Legacy Advantage at Vanderbilt

<p>Does anyone have an idea as to what advantage Legacy status has on an applicant's chances. How about a son, daughter, or sibling status? Thanks.</p>

<p>I don’t wager an informed answer, but IMHO, familiarity with Vanderbilt, appreciation for nuances of Vanderbilt, thoughts about how you would use Vanderbilt go further than legacy, and legacy is a positive most particularly if it has made you more thoughtful/informed about the breadth of the university. Legacy won’t mean much if the student is not similar to the mean of admitted kids. good luck!!</p>

<p>I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that being a legacy will get you in unless you also have the stats for Vanderbilt; I know of friends’ children who did not get into Vanderbilt where one girl had 4 legacies and another had 7 (those included parents as well as grandparents, aunts, great uncles, etc.) My husband & I both are graduates and our daughter got in but she was a NMF and top 1% in her class so I suspect she would have gotten in anyway… </p>

<p>I don’t say this to discourage you but want to warn you not to have unrealistic expectations; best of luck with the whole application process!</p>

<p>One of my professors had a niece that was rejected from Vanderbilt and accepted to Princeton… Not so relevant to the thread but an interesting anecdote! </p>

<p>Legacy certainly gives you an advantage, but a slight advantage. There are a lot of applicants in that admission gray area-- they definitely have the profile for Vanderbilt, but there are just not enough slots… Legacy could help you out there. But it probably won’t take someone who has a weaker profile and push you in (unless the legacy is a big donor or someone really important!).</p>

<p>How about a legacy applicant applying ED? That would be good for some advantage, one would suppose?</p>

<p>Although I’m not sure if sibling legacy holds as much weight as a child of an alum, but my S2 was denied admission fall of 2012. He applied ED, his brother was a current student and he had higher “stats” than his brother who had applied 3 years prior. He wasn’t at the tippy-top of the admission pool, but was certainly “in range” so we really thought he had a chance. In addition, we are full-pay which some people now say is also an slight advantage.</p>

<p>Needless to say, it was disappointing at the time. I think S1 took it the hardest - he was furious that they denied his brother who he felt was a great fit. On a positive note, S2 LOVES his chosen school and can’t see himself anywhere else - thank goodness!</p>

<p>S1 just graduated this May and I had a long discussion with a Vandy alum (his son was graduating and his daughter had just been denied) about this issue. He told me that the majority of his friend’s kids had been denied these past few years. Also, in my son’s fraternity 3 siblings (all applied ED) were denied the same year S2 was denied and 2 were accepted. The accepted 2 had near perfect SAT/ACT scores and 4.0++ GPAs. These are just a couple examples but I do think the admission stats for Vanderbilt have gone through the roof and the legacy thing may not be much of an advantage for a kid needing a little bit of a boost.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>dwhite, it is good to get a word from you. Glad S2 loves his chosen college. Love that S1 wanted his brother on campus with him and felt his brother fully deserved admission to Vandy. The stats in 2005 (less than 12 thousand applicants) when my eldest son applied were so much less onerous than my S2’s admit year of 2009. S2’s very high ACT score is now nudged out of top quartile four years later when Vandy is deluged with 28 thousand plus applicants.
S2 has accepted a job in the city where S1 is working. An unexpected opportunity for our new graduate to share same place and some experience with elder brother.</p>

<p>Faline - Thank you for the kind words. My guys are best friends and had planned the whole thing out - spending a year together on campus, etc, etc. You know what they say about the “best laid plans…” S1 (and all his friends) often joke that there is no way they would gain acceptance now - which is a shame considering many graduated with Latin honors even though their SAT/ACT scores are no where near the current range.</p>

<p>How nice for your boys to be together in a new city - fun!</p>

<p>Legacy helps. To what extent is unclear. Anecdote: I know a family where several siblings attended Vanderbilt but did not have parental legacy. They did have some demographic advantages. They also all did well in high school, so there’s that.</p>