How Harvard University quietly admits the rich and powerfully connected ‘Z-lister’ students through a secret back door

Harvard University has a secret way of admitting students who have influential connections but low academic scores: the Z-List. This is what a college admissions coach revealed.

The Z-List is a special category of admission that allows Harvard to accept students who are the children of mega-donors or other highly influential people without hurting its reputation or ranking. These students are told to take a gap year before enrolling at Harvard, which makes them “data ghosts” — meaning their SAT scores and GPAs are not reported in the incoming freshman class.

“If Harvard doesn’t want the student hurting their US News and World Report ranking with their GPA and test scores, they admit them through the Z list,” said Brian Taylor, managing partner of Ivy Coach, a college admissions firm based in Manhattan. (Harvard’s Law and Medical Schools have withdrawn from US News and World Report’s college rankings, but the university as a whole has not.)

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According to the Ivy Coach’s website, about 60 students get admitted through the Z-List every year. They receive a letter that says “we will be pleased to consider your admission in one year.”

“They’re not reapplying,” Taylor explained. “They’re admitted, and they’re guaranteed a spot in a year.”

Taylor said he works with a Z-List client every other year on average, but they are only a small fraction of the students he helps get into Harvard.

“It’s for people who are important,” he said.

“We’ve had clients who have been admitted on the Z list who are close friends or family of major world leaders or major donors.”

Taylor said he can usually tell when a student is a potential Z-List candidate.

“When I first meet them, I say: ‘I don’t know if you’re going to get into Harvard, but the list is your only hope.’”

He also said that taking a gap year is a common sign that a student was on the list.

“When students take a gap year in between their high school years and college, it’s a good indication that they may have been admitted to the Z list,” he said.

Harvard is not the only elite school that uses loopholes to admit students with lower academic performance. Taylor said other schools also exploit the transfer process, which does not affect their rankings.

For example, Cornell offers a “guaranteed transfer” option to some applicants who have sub-par test scores or GPAs. They are told to do their freshman year at another college and then re-apply to Cornell with a certain GPA (usually a B-average).

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“I don’t think it’s right that Cornell does that. It’s not fair to their peer institutions,” Taylor said.

“These students go somewhere else and are not investing in that first year of college because they know if they just get A’s and B’s that they will be going to Cornell the next year.”

However, Taylor said that some schools use the transfer loophole for a good cause: to admit veterans. He said Princeton and Columbia University are known for doing this, especially through the School of General Studies at Columbia, which was established for veterans.

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