I’m curious about the concept of “legacy” and how it applies to college admissions. Specifically, legacy at Johns Hopkins (father - undergrad), Vanderbilt (father - grad and mom worked there), Princeton (aunt on scholarship), and possibly Rutgers (uncles on scholarship).
Legacy beyond parents is very weak, and undergrad > grad. Vanderbilt does give legacies weight, but in 2010 there were 2400 legacies (out of 30K apps) for a class of 1600 students. JHU says they give a legacy app ‘an extra read’.
It won’t hurt, but don’t count on it doing more than giving you that ‘extra read’.
Every institution has its own legacy policies. Some specifically state that there is absolutely no legacy advantage, others only consider undergraduate alumni children as legacies, still others (contrary to @collegemom3717’s assertion) unambiguously treat graduate and professional school legacies identically with undergraduate legacies, and so forth. Concisely, you’d be wise to ascertain the legacy guidelines that apply at each of your applicable target schools.
With this said, it is a VERY common misconception to believe that all legacies, at a particular university, receive an equal benefit; however, this is FAR from accurate. More precisely:
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The child of an alum who fundamentally has not deeply participated in the university’s life or made significant – and successful – efforts to help the institution attain its goals, will receive very little, if any, real legacy advantage. This category certainly includes 95+ percent of alumni, who attend an occasional function, donate sporadically and relatively parsimoniously, and have never served the university in leadership, governance, managerial oversight, or similar roles.
On the other hand, the children of alumni who (for example) are officers of the alumni association, serve as trustees, lead reunion and fundraising campaigns, provide jobs and internships to students, co-teach classes, host major functions in their cities, frequently are panelists and/or speakers at important university events, chair regional alumni organizations, donate constantly and generously, and much more are quite likely to receive an appreciable legacy admissions advantage. In essence, devotion of substantial “time, talent, and treasury” for decades is appreciated and recognized.
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Please do not mis-represent what I have written. You state something as fact (“others…unambiguously treat graduate and professional school legacies identically…”) and then claim that is “contrary” to my “assertion”. I never said that there are no colleges that don’t treat them the same, just that undergraduate > graduate, which was based on the findings of a Harvard study (http://chronicle.com/article/Legacys-Advantage-May-Be/125812/), which found that…undergraduate > graduate.
Since you are being precise, what is your evidence for your “assertions”?
Oh, and OP: legacies are going down. In 1980, 24% of Yale’s incoming class were legacy; in 2014 it was 13%. Overall, about 10-15% of incoming Ivy students are legacy. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/being-a-legacy-has-its-burden.html?_r=0)
I have not misrepresented what you have written in the least. You said, and I quote: “undergrad > grad.” You did not include any qualifications, such as frequently, or often, or for the majority of institutions; rather, your statement was inclusive, absolute, and universal. It was also inaccurate.. Had you qualified your statement, I would have no complaint; however, you did not. In fact, when you state “undergrad > grad” – and no more – you certainly indicate that NO colleges or universities provide equal legacy treatment. That’s simply incorrect. Words and precision are important.
As for my evidence, I helped make these policies at Duke. They are documented here: http://www.dukealumni.com/get-involved/volunteer/alumni-admissions/alumni-parents.
I figured you come out swinging
“Every institution has its own legacy policies…Concisely, you’d be wise to ascertain the legacy guidelines that apply at each of your applicable target schools.”
^^This is the most important part of your post, and one of the points the OP was asking about, and one of the pieces that I responded to.
Your link is interesting and confirms that every institution has it’s own legacy policies…but doesn’t back up your last two points, or even particularly contradict mine (except that they do specify grandparents as counting).