<p>One of S’s friends who was a double, multi-generational legacy at D and was accepted RD at H and P was waitlisted at D in the RD round. But they state clearly that legacy only counts ED. I think that NOT applying ED when you have a legacy, especially a double legacy, does send a message that this is not your first choice.</p>
<p>I agree with Marian: I don’t think that the school has to be a sole first choice, I think it just has to be a school the student would be completely happy to attend, and which the family can afford. When you are dealing with the super-selective schools, of which Brown is one, it seems to me that one should take advantage of every potential application boost.</p>
<p>My advice is to apply ED to either Brown or Northwestern. It would show NW that the Brown legacy is about her pants, not her, or would help tip into Brown. But do not have her not apply early and wind up with two Rs in RD.</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think schools care one wit about “showing NU that it’s her first choice”, in the ED round, because, simply put, with ED, the kid MUST go there if accepted. So I guess it would be some kind of vaguely satisfying feeling for the NU adcoms to accept her and snatch her from the roster at Brown, but they are in no fear of losing her enrollment to Brown regardless.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to be in your position, with two ED schools to choose from while being a strong candidate but not a shoe-in. My only thought for you is while her legacies are a good thing, her geographic location might offset that advantage. I think geographically speaking the chances might be better for NU.</p>
<p>It doesn’t show NU (please? NU? Not NW?) “that the Brown legacy is about her parents, not her.” It just says - hi, I love you, NU, will you please love me back?</p>
<p>What, do you think NU adcoms care one bit about the Brown (or other) “heritage” of their ED applicants? Do you think they’d think it’s some kind of “gotcha” - oh, BOY, I got a Brown legacy here who loves us better than Brown, that’s really compelling? They don’t have time to care. </p>
<p>Maybe the parents hated Brown and told their kid never to apply there. Maybe the kid hated Brown and took it off the table. Maybe the kid loves Brown, but would be happy at NU. It’s all irrelevant. They can’t be second-guessing motives based on where parents went to school. </p>
<p>The only parental college they’ll give a rat’s behind about is their own. A Brown-legacy isn’t some kind of special “prize” that NU is just dying to attract. The valentine that they need is satisfied by applying ED.</p>
<p>Of course, feel free to substitute two of your favorite schools for the above.</p>
<p>bear, your D sounds fabulous but unless you have been giving at the macro donor level (or have the capacity to in the future), your D sounds like thousands of other legacy kids in the Brown applicant pool. I don’t know your HS, but again, purely anecdotal from my classmates (and my observation as an interviewer for many years), unless your D is a clear admit (not saying she’s in… but Naviance shows lots of kids with her profile who have been admitted in years past) I don’t know what legacy status at Brown will do for her. And I have lots of irritated/disgruntled/miffed classmates with their own stories.</p>
<p>I think it’s hard sending your kid off to Penn or Chicago if you are a double legacy from Brown and your kid LOVES Brown, applied early to get deferred and then rejected. Not a reason not to apply- but a reason to “keep it light” with your D and not to pin too many hopes on the Legacy piece. I think everyone understands the 650 SAT, B+ kid’s rejection from Mom and Dad’s alma mater… it’s the kid who eventually ends up at a peer school (but with slightly less competitive admissions statistically) where it burns a little.</p>
<p>Except of course where there are other factors. Do you have time to run for Congress in the next week or so??? JK</p>
<p>I disagree. Generally speaking the yield for legacies is higher than for other students. So, if you apply in the RD round to Prestige U and that school knows you have also applied to your parents’ alma mater which is equally prestigious, it can HURT your chances. If you apply ED to Prestige U, Prestige U knows that you aren’t going to turn it down to go to your parents’ alma mater.</p>
<p>The “word” back when my kid was applying, admittedly a while ago now, was that it was particularly important to apply early if your kid’s first choice wasn’t quite as prestigious. So, if you’d gone to HYP and your kid’s first choice was Dartmouth or Columbia, applying ED was very important. It sent “the message” that D or C really was the kid’s first choice.</p>
