<p>My great grandfather went to Upenn, grad class of 1917. I was looking on the UPenn website, and it said list only to list any parents or grandparents. So my question is, will this legacy help?</p>
<p>More info:
I'm a 2nd generation Asian guy (because for some reason my great grandfather decided to move back to China lol)
My dad also worked at Upenn before, doing some computer search algorithm research / web maintenance or something like that
I was born at UPenn Medical hospital and lived basically a couple blocks away for the first 6 years of my life (live in CA now)</p>
<p>Unless your family is a big donor to the university, no one will care about that legacy. Legacy admission is done to keep alumni happy and to solicit more donations from families who are very tied to the university. That only matters as long as the alumni are alive though…</p>
<p>Although the website says grandparent, check with legacy admissions, I have heard in the recent past that great grandfather “counts”, as well. Good luck.</p>
<p>How does that article contradict anything I said? What do you think the term “heightened commitment” means besides “more likely to become a dedicated alumn who will donate lots of money”? </p>
<p>But lets look at the situation in the language of the article. Does the alma mater of the OP’s great grandparent, whom the OP has possibly never met, or his birth hospital, which he has no conscious memory of, really give him a special connection to the university? Or is he fishing for straws in the hope of gaining admission to one of the most selective universities in the world?</p>
<p>If I were reading the application and looking for a “heightened commitment”, fond childhood memories might be the only aspect of the above exposition that might convince me.</p>
<p>How does that article contradict anything I said? What do you think the term “heightened commitment” means besides “more likely to become a dedicated alumn who will donate lots of money”? </p>
<p>But lets look at the situation in the language of the article. Does the alma mater of the OP’s great grandparent, whom the OP has possibly never met, or his birth hospital, which he has no conscious memory of, really give him a special connection to the university? Or is he fishing for straws in the hope of gaining admission to one of the most selective universities in the world?</p>
<p>If I were reading the application and looking for a “heightened commitment”, fond childhood memories might be the only aspect of the above exposition that might convince me.</p>
<p>There are obviously different levels of legacy status depending on the applicant’s ties to the university. While the run of the mill legacy is admitted at a higher rate, they are pretty indistinguishable from other applicants whereas someone whose family has donated a lot of money may be held to lower standards.</p>
<p>if he is an otherwise qualified candidate and he applies ED, his legacy status could very well give him a needed boost. I am very familiar with the competitive nature of Ivy admissions and would never want to overstate any perceived advantage, but for Penn a legacy applying ED really does have an advantage, assuming competitive stats to begin with. Your comment about legacy may be right on for many other schools, but it is not accurate for Penn.</p>
<p>Edited to add: of course, given the low admission rate at Penn, even a legacy applying ED still has the odds against him admission-wise, they are by no means a shoo-in.</p>
<p>^ I was questioning whether he enjoys legacy status at all, given that the legacy in question is three generations back. When do legacy privileges end: four, six, ten generations back? Man, I should have researched my family ancestry more carefully before I applied to college!</p>
<p>Penn is very generous with what they consider legacy status. They include parents and grandparents that have attended any of Penn’s schools, which is not the case for most other universities in the same league. I encourage the OP to check with legacy admissions, but I recently have heard great-grandparents giving legacy status at Penn.</p>