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Hopefully this isn't an overly-discussed topic, but I've been wondering-in top schools (namely Stanford) how much advantage do legacies get? And do the legacies have to be undergrad-my dad went to Stanford for his doctorate-does that matter?
I was looking at stats of admissions/rejections of last year's graduating class of my school, and a person with a 3.1 gpa and SATS in the 1100s got into Georgetown on a legacy! Is that an abnormal low end, even WITH connections, or are all legacies THAT nice?

By 4mm (4mm) on Monday, March 31, 2003 - 10:08 pm: Edit

Usually legacy statues helps if a person is on the edge. I don't think your classmate got in simply on those stats. Maybe that person got help in terms of a large multi-million dollar donation (i.e. bribe) that his parents gave to the college, or maybe he had a lot more going for him than the stat, or maybe you got deceived and that person actually had much higher stats. I would say that if you have 1400 or above on your SATs and your in the top decile of your class and you're involved in some activities, the legacy statues should help, but if you're a legacy, you should apply early decision in order for it to work, or else the college are going to think that you're interested in another college.

By Tommyy (Tommyy) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 10:04 pm: Edit

my dad went to stanford for graduate school too... do i count as a legacy??

By 4mm (4mm) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 10:12 pm: Edit

It depends, the Ivy leagues (and most competitive colleges) grant legacy statues only to students whose parents (not grandparents nor siblings) went to the college for undergraduate studies. However, since your dad went to Stanford for graduate studies, it couldn't hurt.

By Rowan (Rowan) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 10:20 pm: Edit

The concept of a legacy, as I've thought of it, is two-fold. First, alumni have a tendancy to donate, especially successful alumni whom the colleges wish to associate their name with anyway. Their children have an advantage because it pleases the alumni to have their children go to college and it pleases the college to know the alumni is happy -- and will continue to donate, figuring their kid deserves all they can get and whatnot. The second bit is that alumni parents typically talk a lot about their college years and kids grow up knowing about the atmosphere, the teachers, (the prestige! but shh, that's apparently taboo), et cetera, thus obviously making the student much more willing to commit to attending to the school.

Whether or not that's true, I do agree with 4mm: in order for a legacy to really be a successful legacy, they have to demonstrate that that commitment does exist and apply early if the school offers it.

If the second of the above two options is true at all (money vs. familiarity), then it shouldn't matter whether your dad went as an undergraduate or a graduate, especially if he donates.

Just a thought.