<p>My sibling goes to Amherst and will be graduating the year I graduate from high school. Does that help at all?</p>
<p>Maybe a tiny bit if at all, but that isn’t a legacy.</p>
<p>it helps… alot… and yes… that’s a legacy</p>
<p>no…it’s not a legacy, unfortunately. A legacy is if you are a child or a grandchild or a great-great grandchild, etc. of someone who went to the school before you (aka multiple generations).</p>
<p>I’m a legacy at Amherst as well!!! Join the club!!!</p>
<p>yes, it is treated basically the same way that a legacy is treated, and yes, it will help although obviously not grant you admission or anything. whether or not you call it a “legacy” is just a matter of semantics.</p>
<p>believe me it helps alot… my friend got in… and she’s below average in everything…</p>
<p>Maybe she has some extraordinary personal life experiences that compensate for her… er, lack, and distinguished her from thousands of other worthy candidates?</p>
<p>That, or she could be the daughter of a member of the Board of the Trustees. *wink</p>
<p>Don’t know how much legacy helps. I think most alumni have had positive experiences at Amherst and encourage their children to apply if they are qualified. Son had 2300 SATs and strong extracurriculars but was rejected. He applied RD. Fortunately, he was accepted to several of his other top choices.</p>
<p>the system favors others than the rest… believe me… her life experience doesnt entail fighting for cancer or homelessness… ti was normal…</p>
<p>I think at Amherst and most other elite colleges, there are alumni and there are ALUMNI. The latter are big donors, famous people/extremely accomplished experts in their field, or members of families that have long historical associations with the college (my freshman roommate was the 20th member of his family to attend, spanning four generations). Maybe Mytra’s friend was one of these and thus received some advantage. For those who do not fit these categories (like me), I think the tip factor for their children is quite small. On the other hand, other schools may have different practices. Certainly, having a whole family loyal to a college can spur giving to the college, and may be one of the reasons other colleges give stronger admission preferences to their legacies.</p>
<p>I’m sure we all have stories of absolute dunces being received with open arms by elite colleges and universities.</p>
<p>It’s just wrong to assume that it’s a phenomenon that occurs exclusively or even prominently at Amherst.</p>
<p>Being a legacy at Amherst (and Williams and Dartmouth, etc.) helps applicants that are qualified, which is no small thing given the number of fully qualified applicants these schools reject. It does not get a 2.75 GPA, 1200 SAT kid in.</p>
<p>W reportedly had similar stats and got into Yale. His father was a congressman at the time and his grandfather was a former senator. He was the third generation to attend Yale, I believe. There are alumni and there are ALUMNI; legacy makes small or minimal difference in the former and means a lot in the latter.</p>
<ol>
<li>W got into Yale in 1963, started in 1964
W Sr. was elected to HoR in 1966.</li>
<li>Isn’t the grading system at Phillips Academy not GPA based. (so how do you have similar stats to 2.75?)<br></li>
<li> At the time, half of the graduating class matriculated to Yale.
</li>
</ol>
<p>My other roomate freshman year at Amherst attended Andover. I was was unaware that there was a non-grading system back then. Don’t know what the policy was in the early 1960s when he attended. Here is a nice essay about his experiences at Andover. [George</a> W. Bush - Andover and yale](<a href=“http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Kennedy-Bush/George-W-Bush-Andover-and-yale.html]George”>Andover and yale - George W. Bush - policy, second) </p>
<p>He had 1200 SATs albeit before recentering and was a poor student in high school. He was a C student at Yale and alluded to it when he received his honorary degree [CNN.com</a> - Bush returns to Yale for commencement speech - May 21, 2001](<a href=“http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/05/21/bush.speech/]CNN.com”>http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/05/21/bush.speech/).</p>
<p>However legacies are treated today (and I agree there are alumni and ALUMNI) it would have no recognition to how they were treated in the 60’s and 70’s let alone before that time. The Yales and Harvards of this country merely confirmed status and wealth. Admission was selective, but not necessarily about grades in the least. </p>
<p>I have said this elsewhere, but my H’s family all went to Yale. Generations of them. However, his father wanted to prove he actually was smart (and also went to Andover). He was the first in like 3 generations to not go to Yale and went to Duke. Now… would too many people think Duke was a better school academically than Yale? Not sure, but back then getting into Yale, like I said, was more about your family than your stats for most.</p>
<p>The world is very different these days when it comes to alumni and I don’t think even being a committed donor really helps unless your kid is in the ballpark. Didn’t someone on this board say that Alumni admissions day is just a courtesy to alumni’s children to see if they are even in the running?</p>
<p>
Yes, but at the time, half matriculated to Yale. So Yale literally took everyone who applied from his HS. </p>
<p>
Anover guaranteed matriculation to HYP Amherst Williams. Looks like your other roommate freshman year was one of the weak students in HS and ended up at Amherst. Was s/he an incompetent idiot? If not, there’s my point. </p>
<p>[Bush/Gore</a> Grades and SAT Scores](<a href=“http://www.insidepolitics.org/heard/heard32300.html]Bush/Gore”>Bush/Gore Grades and SAT Scores)</p>
<p>A mix of Bs and Cs when it was the norm to give out C for average student. Circa now, it’s more like B+ for average student.</p>
<p>Don’t want to get too nit-picky or veer way off topic. However, my roomate from Andover was far from one of the weaker students there. He won a number of prizes in h.s. for creative writing and ancient Greek, and was a talented musician. He applied ED which is the common practice among kids from elite prep schools to maximize their admission to the college of their choice and to maximize the school’s placement of its grads to top colleges by preventing students from competing against each other for spots at the same top colleges. </p>
<p>Admission to Andover is far from meritocratic although they have scholarships for outstanding students and want to identify talent early on. Furthermore, the admissions advisors there work hard to ensure that even the weakest students get into a prestigious college. That is why parents of means and a strong sense of entitlement make sure their children have the right academic pedigree starting from high school or even earlier, even if it is not fully earned.</p>
<p>There are many outstanding students at the top prep schools and they have been extremely well prepared for the academic rigor of places like Yale and Amherst. However, I still hold to my original point that legacy helps only slightly for admissions to many top colleges. On the other hand, it can play a huge role for those legacy applicants whose parent(s) are prominent and influential.</p>
<p>Someone might accuse me of crying sour grapes that my son had SATs in the top 10 to 15% of the applicant pool and was rejected. However, I look at it as the Admissions Office weighing a lot of other factors as more important than legacy (in most cases).</p>