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

25 percent of college admissions officers admit to accepting &#039;influential slackers&#039;

(Image credit: iStock)

last updated 1 April 2015

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."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

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.

Explore More