Can 2nd Cousins who attended a given university count as “other” relatives on college applications? Especially if you know them personally?
It’s not going to be the difference between acception and rejection, so go ahead and list it. It can’t hurt.
If you can legally marry the relative, it’s worthless as a legacy connection. 
That said, there was one college (was it Wellesley? Williams? one of those W schools) where the application provided a pull down menu of all the types of relatives that you could list as alumni, and it included some very very distant types of relations. I think it may benefit if you want to show that you’ve had many many generations of your family attend the college, e.g., your grandfather, your two uncles, three aunts and seven cousins. But two stray second cousins means nothing.
@spayurpets Well, this guy is really successful-- and I mean reeeeallllyyyy “notable alumni” successful. He’s definitely on this college’s radar, so I was thinking that it might make them more attentive towards my application.
Well, listing even a famous rich distant relative is of no value without underlining the connection. If the distant relative was willing to write a letter on your behalf to the college, that may be something, but putting it in a list of alum relations is going to raise questions about whether he/she even knows who you are or that you exist. And there’s a difference between “successful” and rich when it comes to making developmental admits.
this is straw grasping.
If you are truly close to that relative AND only if that school is your top choice, you could ask your second cousin to write a recommendation supporting your application.
@T26E4 Lol, I wouldn’t call it straw grasping. I don’t need it, I was just wondering what constitutes a relative, that’s all.