<p>I know a bit about legacies and that you have to be related to them to be given an edge, but say Person X's cousin (Person Y) went to Harvard. 7 years later, it's time for Person X to apply to colleges, and up until this time, Person Y hasn't donated a dime to Harvard. Would Person X still get preferential treatment at Harvard or would he/she be treated as a normal applicant due to the lack of donations from the legacy?</p>
<p>All thoughts appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t think cousin counts, typically only very close relatives (parents/grandparents)</p>
<p>I believe legacy status is usually limited to applicants whose parents were undergraduates at the college. Not even siblings count as legacies (usually) much less cousins. So I think it’s irrelevant whether or not Person Y donates.</p>
<p>Oh wow. I had no idea.
In that case, if Person Y was a parent of Person X and didn’t donate a dime, would Person X be trated like all the other applicants?</p>
<p>It’s very college specific, you need to ask by school. And some schools do give siblings a break, particularly if a family will have more than one child enrolled at a time. Again, school specific. But no school I have ever heard of gives cousins a break.</p>
<p>Each college’s supplement should have a section about family, under which they will ask if any of your relatives attended and/or worked at the college. Some colleges only ask for your parents, some include grandparents, and some include siblings. It’s very college-specific. </p>
<p>As far as a higher chance of acceptance, that also depends on the college. Some are more likely to accept you simply because there is a higher chance you will attend if accepted, or because they know your parent did well there and they assume you will as well. Unless your parents donated a building, they probably will not simply accept you because of money.</p>
<p>And many colleges don’t give ANY consideration whatsoever. OP: just list the colleges where your parents and grandparents attended and we can comment.</p>
<p>Looking at the phrase: “Person Y hasn’t donated a dime to Harvard”, one may infer that he may have donated < 10 cents.</p>
<h2>SAT Critical Reading at its finest^ JK just had to</h2>
<p>Legacy’s are often put ‘considered’ in the admission factor, but I guess just a bit under First Gen student</p>
<p>"Legacy’s are often put ‘considered’ in the admission factor, but I guess just a bit under First Gen student " </p>
<p>No. Like I said, most colleges consider neither legacy or 1st Gen. 1st Gen can be a point of interest, giving context to an applicant – but schools are not beholden to take them in. At some schools legacies definitely get a thorough look over. At some schools that are totally stats based, 1st Gen = nothing at all.</p>
<p>Unless your parents are donating buildings I doubt it will get you in. However If you are close to admission then the legacy will come into play when they compare you to other applicants near your level.</p>
<p>@T26E4 My parents (or grandparents) didn’t attend college in the US. I was just wondering how legacies would work given the situation.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the responses :)</p>
<p>Yeah, cousins absolutely do not count as legacies. Usually only parents (and occasionally) grandparents are. Also, even if your parents attended college in another country, you’re supposed to report that, and you wouldn’t fall under the first-gen category. I wouldn’t worry about any hypothetical “what if my parents donated a million dollars” scenarios, haha. Good luck! </p>
<p>??? @collegesplease: then you have no legacy opps in any US colleges. What’s unclear about that?</p>
<p>@T26E4 It was a hypothetical situation that I wanted to know the answer to 
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