And I don’t mean are they alumni of the school you’re applying to because obviously that helps.
The question is how would they know?
@billcsho It’s included on the common app. You must include all the colleges attended by parents/stepparents, what degree they received there, and the year they graduated.
No, I am quite certain it will not make one iota of difference if your parents attended an elite/selective institution vs. a non-elite/non-selective one. Obviously, if your parents attended the school you’re applying to, it might help depending on how the school treats legacy applicants.
If the school is need-blind, then even your family income level would not make a difference. That’s the only other correlation I can see that might exist between alumni parents from selective vs. non-selective institutions.
Also, can you please clarify what you mean by “top” vs. “poor” schools? Are those classifications based on endowment figures? Because I’m pretty sure those categories are not mutally exclusive depending on how you look at it.
Yes, it probably does, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. They do NOT look at your app and think “Oh, goodness, parents went to Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, how impressive, we really need to let this one in to our fine institution.”
The fact is that children of people who were themselves accepted at selective institutions have access to more money, more stability and probably, better genes. That confers an advantage in many things you see on their application.
That’s why we also search out bright students who may not have had those kinds of advantages and offer them admission, too.
^^ I think that’s why many colleges look for first generation college students, but I am not sure there is any evidence to say that the parent’s college choices make any significant difference in the admissions process
I will point out that it’s not so much a question of the parents’ college choices but a combination of the ones they chose and the ones they were admitted to.
If your parents are alumni of much more selective schools, wouldn’t the college conclude u are using them as a safety; therefore, the college might be LESS likely to admit you bcs it perceives u are a poor yield prospect?
I’m not sure how colleges would deduce that you’re using them as a safety from your parent’s credentials.
Seems that yourown_ credentials would matter a lot more. Some college that gets an an applicant with a 1300 SAT, 3.3 GPA, and no spectacular EC’s can probably safely conclude that that applicant has no shot at Harvard or any other Ivy even if both parents went to Harvard.
No one has even mentioned the grandparents credentials yet…
@JustOneDad because most schools don’t care about grandparents’ credentials, and they aren’t on the common app (unless the school specifically asks in the short answer section). A Harvard rep came to my school once and I asked him, on a whim, if it would help my chances that my grandfather went to Harvard and my grandmother went to Radcliffe if I applied, to which he said no. Unless your grandparents threw tons of money the school’s way, I doubt it matters at most universities.
It does not make a difference since some college applicants have parents who never attended college. The only thing that might matter is if you’re apply to a small prestigious school (ex: Wake Forest) and your parent(s) attended there. Even then it really doesn’t matter, some schools lie and still do look at alumni relation. However most don’t, it just depends.
@Qwerty568 We call that comment I made about grandparents “tongue-in-cheek”. It’s meant to be sort of humorous.
@JustOneDad When you’re on College Confidential, you just never know whether someone is serious or not! 
People are generally strung pretty tight here, it’s true.
@Qwerty568 All the more fun