<p>Hi. I will be applying to Princeton next year. My mother went to Princeton. Just an undergrad. NO special donations or anything. Is this still a legacy? I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA, but my classes are only really hard, but not the most. If I get a good sat score, can I get in to Princeton? </p>
<p>Thanks you so much for your info.</p>
<p>Of course it is.
Someone verify me</p>
<p>It is indeed a legacy.</p>
<p>IDK if you can get in without SAT scores, ECs, a more indepth courseload, etc.</p>
<p>Get a 2200+, have some EC’s you’re passionate about, and welcome to Princeton!</p>
<p>Sooo…subject tests don’t matter? And it’s okay if I don’t take like 20 billion AP’s? Just 1 now and 4 next year?</p>
<p>He’s just saying it very generally as a joke. Obviously, you still have to work hard on your subject tests, awards, essays, interview, etc. and that still won’t be a definite acceptance.</p>
<p>Thank you. I will work extra hard.</p>
<p>No, I wasn’t saying it as a joke.</p>
<p>Yes, do well on your SAT Subject tests too obviously. But as long as you stay focused, you will get in. Along with the other 30-40% of legacies who get in.</p>
<p>Do some applying legacies have bad applications?</p>
<p>^^ You make it sound almost automatic. If 35% are accepted then 65% are not. I have heard that legacies who are accepted are usually extremely strong candidates. I don’t think the requirements you laid out are enough to ensure acceptance.</p>
<p>^Mm hmm, that’s what they tell you so you won’t feel like you’re getting ripped off by the admissions process.</p>
<p>Well I guess my son is a definite then. 
</p>
<p>But really, we shall see in less than a month.</p>
<p>Hope that you are in the top 35% of the legacies applying.</p>
<p>What I’m curious of is what percent of all applying people are actually good enough to be considered. I also wonder how many people applying come nowhere close to the standards for admittance.</p>
<p>I believe the statistic is that 35-40% of the students at Princeton are legacies. I don’t believe anyone knows what percentage of legacy applicants get accepted.</p>
<p>Anecdotal evidence makes me believe that in spite of what Randombetch make think, most legacy candidates that are accepted are extremely qualified in terms of their academic achievements. I think the difference may be that they do not need amazing ECs to stand out from all the other academically extremely well qualified candidates who are not legacies.</p>
<p>I have heard many stories of legacy applicants from Princeton and other Ivies being denied admission, much to the surprise of their parents.</p>
<p>@Drought</p>
<p>I am sure you are kidding right? Obviously, but just in case no one picks up on it, you have it backwards for sure. 30 - 40% of Legacies are accepted. About 12% of students on campus are legacies (still a large number).</p>
<p>Lol no I wasn’t kidding I guess I’m just horribly wrong. I was told that 30-40% of the students there were legacies by my college counselor, but I guess she was just misinformed… I did think that seemed like a preposterously large percentage…</p>
<p>I am a legacy. My academics and everything else are about normal. So my legacy will help me, but I am by no means an above-average applicant. From what I hear, legacies are in a separate stack of applicants. If this is true, legacies only compete with other legacies…to an extent.</p>
<p>I can understand the logic behind thinking the stack of legacy applicants are far superior to the regular applicants, since Princeton alumni tend to be good at teaching their kids the value of education. However, I find this logic to be faulty and here’s why:</p>
<p>It’s not fair to compare the caliber of legacy students to non-legacy students in the world in general. There are legacy students who do not apply, and there is (obviously) a much, much greater proportion of high school students who do not apply to Princeton. Who actually applies? The ones that hope to get into Princeton.</p>
<p>I think it’s more fair to compare legacy kids who hope to get into Princeton with non-legacy kids who hope to get into Princeton. Which stack of applicants will be stronger? Well, those with legacy know off the bat that they are more likely to get in than a regular applicant; thus, there will be some proportion of legacy applicants who apply who would have known they had no chance if they were not legacy. On the other hand, non-legacy students who apply know that they don’t have this advantage, so there cannot exist a proportion of students who would not have applied if they weren’t legacy (since none of the non-legacy kids are legacy, obviously). </p>
<p>You can talk about other hooks, but there’s no reason that legacy kids won’t have the same hooks as non-legacy kids UNLESS we’re talking about an academic hook, in which case that would only support the point that non-legacy applicants are of a higher caliber. There are URM legacy kids for example. And it’s just as possible (if not more likely) for a non-legacy kid to be a USAMO as it is for a legacy kid to be a USAMO.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the difference between legacy kids and non-legacy kids at Princeton is not readily distinguishable (you’ll never think “oh that kid’s not smart - he must be a legacy kid”), so the difference in caliber is pretty small. When it comes to admissions though, there’s a huge difference since it takes all of the “randomness” involved out: if you are well qualified, then you will get in (as opposed to instances were highly qualified students don’t get into Princeton but get into Harvard, Stanford, etc.).</p>
<p>Sorry this post isn’t as clear as possible - just came back from a midterm and my brain’s pretty mush.</p>
<p>@random</p>
<p>Here is another way to look at it. Based on the Ivy Success website admission numbers for 2013, 10.7% of the 2150 accepted students were legacies (230 accepted legacies). </p>
<p>Based on the University’s own statistics from their website 12.7% of the freshman class are legacies (1301 enrolled) equals 165 enrolled legacies.</p>
<p>Therefore the matriculation rate of legacies at Princeton was about 72% for the class of 2013.</p>
<p>The general population matriculation rate was about 59% for this same class.</p>
<p>Yes the matriculation rate for legacies is higher (loyalty is definitely one factor), but its not over the top higher. Clearly many of these same students were accepted by Yale, Harvard, MIT etc and many chose to attend these other institutions.</p>