Does having a alumni parent really improve one's chances?

Applying to College
1

<p>My mom is a Cornell alumnus, and my dad is a UBC alumnus. Will this improve my chances of getting into either school?</p>

2

<p>not much. it may be more of a factor at Cornell ,especially if they have donated to their alma mater regularly over the years.</p>

3

<p>At some schools it improves your chances by a lot. At Princeton it’s 4X!</p>

<p>At Cornell it’s more like twice the rate of unhooked applicants, but this can be deceptive as ivy league legacies are a very strong pool. In general they have parents who really cared about their education, went to schools in affluent areas and have had more opportunities than most.</p>

4

<p>This depends on the school and may even depend on whether you apply in the early round or through the regular decision round. There is strong evidence that the legacy applicant pool is stronger and this accounts for much or most of the higher admission rate. At least at HYP schools (and probably all Ivy + top 25 schools), the donations your legacy parent makes (or doesn’t make) play no role in your admissions advantage unless they are in the mid to high seven figure range. Endowing a 2 million dollar professorship just won’t cut it but giving enough to name a building - that is real money. At that point you are a “developmental admit” and that matters more than legacy status.</p>

<p>I know that U Penn says they give a significant legacy benefit but only in the ED round. Yale says it matters little and rejects more than 50% of legacy children from parents in the highest annual category of alumni giving. Another poster once described it as a feather on the scale. It is nice to have and may help all things being equal between you and a non-legacy applicant but it does not bolster your application in the same way that being an URM or recruited athlete does.</p>

5

<p>Yaledad makes a good point. In my experience, working at a prep scool with lots of legacies, virtually all of the top schools only give the major bump to legacies that apply early. If you want their family loyalty, they want your yield boost.</p>