25 percent of college admissions officers admit to accepting 'influential slackers'

A new survey by Kaplan Test Prep has revealed that influential, rich families still play a huge factor in college admissions.

Out of the admissions officers from 400 top colleges and universities that Kaplan surveyed, 25 percent of them said that they have "felt pressured to accept an applicant who didn't meet (the) school's admissions requirements because of who that applicant was connected to."

These "influential slackers" could be edging more qualified candidates out of the admissions pool, Time notes. Kim Clark at Time refers to this "affirmative action for the rich" as "one of the worst-kept secrets in the college admissions world," but it's still disheartening to see the behind-the-scenes information confirmed in a study.

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In addition to admitting the less-qualified but connected applicants, 16 percent of the officers surveyed said their school offered preference to children or siblings of alumni. Defenders of the practices say they help schools raise donations, which can be used for scholarships, while others say the policies could discourage students whose families don't have powerful social connections from applying.