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Comment by peteykegsbreath | Hacker News Reader

Hegseth went to Princeton and Harvard, FYI

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/26/langer-harvard-...

> Harvard itself is an incredibly inequitable place. Student organizations — and undergraduate social life more broadly — have been criticized for being stacked heavily against those without connections. And perhaps most insidious is Harvard’s unwavering preference for so-called ALDCs – athletes, legacies, dean’s interest list, and children of faculty and staff. Without dismantling our own elitism, how can Harvard begin to fight the product of it?

Yep. I was never more proud of my alma mater than when they announced they would no longer give preferential treatment to legacy students (students of alumni). Legacy students alone make up 1/3 of Harvard’s accepted students. (I’d say that’s an embarrassment, but for Harvard that’s a feature not a bug.)

The same way people in power will always cling to the advantages power gives them, afraid of starting from the same place as everyone else for fear they won’t make it on their merits alone.

I don’t feel the same. My own alma mater is a niche school. It officially gives admissions pref to legacies, but unofficially depends on parents sending their kids as the school is not well known.

Harvard on the other hand - people go to Harvard to become elite. That only works because they get to hobnob with princes and the like. Thats the point.

The Ivy’s do a good job of admitting non-elite students. I’m glad that pathway to eliteness is there.

I’m proud of my small liberal arts Alma mater. I have no desire to network with billionaires and princes (as opposed to say, brilliant engineers and researchers).

But I’m glad the legacies at Harvard are sharing a classroom with kids from Appalachia. And that only happens if you get in the legacies.

The wild thing is that America pretends itself that it is a meritocracy while ... literally defending deeply nepotistic class based system like this.

If the Harward did not took that many legacies, they would spread out to different schools. And mixed with others there. You dont need to collect kids of powerful in one place to achieve that.

I’m reassured by the fact that grads of non-Ivy Leagues do extremely well.

The focus on Harvard is really overblown.

True, even non-legacies do well from a place like Harvard.

But given a full 75% of American colleges give preferential treatment to legacy students, Harvard is the most visible representation of an unacknowledged caste system.

Something about, “I deserve this more than someone else because of who my parents are” really fires me up.

> The wild thing is that America pretends itself that it is a meritocracy while

If you haven’t been paying attention, the elite have give up on that lie. They know it’s indefensible to even the dumbest Americans anymore.

Additionally the risk is over. The American people are so disgustingly impotent, they no longer need to placate them with lies of meritocracy and other false values. They can now transparently tell you “we will rule you as we wish and face no consequences”. The Epstein saga solidifies this.

This is bordering on delusional lol.

You think folks who are kids of billionaires will be fraternising with some working class kid who got in via merit? That almost never happens.

If what you say is true (personally I think it's an overgeneralization) then there would be zero point to eliminating legacy admissions to begin with (since they won't be willing to socialize with those beneath them regardless of where they are). So either you're wrong, or you're right and the entire issue is a pointless one.

Do you have source on this? I’d love to learn more beyond our contradicting assumptions.

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