I may apply to Harvard REA this fall and I have some questions about my app and my relations. My mother is an active alum who does student interviews and donates every year. My uncle also works with the undergrads and teaches a class at the university. I know that AdComs will know about my legacy because I noted it on my app, but will they know about my uncle being part of the faculty? Also, will that help me at all in admissions? My stats are on my chance thread; I didn’t want to post another one because I just want to know whether my uncle’s faculty status will help me at all.
Also, does anyone know the legacy admit rate for this year? I know it was around 30% in 2011, but what is it for 2016?
Percentages on legacy admission rates are rather meaningless unless you also know how the legacy applicants compare to the general pool.
If you look up the limited information which is available, such as this http://features.thecrimson.com/2014/freshman-survey/admissions/ you will see that the average legacy admit has an SAT score 59 points higher than average. It is reasonable to suppose that such students also on average have access to more opportunities, both in and outside of the classroom, and that as a group, they are stronger than the typical applicant.
(Applying the line of reasoning popular among some posters on this site, the fact that legacies “have to score 59 points higher to be admitted” proves that in fact Harvard is discriminating against their legacies).
@mathyone Yes, it seems like the legacies are held to a higher standard. Do you know if the average ACT is also higher for legacies v. the rest of the applicant pool?
I’m pretty sure I saw similar SAT data on another year, so I don’t think it was a fluke. I can’t see any reason why the ACT scores wouldn’t show a similar pattern.