Last spring, scandal opened a conversation about privilege and entry to elite universities. YR Media’s Sierra Fang-Horvath has a different take on legacy in the Ivy League.
My dad graduated from Brown University in the 80s. I grew up with Brown t-shirts and Brown hats strewn around our house.
When I was 8, we visited campus during graduation. We walked through the main green and watched graduates posing next to ivy-covered buildings. It was a magical moment that sowed a seed in my brain — I wanted to go to Brown, too.
I spent all of high school working towards that goal. When I was accepted, I cried from excitement.
So during that contentious period — when college acceptance and rejection letters were coming out — a friend said to me, “You only got into Brown because your dad went there.” I was crushed.