiving a complaint about it. She said she hoped the Biden administration would not limit its higher education investigation to legacy admissions, but instead look broadly at a system she described as discriminatory for students and applicants of color. “What we need is equal access in higher education.”

Persons: ”, ” Liz King, Biden, King Organizations: Harvard, University of Delaware, ”, Leadership Conference, Civil, Human, Education, Wesleyan University

It has been well established that legacies have an advantage in elite college admissions. But the new data was the first to quantify it by analyzing internal admissions records. They used more recent data, including the income tax records of graduates of the dozen top colleges in the study, to analyze their post-college outcomes. They estimated that legacy students were no more likely than other graduates to make it into the top 1 percent of earners, attend an elite graduate school or work at a prestigious firm. “This isn’t about unqualified students getting in,” said Michael Hurwitz, who leads policy research at the College Board and has done research on legacy admissions that found similar patterns.

Persons: Friedman, Raj Chetty, David J . Deming, Harvard —, ”, Michael Hurwitz, Biden Organizations: Harvard, College Board, Civil Rights, Education Department

A major new study has revealed just how much elite colleges admissions in the U.S. systematically favor the rich and the superrich. David Leonhardt, a senior writer for The Times and The Morning, walks through the data and explains why the study is fueling calls to abandon longstanding practices like legacy admissions.

Persons: David Leonhardt Organizations: The Times Locations: U.S

☆ Affirmative Action in Contracting Faces Legal Peril
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Judge Glock | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wonder Land: Democrats said decades ago they alone would run policies for black Americans. Now comes the reckoning. Images: AP/Getty Images Composite: Mark KellyIn Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the Supreme Court held that “racial balancing” was “patently unconstitutional,” and that affirmative action has to have a “logical end point.” There’s been a lot of commentary about how that will apply to employment law but less about another program of racial discrimination: favoritism to racial minorities in government contracts.

Persons: Mark Kelly, ” There’s Organizations: Harvard

Legacy admissions in the cross hairsIn opening a civil rights investigation into Harvard’s legacy admissions policy — in which relatives of alumni and donors are given preference — the Biden administration inserted itself into a fierce debate amid efforts to remake the world of higher education. Opponents of legacy admissions have argued that the policy is unfair, especially after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education. But Harvard and other elite schools have defended the practice as a crucial means of raising money. Legacy admissions policies, they say, tilt overwhelmingly toward white and wealthy students and discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Asian applicants. About half of legacy students at the elite colleges examined by the study wouldn’t be there without such an admissions boost.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Harvard, Education

☆ Why Legacy Admissions Are at the Center of a Dispute in Higher Education
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Vimal Patel | More About Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Critics have said for years that the century-old practice perpetuates privilege, and a handful of colleges, including Amherst and Johns Hopkins, have recently stopped using the preferences. Others, including the University of California system, the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University, ended the practice after they were pressured by lawsuits and ballot initiatives to stop using affirmative action, according to a Century Foundation analysis. Why do colleges use them? Colleges say that legacy preferences help create an intergenerational community on campuses and grease the wheels for donations, which can be used for financial aid. Some college leaders have said that legacy preferences play a small role in admissions decisions and that the students who are admitted under the system are highly qualified.

Persons: Johns Hopkins, ” Jeremiah Quinlan Organizations: Amherst, University of California, University of Georgia, M University, Century, Harvard, Yale Locations: Texas

☆ A group of Democrats just relaunched an effort to ban legacy admissions and strip financial aid from schools that keep the practice in place
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of Democrats revived a bill to ban legacy admissions across colleges. It comes after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions. And it's not a form of affirmative action that serves our country well." Following the decision, legacy admissions practices entered a harsh spotlight. Some prestigious schools have already ended their legacy admissions practices.

Persons: Democratic Sens, Jeff Merkley, Chris Van Hollen, Jamaal Bowman, —, Merkley, Michael Roth, Van Hollen Organizations: Democrats, Service, Democratic, Democratic Rep, Fair College, Supreme, Black College and Universities, Education Department, Community Economic, Greater Boston, Network, Ivy League, Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, Amherst College, Wesleyan Locations: Wall, Silicon, New England

☆ Democratic US lawmakers propose banning legacy admissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Julia Harte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Legacy admissions at schools such as Harvard University have been shown to overwhelmingly favor white, wealthy students over students of color from disadvantaged backgrounds. The bill announced on Wednesday, the Fair College Admissions for Students Act, was introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley in 2022, but did not make it beyond a Senate committee. Viet Nguyen, executive director of EdMobilizer, a non-profit that has been campaigning against legacy admissions since 2018, joined the lawmakers at Wednesday's press conference. EdMobilizer is pushing alumni of 30 top colleges and universities to withhold donations from their schools until they end legacy admissions. Wesleyan University and the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus announced they would stop using legacy admissions in July, following a handful of other U.S. higher education institutions that have ended them in recent years.

