Legacies in regular decision

This fall, I wrestled with the decision of whether I should apply early to Duke or Yale, for I liked them both equally (but for different reasons, of course). I knew that, as a double legacy, my chances would be much higher at Duke, but another part of me wanted to get in somewhere on what I knew was my own merit. I got deferred from Yale, but since then my blinders have come off and I have realized that Duke really is where I want to go next year. I am worried however, because I feel that since I am a legacy, Duke will assume that I do not really want to attend b/c I didn’t apply early. I am a qualified student either way, but at this point college admissions are very arbitrary, so obviously there are no guarantees at all just based on qualifications. Does anyone have any advice on how I should handle this/have any statistics on legacies in regular decision?

Thank you!

As far as I know, legacy will also help you in the RD round. Some schools such as Penn are explicit that the legacy chit only counts in ED, but i do not believe that Duke has the same rule.

There is a legacy benefit in both rounds. The benefit is greater in ED. Overall between 10-13% of the entering class is made up of legacy candidates. I think that the ED rates for legacy was about 30% and RD is about 15%. I don’t remember the exact numbers but it was in this range.

Source: Dean Guttentag, presentation June 2016, Duke Alumni Admissions forum.