Hi, just looking for advice from anyone who may know the value of of legacy at ivy. I currently have a 1500 SAT and believe there is good chance the October results will be even higher, good grades, and solid EC’s.
The early decision deadline is coming up and I realize how much it improves your chances to apply ED. I like both Columbia and Cornell and I am legacy at Columbia. I know Cornell is an easier school to get into regularly, but would Columbia combined with legacy generally give me a better shot or still be harder than Cornell. I can only ED one school and any advice is greatly appreciated.
what’s your major, can you afford both schools if you’re willing to share, legacy with ED is a pretty good combination, if you in fact prefer either school.
ED the one you like better.
Cornell and Columbia are VERY different schools. Are you sure you’ve researched them both? Have you visited both? Which school at Cornell are you interested in?
I highly recommend that you make a spreadsheet of the EXACT courses you’d have to take to fulfill distribution and core requirements at Cornell and Columbia. I think it will become clear one way or the other once it’s in front of you.
I agree that these schools couldn’t be more different. Hard to believe someone would love them both enough to ED.
You should ED to you clear favorite but understand the legacy bump usually disappears if you don’t apply in the ED round to that school.
Growing up in upstate NY, it’s pretty common for people to apply to both, it’s not like one is a LAC, and the other a tech school. I’m very familiar with both schools, and they’re more similar than different, especially if type of campus is not that important on the list of things. So I would lean to Columbia ED where legacy can help.
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Note that legacy preference at Columbia is quite strict. If you are applying to Columbia College – legacy is only considered if one of your parents graduated from Columbia College or SEAS. Barnard/GS/Grad schools will help a little, but won’t get the big boost that legacy candidates receive.
https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/ask/faq/question/2412
The magnitude of legacy preference at Harvard was revealed in the recent lawsuits. Legacy candidates to Harvard College had a whopping 7.82 greater odds (or 682% higher chance) of admission compared to non-legacy.
I’m not sure exactly how much Columbia favors legacy, but if it is anything like Harvard, you would be much better off applying to Columbia vs Cornell.
Re #4, YMMV apparently. They are similar in being universities with smart students. But within that pool I for one think that they are pretty different.
I guess they are also both in NYS, mattered for my NYS Regents scholarship back in the day, now I don’t think so.
NYC vs a more campus-centerered experience in Ithaca is not a triviality. Dorms with RAs all along vs. off-campus apartments with house parties makes a significant difference in social experience. "Walk everywhere’ vs. taking the subway to the village. The cost of going out. Weather. “The core” : the nature of those courses and the # credits it eats up, is a significant academic difference vs more typical distribution distribution requirements . Finally the presence of Cornell’s specialty colleges changes the available offerings beyond liberal arts and also influences the types of people in attendance, as well as size of the undergraduate population. As does Columbia’s General Studies and the school across the street, but in different ways (they both also offer liberal arts curricula).
OP should have a preference for these different social and academic experiences. And have other targets beyond this two. Because IMO if OP likes one best, based on criteria there are probably other schools that would show up as #2 vs. the other. In many cases, anyway.
That aside, my guess is legacy bump may be significant.