S is legacy at both. Assuming he likes both equally, and better than any other school, and has the GPA/scores/rigor/LOR (and will be among top several students at school - taking multivariable calc and AP phys C as junior - which will stand out at his school though school doesn’t rank), does he have a better shot at one vs the other (assuming ED), taking into account following ECs. ECs are yr round sport at high level (not recruitable at either school though), instrument (all state, plays with various groups/genres at events in community), volunteers with 2 nonprofits - 1 teaching kids his instrument, another tutoring disadvantaged kids for SAT, will either do math/science-related research internship (if he gets one) or some science program this summer. Also participates in math club and science bowl, and has received school commendations for these subjects every yr, and worked and took a class each summer. So, no national-level awards (sport has taken up most of his time). No idea of major yet.
Thoughts? Thanks!
I would wait and see what type of major and college program fits his career choice and then decide if legacy ED is optimum or maybe other colleges would be a better fit? Just because he has legacy at UPenn and Duke doesn’t necessarily mean he should use it.
With that said, they both have an early acceptance rate of around 18% so neither one has much of an advantage as the other IMO.
What I wondered is if anyone knows if one or the other is more inclined to value sports as a major EC even if the student isn’t recruitable.
Also, I wondered whether, with these types of ECs, it’s even worth using his ED, even with legacy.
He’s not likely to know his major before college. If he did land on something he loved, and could find it somewhere he loved, he’d apply there. But, we think he needs a place where switching majors/colleges with the school is easy.
“Also, I wondered whether, with these types of ECs, it’s even worth using his ED, even with legacy.”
Penn and Duke are both very strong on ED. So most likely legacy/ED are going to overlap to a very large degree.
Penn is pretty clear that if you want legacy treatment, you should apply ED.
I don’t think Duke explicitly says that, but Duke pushes ED hard. Very hard. My guess, therefore, is that most legacy kids at Duke apply ED. Might be worth a call to Duke to get info on how legacy/ED compares to legacy/RD.
I don’t believe sports per se is any more valuable than robotics, debate, music, etc… if your S is not recruited. Sports are great EC’s if he can demonstrate qualities of perseverance, leadership, teamwork, etc… through his participation but not more so than other EC’s.