<p>Does being a legacy truly increase your chances of being admitted to Princeton University? My dad went to Princeton but I'm not feeling an advantage whatsoever.</p>
<p>As I understand it, legacy counts for more at Princeton than at any other institution of higher learning in the United States. Of course, that assertion is probably untestable and, therefore, hooey. But that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, though, if God has blessed you with a Princeton parent, you do have an advantage in the Princeton admissions process. I’ve heard that Princeton legacies enjoy a 40% admit rate. I doubt that’s wholly the result of superior breeding.</p>
<p>If you’re not “feeling” that advantage, you might want to consult with a medical specialist experienced in PLD (Princetonian Legacy Dysfunction) treatment. Your local Princeton alumni representative will doubtless provide a reference.</p>
<p>Legacies generally have a higher acceptance rate than non-legacies (the stats I’ve seen are closer to a 32-33% acceptance rate, not the 40% lousyusername has stated). However, that means that close to 70% of legacy applicants are not accepted. Moreover, legacies are often very qualified candidates - high test scores, excellent grades etc. - possibly due to the fact that their parents valued education and had enough money to move to good school districts, put their children in private schools etc.</p>
<p>So, if you’re a highly qualified legacy you have a significantly higher chance of acceptance than a non-legacy, but if you’re an average applicant, being a legacy is unlikely to get you in.</p>
<p>According to Washington Monthly, Princeton’s legacy admit rate in 2009 was 41.2%. That’s 10x the admit rate for job-legacies (a quickie estimate based on the fact that overall admit rate blends legacies with non-legacies). And that’s a huge advantage for children of alumni. </p>
<p>Think of it this way. Based on admit rate, if you’re a legacy, Princeton is about as hard to get into as BU, and a lot easier to get into than places like Tufts and Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>I’m kind of amused to see the “superior breeding” argument to rear its pedigreed head so quickly. Not sure how anyone can argue seriously that Princeton alumni value education more than alumni of Harvard, Stanford, or egghead-central UChicago.</p>
<p>Unless, of course, you want to go eugenicist and invoke superior genes (not P.C.). In any event, I think we all know what’s really going on here…</p>
<p>Re: first-paragraph, second-sentence typo…that’s supposed to be NON-legacies not “job-legacies” (too fast with the iPad virtual keyboard lol)</p>
<p>The Daily Princetonian reported that for the class of 2017 admissions cycle, 9.7 percent of admitted applicants were children of alumni. </p>
<p>Not sure if the higher numbers the other posters are referring to were historical rates which have been shifting over time. </p>
<p>At reunions (again, per an article in DP), someone actually questioned the incoming President about the legacy admissions policy. Suffice it to say, it seems right now, unless you are truly a developmental legacy candidate, it does not appear that there is a tremendous advantage in the process; only perhaps a slight tip if all things equal with other candidates in the pool.</p>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Woops, just re-read OPs initial issue re: legacy chances which is not the same as the information I referenced regarding percent of accepted class that is legacy. Sorry for the error…</p>
<p>Note to self: drink coffee before posting on CC in the am :)</p>
<p>Coffee deficit notwithstanding, it’s kind of amusing, the extent to which:</p>
<p>a) Princeton grants preferential treatment in the admissions process to the children of alumni, and makes no attempt to hide this fact. </p>
<p>b) Princeton’s alumni either deny that Princeton does any such thing, or say they don’t really know much about it. </p>
<p>Gosh that’s funny.</p>
<p>I like the way MIT handles legacies: It doesn’t treat them preferentially. </p>
<p>In its admissions materials, MIT says if you get into MIT, it’s because YOU, not Mommy and/or Daddy, got you into MIT.</p>
<p>Princeton legacies will never be able to claim that.</p>
<p>My observation as an outsider (I did not attend Pton nor do I have any connections in the admissions office) is that P alumni are fiercely loyal to their institution - in terms of donations, volunteer time, etc. No one knows for sure if their connection to the university continues to the next generation due to those factors. It could be that it confers the advantage to the applicant of “knowing” what the school is looking for while reading the application. </p>
<p>Per the DP article during this past reunion cycle, admissions states clearly they are looking for applicants with strong research and writing skills who will be able to undertake the Junior Paper and Senior Thesis requirements. </p>
<p>To lousyusername - if you prefer MIT, proceed. No need to continue with Princeton. Open marketplace out there.</p>
<p>So you’re just a random grownup with no Princeton connection hanging out on Princeton message boards for no particular reason? Um, okay…</p>
<p>Your assertion that Princeton legacies are admitted at higher rates than non-legacies because of an intuitive grasp of admissions office preferences is, in this age of the common app, puzzling. FWIW, here’s an article I found after 10 seconds on Google, one discussing the class of 2013’s 42 percent legacy admit rate (compared to nine percent admit rate for non-legacies.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/05/12/26151/[/url]”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/05/12/26151/</a></p>
<p>As for MIT, I don’t think I would get in. But Princeton shouldn’t be much of a stretch: My parents went there!</p>
<p>lousyusername</p>
<p>According to Business Insider, the Princeton legacy admissions rate for the Class of 2015 was 33% [Legacy</a> Kids Have An Admissions Advantage - Business Insider](<a href=“http://www.businessinsider.com/legacy-kids-have-an-admissions-advantage-2013-6]Legacy”>Legacy Kids Have an Admissions Advantage)</p>
<p>Here are the stats for Yale and Harvard for the same year:</p>
<pre><code>Harvard’s legacy admissions rate hovers around 30%. Its overall rate was 5.8% this year.
