<p>By being the brother of a graduate of the University, what does it do for you?</p>
<p>I recall seeing a few years ago that something like 20% of all freshman at Ivy League universities are legacies.</p>
<p>So, does legacy status do something for you? Of course it does. It's a finger in your favor on the scale of any admissions decision. Doesn't mean you'll get it, but it helps.</p>
<p>"All other things being equal" the legacy applicant has a better chance of being admitted than the non-legacy. That's probably also true of minority applicants, males, and applicants from afar (from Oklahoma say, instead of New Jersey for a university in Pennsylvania}. Admissions decisions at a place like Villanova are quite complex; outside academics, nothing guarantees admission; but legacy status is a plus.</p>
<p>As a former admissions officer, I can tell you that most decisions are relatively straightforward - accept or reject, largely on academic grounds. But it often felt as though 90% of my time was spent on decisions about the last 25% of the applicants -- and you could only accept perhaps a third of them. They all look alike academically -- about the same GPA, class rank, and SAT results. They're all qualified, because you've already rejected the people who aren't. How do distinguish among them? You wind up looking for something that makes an applicant stand out. Marking up a new state in the "geographic spread" index was always good; minority status helped (note, I'm talking about qualified applicants); an unusual or truly outstanding recommendation from a high school counselor was a plus; an inspired essay (or an inspired plea from the student) gets a lot of attention. All of these things became ways for an admissions officer (or committee) to say: "I like this kid. Let's offer admission."</p>
<p>So the trick is to get yourself into that last 25% when legacy status can do you some good.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>