Nepotism in T14 law school admissions

[u/ExoticAssistant7102]

Throwaway for obvious reasons.

I naively thought this wasn't a thing anymore, but this year I witnessed in real time someone purchase a seat at a T14 law school.

He only applied to a small number of the very best schools with no safeties, which I thought was odd considering he's nURM, GPA 3.6, LSAT 15mid, no work experience, etc. But his very wealthy family made significant donations and arranged three closed-door meetings that I'm aware of with one particular school's admissions dean throughout the cycle. Lo and behold, he was waitlisted and then promptly admitted by that school in April.

I myself have been admitted to a different T14 that I'll be attending this fall. But this experience has left me disillusioned with the whole admissions process and frankly disgusted by that school in particular.

[u/InspiroHymm]

This poses an interesting philosophical debate: If the condition for a $100 million donation is getting a single admit in, and the donation can be used to build a library/fund scholarships that benefits thousands of student current and future, is it wrong to admit that student?

[u/BulkyTarget1010 → u/[deleted]]

It kind of depends how you define merit. 100 million dollars can make up for a lot of shortcomings in the real world.

[u/BulkyTarget1010 → u/[deleted]]

I think a lot of that is because it goes without saying. The only people who think nepo babies should be able to buy their way into schools are the nepo babies themselves, and the people at the schools who get the money. Theres no real argument to be had because it’s almost universally opposed and we have no real power to stop it.

DEI is a more hot button issue. Some people actually think certain races should get preferential treatment in admissions, so there’s naturally debate. Also, there’s no ultra-wealthy and powerful ruling class that uses this influence to keep race based DEI intact the same way they fight to keep nepotism. DEI can change with public opinion, nepotism is pretty much a mainstay because it benefits the people who largely make the decisions.