<p>I'm a legacy a couple top 10 schools that I'm thinking about applying to this upcoming year. My top choice happens to be one of the schools at which I have legacy (yale!), however like most students, whether or not I attend (if accepted) will primarily be based on the atmosphere of the institution. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if they've percieved legacy students being thought of or treated any differently than regular admits. Anecdotal evidence would be great! Oh and this is off the record of course...</p>
<p>I have a D at an Ivy, and while she always seems to mention the legacy status of certain friends when describing them to me (I don't know why, but obviously it must be discussed at school), I note that she does not do it in a condescending way. Rather, it is more like a descriptor of the person, like describing their background, homelife and personality. She has never told me that she met a legacy who didn't deserve to be there, or wasn't qualified, or wasn't succeeding. To the contrary, she has been very complimentary of these students, almost in a respectful way - like she is impressed that there exists generations of people who were fortunate to have lived this Ivy experience.</p>
<p>Um, this may not be the answer you're looking for, but it is MY impression (albeit VERY limited-so feel free to point out if you think I'm wrong) that there is a slight stigma placed upon legacies at top colleges. I think that has to do with several things: the perceived admissions "boost" when everyone else feels they worked their asses off to get in, the liberal student bodies who feel entitlement based on family background is wrong, and the token arrogant legacy students who do not belong. Of course, no one needs to know you're a legacy, but yes, you may be described as a "legacy student". Oh yeah, a similar stigma goes for URMs and athletes. I however, think this is a very negative point of view. Frankly, it is only in the extreme "token" cases which are a bit of a disgrace to the university. Almost everyone deserves to be here academically and the vast majority of legacy, URM, and athletes are truly deserving and don't feel entitled in anyway to their spot at their top college. Furthermore, I find it funny that it's usually kids on FA who hold this stigma on legacies. They seem to conveniently forget that they wouldn't be able to attend Stanford or any another top school without the copious legacy donations. I say this as someone who lacked a legacy at my school. I do think though, that these attributes (legacy, URM status, and athletic status) are dividers rather than unifiers at top schools some of the time.</p>
<p>OP: I replied to your similar post on the Yale forum. I would say that Cervantes' experience does not occur at Y. The atmosphere is so non-competitive that people didn't know much about each others' backgrounds and people take each other at face value.</p>
<p>I think you'll be fine as long as you don't go around saying things like, "HA! I had a 1.8 GPA and a 900 SAT and I still got in because I'm LEGACY!"</p>
<p>One of my daughter's roommates at Harvard was a legacy, and it was a non-issue. The daughter herself was very smart and talented and clearly belonged at a top school. I never even heard she was a legacy until their senior year. No one cared one way or the other.</p>
<p>To answer your question - No, there is no stigma - Yes, qualified legacies are admitted at a higher rate than the general pool of applicants, but it's no guarantee of admission.</p>
<p>Here are links to some articles on legacy admissions - this was a hot topic during the last presidential campaign - back in 2004</p>