Persons: Jeff Merkley, Merkley, Jamaal Bowman, Chris Van Hollen, Nguyen, Brown, Julia Harte, Donna Bryson, Alistair Bell Organizations: Democratic U.S, U.S . Education Department, Harvard, Harvard University, University of North, Fair College, Stanford, Wesleyan University, University of Minnesota's, University of Minnesota's Twin Cities, Thomson Locations: U.S, University of North Carolina, University of Minnesota's Twin

☆ Opinion | The Real College Admissions Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Nicholas Kristof | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

YAMHILL, Ore. — Before I make an argument about affirmative action, let me tell you how I was a beneficiary of it. I wasn’t a student of color, but I grew up on a farm and attended a small, rural high school where there wasn’t much math and nobody had ever applied to an Ivy League college. Elite colleges were looking for farm kids from low-income areas to provide diversity. I wish the Supreme Court had ruled differently on affirmative action for race, but unfortunately it blocked that path for diversity. My fear is that we will all throw up our hands and sit around blaming the court, rather than actually working to overhaul a disgracefully unequal education system.

Persons: you’re Organizations: Ivy League college, Elite, Harvard Locations: YAMHILL, Ore

The Supreme Court’s decision to effectively end race-conscious admissions in higher education last month was historic in its own right, removing a tool that the nation’s colleges have used for decades to increase racial diversity on their campuses. But what started with affirmative action has morphed into a far broader reconsideration of fairness and privilege in college admissions and what it means for American higher education. On Tuesday, the Education Department announced that it had opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s admissions preferences for the relatives of alumni and wealthy donors. And at what the department billed as a “National Summit on Equal Opportunity in Higher Education” in Washington on Wednesday, more than 100 academics, government officials and education administrators focused on how much is now up for grabs well beyond affirmative action. “We come together today at a turning point in higher education — perhaps in all of education,” the education secretary, Miguel Cardona, said in his keynote address.

Persons: Miguel Cardona, ” Organizations: Education Department, Harvard, Higher Locations: Washington

☆ Kids of the 1% are twice as likely to get into 'Ivy Plus' colleges, even when their grades are no better than anyone else's
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new study shows kids of the top 1% are over twice as likely to be admitted to Ivy Plus colleges. That's despite scoring no better than students of other income groups, per an Opportunity Insights study. Ivy Plus refers to the eight Ivy League colleges Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, and Yale, plus Stanford, MIT, Duke, and the University of Chicago. On Tuesday, the US Department of Education launched a federal civil rights probe against Harvard, alleging favoritism towards legacy students in their admission process, per Reuters. The Ivy Plus colleges did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Rhodes Organizations: Ivy Plus, Service, Opportunity, Harvard, Ivy, Ivy League colleges Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Duke, University of Chicago, US, Associated Press, US Department of Education, Reuters Locations: Wall, Silicon, Columbia, UPenn, Princeton

☆ I'm a college expert, and the biggest mistake I see students make is not negotiating their financial aid offer. Here's how to do it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Kate Colbert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Affordability often comes down to how extensive a student's financial-aid offers are — including grants and scholarships. But I'm a college-education expert and one of the authors of "Commencement: The Beginning of a New Era in Higher Education," and I've seen countless students negotiate a higher deal. If you're an incoming freshman, you have every right to go back to the college or university and renegotiate your financial-aid offer. That's the tuition price listed on the school's website. That means a $40,000 tuition price tag often gets reduced to $18,200, but only if you ask for it.

Persons: you've, You've, I'm, They'll, it's Organizations: Service, Higher, ACT, KFC, CVS, PepsiCo, Intel, Meijer Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Harvard Faces Federal Probe Into Use of Donor and Legacy Preferences in Admissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Megan Tagami | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-faces-federal-probe-into-use-of-donor-and-legacy-preferences-in-admissions-15f22033

Persons: Dow Jones Organizations: harvard

☆ Colorblindness Is Worth a Try
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Charlotte Allen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wonder Land: Democrats said decades ago they alone would run policies for black Americans. Now comes the reckoning. Images: AP/Getty Images Composite: Mark KellyJustice Ketanji Brown Jackson , dissenting in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, argued that the absence of racial preferences in college admissions “will forestall the end of race-based disparities.” “The only way out of this morass,” she wrote, “is to stare at racial disparity unblinkingly, and then do what evidence and experts tell us is required to level the playing field.” Never mind that colleges and the court have been doing that for half a century.

Persons: Mark Kelly Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, ”, “ Organizations: Harvard

☆ Harvard Faces Federal Probe Into Donor and Legacy Admissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Megan Tagami | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvard-faces-federal-probe-into-use-of-donor-and-legacy-preferences-in-admissions-15f22033

Persons: Dow Jones Organizations: harvard

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