My cousin is a professor at a top school (<10% admission rate), and I’m wondering if this could have any positive “legacy” impact on my application. I have the stats (GPA, SAT, extracurriculars) to be an average candidate, so could this push me into the accepted category? Just curious to see what some of your opinions on this are. The school DOES have a much higher admission rate for legacy students btw.
If you’re interested in a tippy top school, you need to be able to check the individual college’s policies. Legacy is a parent who graduated. In some cases, a grandparent -or a sibling who grad’d or attends. Need to check how this college defines it.
I understand that legacy is pretty much uniformly defined as that. I just want to know whether or not you think it could help me regardless of the school’s stated position, especially because they obviously do treat legacy students preferentially.
A cousin is not legacy. The point of legacy is the close connection to a parent grad or sibling who attends or grad’d. Sometimes, at some colleges, having a parent who works there gets a little attention (depends and varies). But it’s not a hook. And for most tippy tops, your own qualifications need to be on the mark.
@endora I’ve never heard of any college asking for “extended relatives”. Can you cite some examples?
If you state on your application that you cousin is on the faculty there you will com across as desperate. Not a good thing.
One good, very old LAC decided we could cite a historical relative, going back to the first class or so. But it was an unusual circumstance and I just found it amusing. D1 didn’t apply but was a match. Lol.
@T26E4 If memory serves me correctly my D’s application to Lafayette College had room to include relatives that attended – that was a few years ago who knows if having a big list counted for anything in terms of admissions. I remember they left a lot of blank lines to fill in and said that applicants could add more spots if necessary – but my D had nothing to put in! Oh well…happily she got in anyway!
To answer all the questions: the application had a section asking if any family members (including aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, or siblings) were/are faculty, I do have the “qualifications” of an average solid applicant (great scores/gpa, great extracurriculars), but no exceptional “hook”, and the school’s acceptance rate for legacies is much higher than the normal acceptance rate. Thank’s for providing your opinions, I really appreciate everyone’s thoughts!
Also the cousin is very well published and is a full-time professor (I don’t know about millions in grants, but they have their own lab with several workers).
I would contact the cousin and ask him how to approach