A lawsuit exposed Harvard's 'Z-list,' which some people suspect helps VIP kids who don't have the grades get in
- A lawsuit against Harvard has exposed admissions documents that reveal some surprising policies, reports the New York Times.
- For example, students on the "Z-list" must defer their enrollment at Harvard by one year. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the Z-list is a way to get legacy students into the college, even if they wouldn't otherwise qualify academically.
- Harvard disagrees, saying the Z-list has a disproportionate number of legacies to the class as a whole because legacy students might be more inclined to accept their spot on the list.
Among Harvard students in the Classes of 2014 to 2019, about 50 to 60 students each year were admitted off the "Z-list," Anemona Hartocollis, Amy Harmon, and Mitch Smith at the The New York Times report.
Students who are "Z-ed" must defer their enrollment for one year. But plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Harvard say many of these students are legacies (meaning their parents attended Harvard), and wouldn't otherwise make the cut.
Business Insider has previously reported that Harvard University is America's hardest college to get into, with an acceptance rate of 5.2%.
The lawsuit, brought by the anti-affirmative-action group Students for Fair Admissions, accuses Harvard of discriminating against Asian-Americans in admissions, The New York Times reports. Many admissions documents have been filed, revealing aspects of Harvard's admissions process previously unknown by the general public, such as the Z-list.
The Harvard Crimson, an independent student-run paper, reported on the Z-list in 2002. The publication gathered information about 36 of the roughly 80 Z-list students at Harvard between 2001 and 2002 and found that 26 of those students (72%) were legacies, compared to just 12% to 14% of the entire class.
Another Crimson article about the Z-list, published in 2010, reported that 18 of 28 Z-listers interviewed had parents who attended Harvard and 24 received no financial aid from the College. (The Crimson reported that about 70% of Harvard's student body received financial aid.)
Harvard disagrees that the Z-list shows preference to legacy students
Harvard admissions staff say the Z-list is not a way to admit legacy students.
The 2010 Crimson article reports that William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid, said the Z-list has a disproportionate number of legacies to the class a whole because legacy students might be more inclined to accept their spot on the list.
Fitzsimmons also told The Crimson that Z-list admissions are need-blind, but many students can't afford to take a year off before starting college, so they might not accept their spot.
Fitzsimmons said the Z-list began in the 1970s, though it didn't have a name back then.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit say that Asian-American candidates are often described as intelligent but unexceptional in their "personal rating," according to The Times.
Other revelations about Harvard admissions since the suit was filed, according to The Times, include the existence of a "dean's interest list" or a "director's interest list." Those lists identify candidates who have connections to Harvard.
Fitzsimmon told The Crimson in 2010 that the students on the Z-list aren't of a lower caliber than the rest of admitted students. "We are 100 percent sure that we want them here next year, not 99 percent," he said of the Z-listed students.