Factors such as donations, athletics and legacy status are baked into the admissions process, which has traditionally benefitted wealthy families. Yet affirmative action, which is intended to help underrepresented minorities, gets intense scrutiny and legal challenges.

…There is little discussion about underqualified white students who benefit from preferences in the admissions process such as sports, family influence and legacies. …Legacies are applicants who are regarded preferentially because they are the children of alumni. They also tend to be white and wealthy.

…Athletes of patrician sports, such as sailing or water polo, are recruited to college athletics. These types of sports aren’t accessible for students from inner-city schools.

…It is not affirmative action that threatens the fairness in the college admissions process, its supporters say, but rather the advantages of the rich and powerful.

…Americans are “not entirely wrong” to think “that elites are rigging the system for their own benefit and for the benefit of their families,” he said.

Why the college admissions scandal brings up affirmative action – CNN

hmmmm