<p>But, in this example, if NU receives the Brown-legacy-kid’s application in ED, NU has zero way of knowing that the kid’s attitude towards Brown is: (pick one)</p>
<ol>
<li>Parents hate it, I hate it, wouldn’t touch Brown with a ten-foot pole</li>
<li> It’s alright, I guess.</li>
<li> I’d really like it there, but I kind of like NU a bit better, hence my ED</li>
<li> Gosh, I really would love it there too, and I sure hope I get in RD if my ED is rejected</li>
</ol>
<p>It’s a bit much and full of oneself to assume that your kid is important enough that they are going to try to decode where the parents went and what that means. </p>
<p>If you apply ED to prestige U, prestige U knows you aren’t going to turn it down to go ANYWHERE, jonri. Not just that you aren’t going to turn it down to go to your parents’ alma mater. That’s the point of ED. </p>
<p>You know, the kid whose parents didn’t go to college at all who applies ED to Prestige U – and the kid whose parents went to Harvard who applies ED to Prestige U - are both sending equal signals that they want to go to Prestige U. The second kid isn’t sending any kind of “stronger” signal. They both sent the same valentine to Prestige U.</p>
<p>I agree with a couple of the posts above–if NU is really your first choice, the advantage of applying there ED is that nobody will say, “Hey, why should we waste an admit on a kid who is a double legacy at Brown and will probably get in there?” They might say that in RD–or they might say, “Do we want this kid who was probably rejected or deferred from Brown ED?”</p>
<p>Some students, even double legacies, choose NOT to apply anywhere ED because they want to be able to compare need based aid packages amongst schools where they get accepted. This in NO WAY tells a school that they are not interested even though they are a legacy or double legacy applying RD.</p>
<p>Well, I was going to run for Congress, until I got the NYT alert that “House Republicans’ Fiscal Plan Collapses”, but now I am not. I might send them a valentine, though.</p>
<p>I disagree thumper, at least for meets-full-need schools.</p>
<p>Adcoms are not financial aid officers. They assume, perhaps rightfully so, that their offer is as good as most get. Thus, they believe that an ED applicant won’t need to shop around to compare financial offers. And if the applicant desires to do so, the legacy school is clearly not numero uno.</p>
<p>An ED at a meets-full-need school is significant, particularly for a legacy. As is an RD app to the same school, but the clear message is just the opposite of interest. Without really strong numbers – and average won’t cut it – odds are the legacy will receive a courtesy WL in RD…</p>
<p>Even though USNews does not count yield, colleges still care about it.</p>
<p>I’m assuming if one of the parents is an adjunct, you live fairly close to Brown. If that’s true, then the student’s GC must have a close relationship with Brown. I think her rank comes heavily into play here. From what I’ve seen, Brown doesn’t go too deeply into the class at local schools where there are a large number of applicants. It’s unlikely that they’d pluck her from the bottom of the top ten % and reject several students ahead of her RD. They would be more willing to do this early with a legacy. My D applied early (her stats similar to your Ds), and S applied RD (val/perfect scores). S wanted to apply RD because he believed he was a viable candidate anywhere and could cast a wide net. Both were accepted.</p>
<p>GC does not have a relationship with the school.
Her high school is in the worst geo area and is the most homogeneous school possible, and I know from being an adm officer for this very region years ago. Very tough. Anyway,
time to go earn a living.
Many Many thanks.</p>
<p>thumper, I agree with bluebayou re true “meets needs” schools. They likely think that finances are off the table because the kid isn’t going to get a better need-based offer elsewhere. </p>
<p>Of course, this is in reality not true for kids whose parents cannot or do not wish to meet their EFC and are hunting for merit. Which is inherently unfair. Nonetheless, some schools specifically state that legacy only “counts” in the early round.</p>
<p>And there can also be a huge difference in need based institutional aid at meets full need schools. Brown will often give less institutional aid than Princeton, Harvard, Yale or Stanford.</p>
<p>Jym…sometimes. Princeton does not use home equity in their calculation at all. Brown does. So the need at Brown for someone with significant home equity will be less…and therefore need based aid less…than at Princeton.</p>
<p>The schools calculate NEED differently. They provide need based aid as their calculation of need determines it to be. And this varies by school for institutional aid.</p>
<p>Of course, parents are always free to take a Plus Loan…but some just don’t want to do that.</p>