<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school. My GPA isn't perfect, but with all the APs i'll be taking, by senior year i anticipate to have a weighted GPA above a 4.0. The thing is that there are some students (mainly girls) who have slightly better GPAs than I. I am probably the smartest male student in my class. I also happen to be the only legacy at Stanford in my class. There are several students that want to get into Stanford and at a high school like mine, I don't think Stanford has ever accepted more than 1 individual student from each senior class. As far as academics go, all the top students are slightly neck and neck. (i'm disregarding any extracurriculars in my asking of this question.) Will my being the only legacy and being a male among a majority of intelligent girls give me an edge? Thanks for answering.</p>
<p>Legacy only really helps if you’re almost good enough to get in; with subpar academics and scores it won’t help at all. I’m not sure what your situation is though, you should elaborate more lol</p>
<p>I do believe that i am the kind of student that Stanford admissions would accept. I have a 3.9 GPA, do football, track and i am a programmer/entrepreneur. My GPA will become above a 4.0 after AP classes. All of that is not what I’m asking about. I’m wondering how much of an advantage will i gain if placed against a student in my class with a slightly higher GPA?</p>
<p>If you’re highly ranked, than your GPA is fine. Yes, legacy gives you an advantage and will probably beat out someone with a slightly higher GPA. You aren’t necessarily competing against your classmates though. We’ve seen stories about a schools that have sent 10 kids to a particular top school one year and zero the next.</p>
<p>“I’m wondering how much of an advantage will i gain if placed against a student in my class with a slightly higher GPA?”</p>
<p>Legacy helps as a tip factor for applicants when compared to other of equal factors. Thus, a higher GPA applicant has a leg up on you. You have a leg up on those with equal GPA.</p>
<p>But with colleges like S, GPA is not the only factor (which you are aware of). LIke Pancake advises, don’t worry about your classmates. You need to maximize the “story” you tell to S admissions. If it doesn’t catch someone’s attn, it won’t matter if no one else in your school even applies to S. You’ll be rejected – the sheer number of applicants will dictate that.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>The acceptance rate for legacies at Stanford is between 10-15% - not so much because of preference, but because legacies would get in at higher rates regardless. Legacies tend to be more privileged/prepared than other applicants; similarly, students from high incomes get in at higher rates. As admissions officers continually stress, it’s only a very, very small factor - it can be a tip in your favor if all else is substantially similar to another applicant they are considering. They have also said that the ‘tip’ affects very few legacies. So you shouldn’t bank on that giving you much of a boost, if at all.</p>
<p>It’s important to keep this in mind, because each year, when the overwhelming majority of legacies are denied, there’s a lot more heartache for those who overestimate this factor and think their legacy status will push them into the accept pile.</p>
<p>In my experience legacy doesn’t help all that much at Stanford. My Stanford legacy daughter was high school valedictorian: #1/700, 4.9/4.0 W/UW, SAT 2210, ACT 35, many APs, with strong musical ECs - leadership positions, state and performance regional awards. Applied to Stanford SCEA. A shoo-in thanks to legacy, right? Wrong. Wait-listed in EA round and rejected in RD. She went to an Ivy instead.</p>
<p>Legacy may help at Stanford, but it won’t help a lot.</p>
<p>phantasmagoric is right on all counts. And yes, Stanford Admissions Staff tell parents of applicants that legacies get admitted at about twice the rate of regular applicants (so 14%) but primarily because they among the stronger applicants in the applicant pool.</p>
<p>I have to echo coureur. In my family, one legacy kid did get into Stanford. Other did not. Both top scores and grades, good ecs etc (one who didn’t get in even had published university research). One who didn’t get in is attending an Ivy and got a likely letter at another Ivy. Yet Stanford EA…deferred and then rejected.</p>