For Princeton’s class of 2015, 33% of legacy applicants were admitted. The overall admissions rate for that class was 8.5%.
Yale says it admits 20 to 25% of legacy applicants. It admitted 6.7% overall this year.
</code></pre>
<p>Read more: [Legacy</a> Kids Have An Admissions Advantage - Business Insider](<a href=“Legacy Kids Have an Admissions Advantage”>Legacy Kids Have an Admissions Advantage)</p>
<p>Love the quote from the MIT guy:</p>
<p>I personally would not work for a college which had legacy admission because I am not interested in simply reproducing a multigenerational lineage of educated elite. And if anyone in our office ever advocated for a mediocre applicant on the basis of their “excellent pedigree” they would be kicked out of the committee room.</p>
<p>The legacy advantage exists.</p>
<p>Most universities give legacies an advantage.<br>
Children of graduates make up 10 to 15 percent of incoming classes at most Ivy League schools</p>
<p>However, the advantage that legacies receive has greatly decreased.
Martin Wilder, at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, says an explosive growth in applications has made it hard for anyone to get into top schools. The children of alums are guaranteed a close look, he says, but little else: “The legacy factor may not be enough of a tip factor to push a student into the admit group.”</p>
<p>Legacy admit rates:
University of Virginia, roughly half of legacies are admitted.
Dartmouth accepted 29.7 percent of alumni-child appli<em>cants in 2008.
Brown University admitted 33.5 per</em>cent of alumni children in 2006
The University of Pennsylvania admitted 33.9 percent of legacy applicants in 2008.
At Notre Dame, about 20% of all students are children of graduates.
Other major universities that grant legacy status include Vanderbilt, Stanford, Duke, Middlebury College and others.
Prior to 2003 the University of Michigan used a 150-point scale to rank applicants, with 100 points needed to guarantee admission. Michigan gave legacies extra pints for admission.</p>
<p>A number of state universities have dropped legacy preference after having been forced to end racial preferences. This includes University of Georgia, California, Texas A&M.</p>
<p>According to Yale Dean Brenzel, the college treats legacy status as a positive factor in the evaluation process, and in recent years legacies have been admitted at about three times the rate of non-legacies. He cautions, however, that the degree of advantage does not correspond to the difference in admit rates, because legacy applicants on average present academic qualifications substantially stronger than non-legacy applicants. In other words, the average legacy applicant is more competitive in the process, even without any regard paid to legacy status.</p>
<p>In the most recent Princeton class 9.7% of the admits were legacies. 13.9% will be the first in their families to attend college.</p>
<p>Really cute girl in my school just graduated has two Princeton parents was accepted early last December definitely top 5% of class and she had honors but was not valedictorian and had no college sports or anything else I can think of. The valedictorian and salutatorian and a bunch of other geniuses I know of were rejected. I think Princeton took like 3 from our school. That’s all I’ve got.</p>
<p>Does Princeton treat children of graduate alumni as legacies as well?</p>
<p>Now that my thread has been revived I guess I should clarify and say that my dad is a graduate alumni.</p>
<p>Without having first hand experience, I would say that the type of degree earned should make absolutely no difference. If your parent(s) graduated from Princeton, you are a legacy.</p>
<p>Did anyone else notice that the Princeton app doesn’t have a space to list relatives who attended? Or am I just going crazy?</p>
<p>From my school several legacies have been admitted in the last
8 years with not so stellar academic records. They are in the top 5% but not geniuses and interestingly the year a weak legacy gets accepted a lot of other strong candidates also get accepted. It is almost like they take the legacy and everyone above them to make it look fair.
One other note, all these legacies happen to be white females. I wonder if they have a different rule for an Asian legacy?</p>
<p>@biovball</p>
<p>I most certainly noticed that. Which makes me wonder because if you can’t tell them they don’t know you’re a legacy.</p>