I’m not quite sure how this “legacy” thing works. I’m applying to UPenn (Wharton Business School) and I heard that sometimes legacies can help you get in. My mother is a graduate of Harvard University, but I have no family that went to UPenn. Can someone explain to me how a legacy works? Would my mother being an alumna of Harvard help my chances of getting into UPenn? Thanks to anyone who comments below
Your harvard alum mother can’t explain this to u?
Legacy is only a hook/tip factor for the college of the alumnal. Penn will not care that your mother went to Harvard, only Harvard will consider you a legacy. In addition some colleges only consider legacies for ED (Penn) and some don’t consider it (MIT).
Some colleges only provide legacy benefit to kids whose parents went to the undergraduate school. So in your case if your mom went to Harvard Business School, then it makes very little impact to Harvard College.
And to go further, some colleges giver higher weight to kids of alumni who have been active post-graduation (Duke does this).
And some colleges apparently give no weight to legacy status at all (U Chicago) from what I hear. Good luck
The extent for which being a legacy is a “hook” varies pretty widely from school to school. Some places it might give you a slight edge over someone with equivalent stats; other places it might provide a more significant advantage.
At some LACs, legacy status may indicate that an accepted student is more likely to enroll, thus boosting the yield. Or it may indicate that once enrolled a student is more likely to stay, thus boosting the graduation rate. At the most elite schools this is not so much of an issue, however.
You forgot to mention that there is some value in not creating irate alums.
She was an international student from Taiwan, so she isn’t completely sure about it