A recent study conducted at Princeton University reported that "legacy students admitted with lower than average SAT scores to elite institutions have higher drop-out rates and significantly lower grades than minority students and athletes," according to Steven Barnes, spokesperson for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
The survey was based on a sample of students from 28 U.S. colleges and universities. The "roots of the survey were to get at minority underachievement in higher education" said Douglas Massey, a sociology and public affairs professor at the Woodrow Wilson School. Researchers specifically examined whether affirmative action admission policies had any effect on students' academic performances. According to Massey, researchers studied affirmative action programs geared toward minority students, athletes and legacy students.
"We found that minority students who had unusually low SAT scores did better whereas legacy students did slightly worse," Massey said. "Legacy students possibly conformed to the 'mismatch hypothesis.'"
Massey described the mismatch hypothesis as applying to students admitted to colleges and universities where they simply do not fit standard requirements, either because of their ability or high school preparation. While minority students also fit the mismatch hypothesis, they tend to outperform their peers who are legacies.
While Massey said he did not know what accounted for minority students' success, he guessed they are "more motivated to work."
Massey added that the researchers' goal was to put legacy and athletic affirmative action on the same level as minority affirmative action.
"People so often criticize minority affirmative action, which is not the biggest affirmative action program," Massey said.
University Dean of Admissions John Blackburn, however, said this trend of varied performance levels has not been observed among students at the University. According to Blackburn, a study was conducted by the University that examined three categories of students, including in-state non-legacy students, out-of-state non-legacy students and all legacy students.
Researchers studied the three groups' high school GPAs and performance levels while at the University and concluded that "there was not much difference in terms of GPA or performance" Blackburn said.
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