<p>My daughter is interested in applying to MIT. I think she is a good candidate. She has all of the numbers and good ec's. However, so does everyone else who applies to MIT.</p>
<p>My husband went to MIT. However, we have never donated any money to MIT. Many years ago, my husband donated time and did some fund raising for MIT, but its been well over 10 years since he's done that.</p>
<p>"Legacy" is my daughter's only hook. I think "legacy" is another way of saying that we give special consideration to alumni of our school that donate money to our school. Is that correct? Is my daughters "legacy" a hook if we have not donated money to the school?</p>
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Dan wrote, "Quick question: will legacies have a better chance at admissions than others? Will they be "favored" or does it totally not matter?"</p>
<p>Legacies are not favored, and do not have a better chance in admissions. If you are a legacy and are admitted, you are admitted for being awesome and not for being a legacy.
<p>I've heard conflicting stories. When I visited MIT adcom intern said "No. The only reason why legacy admit rates are slightly higher is because they know what they're getting themselves into." (aka self selection) However, on MIT's common data set and on Collegeboard, they "consider" alumni relation.</p>
<p>The "consideration" you get from admissions is just what dsiva said. If you are a legacy, the Dean of Admissions will look over your file just to make sure the decision was correct. They also know they will most likely get a call from the parents if the kid is rejected and want to be familiar with the file for that eventuality. Again, I have been told by admissions that not a single decision has ever been overturned on that basis. </p>
<p>As an aside, all applications at MIT are also sorted by high school simply to make sure that no superior candidate was overlooked while a less stellar candidate was accepted. "Superior" by MIT standards does not mean higher ranked. Admissions frequently skips over valedictorians or perfect SAT candidates in their search for that rare gem with the creative knack to fit in at MIT. </p>
<p>For the sake of disclosure I happen to have graduated from MIT as a grad student (not undergrad) and my daughter was admitted this past fall, so in a broad sense she is a legacy. At CPW, parents of admitted students were asked to stand up in the auditorium. Of over 500 parents in attendance only 3 stood up, whatever that proves. I also never gave any money to MIT. </p>
<p>Without providing a direct boost in admission, legacy status can be helpful to a candidate in other ways. Beyond strong academics, MIT looks for certain personality traits that increase the fit with the institute's mission. In Myers Briggs parlance, the ideal candidate is an ENTP, an extroverted creative type or alternatively an INTP. Most of the MIT alumni I know fit that profile and many have also passed these traits to their children, mostly from the environment they nurtured them in. My D happened to be the highly inquisitive type for whom MIT was a perfect match. The admissions office apparently agreed. That is the extent I believed I had any influence on her getting into MIT.</p>