Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal carried a front-page story on the current status of legacy admissions in “top schools.” The article has the breathless wonder of someone who just discovered that affirmative action for the rich actually exists.

Admissions Collusion

Written by Douglas Belkin, “Suit Shows Glide Path to Top Schools for Rich,” reports on information on college admissions uncovered because of a lawsuit. The suit alleges that, “universities colluded to determine students’ financial aid packages.”

The class-action lawsuit accused elite universities of price fixing. Twelve have settled out of court and five more remain: MIT, Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, and Cornell University.

To no one’s surprise, except perhaps for Mr. Belkin, the evidence does indeed seem to indicate that colleges have, “different standards for children of means.”

Oh, dear. Who’d a thunk it?

Post-Graduate Results

For me, however, the story is less about different standards and unfair preference than it is about what happens to these children of privilege when they graduate.

The article mentions the “Z List” at Harvard University and calls it “a route through which weaker, but wealthy or connected applicants could gain admission.”

In that context, “weaker” means less intellectually gifted: students whose grades, SAT scores, essays and other admissions criteria were not up to snuff. Yet they have gotten in, occupied a seat that was denied to a more qualified student, and later graduated. That diploma gave them a prestigious name on their curriculum vitae, admissions to alumni contacts and organizations, and a golden ticket for their careers.

How nice for them. How not so nice for the discarded students who had to settle for less—often much less—and make the best of it.

Nepo Babies and Graduate Frauds

But my focus today is on what happens when these mediocre nepo babies and trust-fund kids from families that matter go out into the world.

I am reminded of the TV series “Suits” in which the partners in a Manhattan law firm agree to hire only graduates of Harvard Law School. Sure, they think they’re getting the best and the brightest, but what if that spiffy grad in his Tom Ford suit or her McQueen pantsuit is a fraud?

I say that because anyone who skates through life on privilege acquired through money and connections rather than merit, who pretends to a status they haven’t actually achieved, and who sports a credential they didn’t earn is a fraud.

What if casting a wider net could have gotten them someone sharper, savvier, and more eager? What if they could have gotten that candidate from Suffolk University Law School, or some other institution without ivy on its walls?

Gilt-Edged Grads and Lucrative Futures

Those gilt-edged affirmative-action grads go into law schools, medical schools, and business schools, where they may or may not actually study before scoring another golden ticket to a lucrative future.

I think of George W. Bush, who admits to graduating Yale University with “gentleman’s Cs.” He then went on to the Harvard Graduate School of Business, which is notoriously difficult to get into. The “B-School” would not likely admit anyone with a GPA that low who lacked a prestigious name and a hefty parental bankroll. But it’s a short ride from the Z List to the B School.

A joke also comes to mind:
Question: “What do you call the last student in his medical school graduating class?” Answer: “You call him doctor.”

And a quote from an unknown wit but often attributed to Coach Barry Switzer: “He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.”

False Pretenses in Admissions

Legacy admissions means that these ungifted, unqualified, and often incompetent men and women go out into the world under false pretenses. They often get jobs that give them power, authority, and credibility.

No one comes forward to let the world know that merit and hard work did not get them where they were. Lacking information to the contrary, everyone else thinks that guy hit a triple, too.

Those of us who have worked in business have met some of these people. (I can’t speak for the law or medicine.) They don’t talk much about how they got into college but freely joke about getting their first job from their roommate’s father or their father’s lawyer. They don’t work very hard. Why ever would they? Hard work has never been necessary for their success.

Who Do You Hire?

So, is that who you want to hire for your company, your law firm, your medical practice, your consulting or accounting firm? Probably not. Would you want to be treated by the doctor who came in last in their medical school graduating class? Definitely not.

But how would you know?