<p>Hey there
I'm very interested in applying to Duke for 2014 admissions and was wondering if Duke considered secondary family as legacy. My aunt got her PhD at Duke and is currently an assistant professor at Duke NUS, specializing in stem cells. Both my parents went to University of Washington.</p>
<p>How much would my relation to my aunt help in this case? </p>
<p>Sent from my U8860 using CC</p>
<p>Parents help the most - Duke generally considers legacy if your parents, grandparent or siblings went to Duke. However, they still keep track of extended family including aunts, uncles, etc. and it can give you a slight boost.</p>
<p>I disagree. Duke makes clear that they do not provide a tangible advantage to any legacy. The only difference in the handling of legacy applications is that they are guaranteed three reviewers instead of only two to ensure that nothing is missed in the application.</p>
<p>My impression is that this legacy commitment only applies to children of alumni, but I cannot find this on the web site.</p>
<p>Duke counts as a “legacy” the children and grandchildren of alumni. In addition “siblings are noted through the Admissions Office.”</p>
<p>Duke states very clearly on the Alumni Admissions website that they do, in fact, give preference to the children and grandchildren of alumns:</p>
<p>“Duke Alumni Association advocates for all children, stepchildren, grandchildren and step-grandchildren of alumni and follows the progress of their applications…The Admissions Office reads each student’s application twice. But for alumni-affiliated applications, the office provides an additional review to ensure no detail is missed. Being from an alumni family itself is a factor that admissions officers consider, knowing that such applicants would enter with a special understanding of Duke and its traditions.”</p>
<p>[Admissions</a> for alumni families | Duke Alumni Association](<a href=“Duke”>Duke)</p>
<p>It depends upon the school, but true legacy preference, that is, being put in a legacy pool for acceptance usually means just the children/stepchildren of the alums, and only if they went to the undergraduate school. Duke’s inclusion of grandchildren is generous for schools like that. Some colleges also give an informal consideration for those whose sibling were or are attending the school.</p>
<p>The “leg up” varies too. It could be that your app is put in a whole other pool, it could mean more quality points upon assssment, or just extra readers/appraisers, or an interview. UVA considers OOS legacies as in staters; don’t know what boost the instaters get. UPenn only gives legacy consideration to those who apply ED.</p>
<p>Legacy percentage at Duke in 2015 class - 13%</p>
<p>[Reject</a> legacy admission policy | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/reject-legacy-admission-policy]Reject”>Reject legacy admission policy - The Chronicle)</p>
<p>Duke goes out of their way to find all relatives who may attend or have attended in their supplement. So you should be able to name your aunt if the supplement stays the same next year.</p>
<p>Other relatives who have attended Duke:</p>
<p>Relative 1 Name: </p>
<p>First </p>
<p>Last </p>
<p>Year of Graduation —Select—GrandfatherGrandmotherBrotherSisterSiblingOther RelativeRelationship </p>
<p>Relative 2 Name: </p>
<p>First </p>
<p>Last </p>
<p>Year of Graduation —Select—GrandfatherGrandmotherBrotherSisterSiblingOther RelativeRelationship </p>
<p>Relative 3 Name: </p>
<p>First </p>
<p>Last </p>
<p>Year of Graduation —Select—GrandfatherGrandmotherBrotherSisterSiblingOther RelativeRelationship </p>
<p>(If necessary, use the additional information section at the end of this form.)</p>
<p>Some additional info…historically the legacy admissions rate has been about twice that of the non-legacy admissions rate. Here’s some info from 2009, when it was 37% for legacy and 21% for non-legacy that year. </p>
<p>[Legacies</a> admitted at 37% rate | The Chronicle](<a href=“http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/legacies-admitted-37-rate]Legacies”>Legacies admitted at 37% rate - The Chronicle)</p>
<p>There are other articles that can be found by searching the archives on The Chronicle website.</p>
<p>One other bit of information from past year’s statistics…there is a notable difference in the “bump” given to legacies that apply ED vs RD.</p>
<p>@dukedad - I find it interesting that the information you found is on the Alumni web site and not on the Admissions web site. Perhaps the intent of doing so is to minimize the frustation of applicants who do not qualify as legacy. I might be cynical but I would guess that it is an attempt at PR with alums who want to feel even better about having earned their degree from Duke.</p>
<p>As far as the tangible admission benefits, I pointed to the third reviewer in my earlier post. The only other supposed benefit is, “Being from an alumni family itself is a factor that admissions officers consider, knowing that such applicants would enter with a special understanding of Duke and its traditions.” This seems a pretty weak way to word an advantage (impossible to quantify) and sounds to me to be more PR.</p>
<p>I tend to think that the marginally higher admission rate for legacies results from a better, more informed perspective on what is required for admission. I know a student who applied to Duke with an ACT score of 27, average grades and a “lottery ticket” mentality. I would never allow my child to waste the application fee and the adcoms time with such a clearly non-competitive record.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, I hope I am wrong. I am a Duke alum with twins who are applying to Duke this year.</p>
<p>If a school is tracking the percentage of legacy admits, that means there is an advantage in the admissions process. They are tracking how many applied and what percentage were accepted and typically, the admit rate is higher or much higher depending whose definition one follows.</p>
<p>rmldad - I agree with you that the benefits of having a 3rd admissions reader can seem somewhat of an ambiguous benefit. At the minimum, it keeps qualified applicants from slipping through the cracks. With regards to the broader question of tangible advantages to legacies, I think what’s more revealing is that Duke has an office dedicated to Alumni Admissions and a dedicated director (Carol Levine) whose entire job is to be an admissions advocate on behalf of the children/grandchildren of alumns.</p>
<p>This question recurs frequently and understanding a few details is helpful:
<p>Does anyone familiar with Duke ‘s admissions policy regarding a professor’s son/ daughter? Will they be accepted in a different pool? I’m worrying that my child may lose a spot to one of those kids ( will be applying from the same high school). If a non-affiliated kid who is well qualified and an affiliated but less qualified kid are in the same pool, Duke will have to make a choice.How do they make that choice? I wonder what is Duke’s philosophy on this? Appreciate insiders’ help!</p>
<p>Do not worry about competition with students from the same high school. At the convocation for the class of 2016, I found this particular statistic that was mentioned very interesting. The class has 1700 students from 1000 different high schools. My S and another classmate of his are both in this Duke class as are apparently 698 others.</p>
<p>Thanks NJmomof2, that stats is interesting to know. I hope they both get in next year.</p>