<p>Just wondering. Dad went to Columbia, Mom went to Barnard (this was before Columbia went coed). No, have not donated a substantial amount of money to the university. Does it matter at all that they went? Might it even decrease my chances?</p>
<p>it helps if you are a qualified applicant</p>
<p>Yes legacies give you an edge. However, a Barnard legacy will not give you an edge at Columbia. Also, your dad needs to have attended Columbia’s undergraduate program and not a graduate school of Columbia for you to have a legacy.</p>
<p>Perhaps someone will correct me on this, but I think Columbia is one of those schools where a legacy will give you an edge only if you apply early decision.</p>
<p>I think it can give an edge to those applicants that are already in the running. I once read an adcom quoted as saying, “It may heal the sick. Being a legacy will never raise the dead.”</p>
<p>lots of misinfo here.</p>
<p>1) it says nowhere that you need to apply ed to benefit from legacy, Columbia is not like those other schools.</p>
<p>2)Your mom going to barnard before columbia became coed, does qualify you as a legacy just as much as if your dad had gone to Columbia.</p>
<p>3) it will help, not by a huge amount, but it’s definitely a plus, otherwise they wouldn’t ask you for it.</p>
<p>4) donating money would have helped, but you still have an adv over the average applicant, all else equal.</p>
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<p>You’re thinking of Penn.</p>
<p>[Applications</a> & Admission Process | Columbia University Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/faq/admissions.php#3]Applications”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/faq/admissions.php#3)</p>
<p>Please note: applicants are considered to be “legacies” of Columbia only if they are the children of Columbia College or the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science graduates. </p>
<p>The “only” rules out exceptions… I also attended a seminar last year for Columbia and one of the admissions officers answered a similar question and said having a Barnard parent did not count towards legacy status (although the person who asked didn’t say pre-coed Columbia… but officer was pretty firm on that point). I could be wrong.</p>
<p>^So children of GS don’t count as legacies?</p>
<p>Yeah, my Dad, uncle and aunt all did their graduate and PHD studies at Columbia’s school of engineering and applied science-so does that count?</p>
<p>Yes, sorry lillyflower, but you don’t have a legacy status at Columbia. GS doesn’t count. Only College College and Fu graduates pass on a legacy status to their children. The usual reasoning behind this is that there’d be WAY too many people with legacies if you counted graduate students.</p>
<p>^yup, the admissions website is clear, although many people have been told otherwise over the years, the official policy is that your mom going to barnard pre-coed is still no legacy, although i’m sure they’ll still look favorably upon that.</p>
<p>yes, Mom at Barnard (before coed), and Dad at undergrad. Both also went on to CU graduate schools. </p>
<p>Dunno, Columbia just never struck me as the place where legacies mattered, so I was curious. How many legacies have you met at CU?</p>
<p>At the summer orientation thingy… there were about 80 students so that’s about 160 parents? Only 3 parents were alumni (didn’t specify graduate or undergraduate) and 2 of the alumni were married so yeah if the kid was lucky probably got in through a double legacy xD…</p>
<p>creamandcheese64, I don’t actually think it matters whether they attended Columbia for undergraduate or graduate. They still attended Columbia at the end of the day.</p>
<p>^ kiwi_nights was asking about legacies and if you read the previous posts… only undergraduate students pass on a legacy to their children so it does matter graduate or undergraduate…</p>
<p>Dude, the term legacy status simply means a college student whose parent(s) are alumnus of the same University. There’s absolutely no discrimination between whether it’s undergrad or grad. </p>
<p>Refer to the dictionary, wiki or other collegiate websites if you have to.</p>
<p>Legacy will definately will be looked upon favorably, especially by an already qualified applicant in the admissions process, and ED is another favorable point.</p>
<p>Obviously some people are too lazy to read previous posts… it doesn’t take that long, fyi. On the OFFICIAL Columbia University website it clearly states only students whose parents were from the undergraduate schools have a legacy status. Maybe you should actually look up Columbia’s legacy policy instead of telling other people to do so.</p>
<p>^hang on, everyone is wrong, it says a parent has to have graduated from Columbia College or SEAS. CC is by definition only undergrad, but it doesn’t say that SEAS has to be only undergrad. So I take it that parents graduating from CC undergrad and SEAS either grad or undergrad afford their children legacy status.</p>
<p>All the other posters disagreeing with creamandcheese, stop applying blanket rules about universities in general to Columbia, there is a very specific policy on what constitutes legacy and what does not.</p>