Pretty sure legacy is helpful at all the top schools besides MIT and CalTech. Certainly the Harvard Crimson takes it for granted that legacy helps at H, arguing that legacy preferences should be ended and citing a paper that estimates legacies at top colleges have more than 3x the chance to get in compared with other applicants with similar qualifications (this latter point is critical).
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/5/28/staff-losing-legacy-admissions/
There is a lot of handwaving by admissions offices to pretend preferences donât exist. For example, a couple years ago Yale bragged that its legacies had SAT averages only a couple points below the class average. This is laughable when you consider how much whiter and higher SES the legacies are compared to the class average. The proper comparison would be against applicants of the same race and SES. Non-legacies would need higher qualifications, but Yale wonât admit this.
As admit rates have fallen for all applicants, so they have for legacies. Whereas legacy admit rate at H might have been 40% in 2001, maybe itâs 15-17% now, vs 5% overall rate. Legacies, for a variety of reasons, likely have better qualifications than the average applicant, but the abovementioned study (and others like it, mentioned in the study itself) adjusts for qualifications and still finds the 3x legacy advantage. In the real world what I think this means is, if an unhooked H admittee has to basically walk on water, the legacy admittee gets a bit of a breakâmaybe test scores are great and grades are great, but the ECs are not quite as strong. Or maybe ECs are strong and grades a little weak. You still have to be in the top 15% among a strong crowd.
Another thing I would look at is if the legacy school provides any kind of special interview with admissions. I know Williams does this for legacies. Not sure if Harvard does.
@Harvardina Donât hesitate to ask aroundâŠyou donât have to ask specifically for Ivy League help you can ask around for essay help or someone who can help choose schools that way no one knows your intentions. Itâs the best way to get good referrals. I am a college consultant (NOT soliciting already booked for the class of "18 & '19 and prefer to work local so I can meet in person with clients and get to know them) but I only work by personal referral and donât advertise. So ask people you trust and also in addition to Harvard find your D some schools that are a step or two down from the ivies to loveâŠitâs tough out there.
@Harvardina there are two national professional organizations for educational consultants: IECA and HECA. You can go to their websites to search for consultants. Itâs no guarantee that they are good (ask for references), but at least you will know that they abide by the ethical guidelines for the organizations (and the industry) and that they have met the requirements to join (experience, training, etc).
Thanks everyone, much appreciated!
You did great job. I highly agree what we need is application strategy and essay brainstorm. I am looking for private counselor for my S. Can you give me contact info. of the counselor who you were working with? thanks.
@sal255 what a great and unique approach. I agree you can get great results if you are open minded and resourceful. Congrats to your daughter!!
@keiekei I believe U of Chicago did away with legacy being helpful to applicants many years ago, and I donât think legacy helps anymore at Harvard U either. Stanford still counts legacy though, strongly, I have heard. Now if a studentâs mom or dad teaches at the Ivy school that they want to attend, that may help a student get admitted. Faculty children, if they are admitted, are offered a full tuition waver at most Ivy schools plus MIT and many other private colleges across the US.
^^The Ivies raised the waiver? We have friends who were Ivy faculty kids and they got a 50% tuition waiver. Of course, this was back in the 80s when the dinosaurs roamed!
@Coloradomama , Stanford guarantees legacies that their apps will be read by 2 readers, so no capricious rejections by a cranky single reader. They also will give a bump to large (very large) donors. In some situations, this is helpful, but itâs not a strong boost for most. They are pretty upfront with alumni about what to expect.
Columbia offers a 100% tuition waiver for employees and employee children:
http://hr.columbia.edu/officers-tuition-exemption
This may extend to non faculty employees at some universities:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB861056804824958500
MIT offers this plan to employees:
http://hrweb.mit.edu/benefits/tuition-education/childrens-scholarship-plan
New strategy for parents, get a job at the school your child wants to attend!!!
I did not look up all the Ivys but I think many US universities, including Case Western Reserve University
offer free tuition to faculty children.
MIT sends a letter to all alumni parents with children applying to MIT, spelling out that legacy does not count for anything in the MIT admissions process. I believe U of Chicago sends a similar letter, according to a relative I know, whoâs kids applied to her alma mater.