<p>Hi guys, I’m obviously wondering if you can answer a question for me.</p>
<p>I am a legacy candidate who applied ED to SEAS. I know Penn says legacy receives maximum benefit when applying ED, but people here make it seems like legacies don’t need to have half the stats, almost like recruited athletes, to get into Penn. Don’t get me wrong, I would kill to get into Penn, its truly my dream and the one place I REALLY want to be, but I also am the kind of kid who will tell a teacher if he or she made a mistake grading a test and gave me a unnessesarily high grade. Is it true that being a legacy and applying ED is really that much a benefit that I might not get in on true merit?</p>
<p>tell me something. would you give up your penn admission if you thought theyd given it to you b/c of legacy status?</p>
<p>i would take full advantage of anything i could get when it comes to penn. don't worry about being deserving - if they want you there, they want you there. and im pretty sure they don't want sub-par students. legacy or otherwise.</p>
<p>if you're qualified to get in, then you will. Keep in mind that plenty of legacy students or siblings will get deferred (and some denied) in the ED round. If you really deserve to go there, then you will get in. If not, then no. It's that simple.</p>
<p>Impboy, how big is your legacy status? If it is like me where one parent went for grad school and has done nothing for Penn and donated almost $0 since graduation, being a legacy only helps you ED if you are on the fence between deffered and in, or if you are on the fence between waitlist and in for RD. Legacy helps, but not that much. If you have 5 generations of family members who went to Penn, have donated a fair amount of cash, and have parents who are active alumni, then it will help a lot and may get you in if your stats are closer to soso (3.5 GPA, 1900 SATish). Penn will say an applicant like that shows potential or something like that. However, you would need a lot going for you in the legacy department for Penn to admit you if you have bellow a 3.5 and 1800. 2/3 if legacies are rejected. Better than the 10% admissions rate, but still not a guarantee for the majortiy of legacies like me.</p>
<p>Even many legacies deferred in the ED round get denied in the regular round. They mean business. It's all a matter of whether they feel you would be competitive in the respective application pool you are in. Still, again, it's all a crapshoot</p>
<p>Ah OK, I realize the idiocy in my statement now. I only have one parent that went to Penn grad school, but my stats are, i suppose, better than what you would consider below avg (i have like...3.6-3.7 GPA and 2170 Sat's, and 700+ on 3 SAT II's). I suppose i shouldn't worry about legacy as a "cheap" factor anymore. If i get in, I know it'll be on my own merit!</p>
<p>the admit rate is definitely not 10%, venkater.
im legacy for brown but i heard that it matters much less now... unless they donated a substantial amount. i know that penn does like legacies though, so it differs from school to school.</p>
<p>Developmental cases = huge donations, which in turn makes it cheaper for people of the lower socioeconomic brackets to attend college.</p>
<p>Affirmative action doesn't bother me, but the level to which some colleges take it bothers me more than any other things (developmental, legacy, famous people, etc.)</p>
<p>17% admit rate. Take out the legacies, athletes, and big donors, and it may be close to 10%. Penn likes their legacies and if you are close they will give you a larger benefit of the doubt than other colleges, but you still need to be a very competitive candidate if you are an every day legacy to stand a chance. If your family has been going to Penn since the late 1700s and have donated billions, I think you are in so long as your stats are not horrendous.</p>