Harvard Legacy

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I have a father who graduated from Harvard University for undergrad. he donates every year and receives information all the time on apps, info etc and does interviews as volunteer. </p>

<p>Basically, he says I could get in just from his legacy with decent enough stats, as he has made a great of enough legacy of being one of only two football players to graduate. I don't have wonderful stats and therefore I completely disagree with him but he acts as if it's nothing to get me in.</p>

<p>How powerful is having a big legacy at Harvard? What would I need stat-wise to for-sure my acceptance? (keep in mind the contributions made to the college up above)</p>

2

<p>Legacy + the fact that he donates = very good to Harvard. Or at least that's what I've found.</p>

<p>It'll definitely give you a boost, but you also have to be pretty excellent on your own.</p>

3

<p>when u ay he's one of only two football players to graduate do u mean your father played in the NFL?</p>

4

<p>do they really keep track of who donates, and how much? i mean is there anywhere on the application to put that your parent donates? or do they know that you have a potential student who is the son/daughter of an alumni/donor already? how much $ is enough to make an impression?</p>

5

<p>Dude, they definitely pay attention.</p>

6

<p>how though?</p>

7

<p>It depends on how much $$ he donates, lol. If you're talking 5-6 figures plus, lol, that'll help a LOT. If you have "ordinary" legacy (like I did) it helps, but not a lot. It just gives you a little boost if you're "tied" with someone else for admission. Good luck!!!</p>

8

<p>To be development candidate the money would have to be millions. A legacy probably doubles the chance for a qualified candidate. It is a big boost.</p>

9

<p>but i mean i don't get how they know who exactly donates money, and who their kids are...i mean how do they keep track of this? and where is there room to note this on the application?</p>

10

<p>The office of development, a big operation at all top colleges, flags afmissions as to who the big donors are. Other people within the college contact admissions to give a hand to children of very active alum like fundraisers (the most important thing you can do for your school), presidents of the alum class or head of a major reunion and such.</p>

11

<p>oh so when you donate, you let them know who your kids are and when they graduate, etc?</p>

12

<p>No, if you donate big money they know who you are, you don't have to tell them. The big donors are contacted on a regular baisi by the school over the years inviting you to cocktail parties, special weekend events and dinners at other alum's homes. They know the key develompent people. When their kids apply, they call their contact, if they given big gifts.</p>

13

<p>thats crazy...so what exactly is considered a "big gift" to guarantee your son/daughter to get into a school, for other schools besides harvard..lets say a schol like georgetown or something along those lines...</p>

14

<p>If you state on your application that you are a legacy, the admissions people automatically click on the alumni office link to find out if your parents gave any money. When they find out he did, and how much, and how frequently, it is flagged on your application.</p>

15

<p>man that doesnt seem like much of a guarantee to give that much money to not be 100% sure your kids are going to get in...ive heard stories or small talk that people say if a parent donates a million dollars or whatever there son will get in....kind of like " if i donate 1 million to stanford in return you must let my son go there", they make it sound like they are making a deal? is this true?</p>

16

<p>hah, this doesnt exactly pertain to you, but I must say, my friend is really lucky: one of her brothers went to yale and the other to harvard, and her father and mother both went to cornell, so she has legacies in 3 ivies! lol.</p>

17

<p>it depends on how good your stats are.
my friend's family donated $3 million to princeton, but she almost failed high school so she didn't get in.
another friend's family had 2 parents graduate from Stanford & they donated only about $50k -- she was a better student though, and she got in.</p>

<p>so, yes - alum father will help, but a lot of alumni donate big numbers, and only having those big numbers will be bad.</p>

<p>maybe if you gave us your stats we could be more specific?</p>

18

<p>At colleges like Harvard legacy doesn't really double chances...more like 15% chance of getting in as opposed to 9 or 10%. Definitely better, but far from a guarantee, lolll.</p>

19

<p>I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Harvard's legacy acceptance rate is 40%. I may be wrong though..</p>

20

<p>I'm confused what do you mean one of two football players to graduate? Almost all football players graduate, because none of them are leaving early to go to the NFL. And he would not be one of two to go to the nfl because there have been more than two(but not much more than that) and I don't even think that would really help if he was that good of a football player.</p>