<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am a rising senior this year and I plan to apply ED to Cornell's architecture program. I feel pretty confident that my application will be competitive, based on an embarrassingly large amount of research that I seem to do, but one thing I am curious about is a legacy I have.</p>
<p>I always knew that there had been generous donations to Cornell from my family, but I didn't really understand the extent of that generosity. My parents never really seemed to talk about it, and would often avoid telling me anything about it. I had all about but forgotten about it until a few months ago when I visited Cornell during the spring, when my father and stepmother (who both attended Cornell in the '60s) brought me to a display in one of the libraries (I can't remember which) that said "The Builders Of Cornell" and had my great-grandfather's name on it alongside many others, including Ezra himself. After doing some research online, I found that although my great-grandfather attended in the late 1800s, there are still about 5 trust funds (worth a total of around 500-600 thousand dollars), which donate money to Cornell. Although this may seem like a golden ticket into one of the world's greatest universities, I am not sure how much this will really affect my admissions. My sister applied a few years ago and was rejected, (though her academics were not as good) even with the legacy. However, the board of admissions did write my father a letter (apparently not a generic one that they might send every alumnus with a rejected child) apologizing to him for not accepting my sister.. </p>
<p>So with all this in mind, does anyone have any input as to whether the legacy will help me get in? I'm sure it can't hurt, but I'm just curious as to whether anyone else might have any useful information.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>