Legacy! Does is really mean anything?

<p>Hello All CCer's:
I am a primary legacy (yes, my father went to Columbia College as an undergrad student).
The average accepted GPA at my school (scales are different at each school based on difficulty and etc...) is 4.04 with one athlete that got in with a 3.2 GPA. The average early admitted GPA is 3.75 (including that one athlete). Note that these statistics at my school are from the years of 2009-2012. The average early decision acceptance rate including athletes and etc... is 37.5 percent (6/16). I have not yet taken SAT/ACT (I am a Junior in HS) and my cumulative GPA at this moment is 4.03. (All these GPA's above are weighted.)
Course Load:
Freshman:
4H and 2A level classes (including Bio H, Spanish 2H, Algebra 2H, English 1H, Social Studies (European History stuff) A, Latin 1A)
GPA as a fresh:
3.94 weighted
Sophomore:
4H and 2A level classes (including Chem H, Spanish 3H, Pre-Calc H, English 2A, Social Studies (US History) A, Latin 2H)
GPA soph year: 4.11 weighted
Junior (current):
5AP's 2H's level classes (including AP Stat, AP BC Calc, AP Chem, AP Econ, AP English Lang, Physics H, Latin 3H)
Difficult enough?!Eh!
Estimated Junior GPA: 4.19
EC's:
I have a blog on culture/dining/travel in my town. I am a huge traveler..Started planning vacations for my family since I was 11. If you want to see it and you live in the NY, CT, NJ area, email me at <a href="mailto:thebestyankee@optonline.net">thebestyankee@optonline.net</a><a href="I%20just%20don't%20feel%20comfortable%20leaving%20it%20out%20for%20the%20whole%20world!">/email</a>
I have a connection in Guam and I will probably be studying government abroad over the summer there. (My dad's college buddy's in-law is the senator and representative in the States, yet, he does not get to vote. His brother is the Supreme Court judge in Guam)
I most likely will evaluate how gov't in the US is much more corrupt, and I will associate culture/politics to comprehend the differences. I will hopefully gain a greater perspective as to how size, resources and the number 1 industry, tourism help keep the little country going! Guam is an unincorporated territory of the U.S. fyi
Aside from that, I volunteer like the typical samaritan...I still work with special needs adults, I did some clean-up and service down in New Orleans for a summer.
Passion:
I love Columbia, not just for the sake of my father's attendance, but I really want to go there for the opportunities of the city, the international crowd, the incredible political science department which is all well-paired with the core curriculum (believe me, it looks good by me! even though it is tough!)
Anyhow, please chance me! And really will the legacy do me anything? (My dad was a Pulitzer Scholar who went to CC for free. Does that do anything as well?)
Thank you for all your help!</p>

<p>I am sure that admissionsgeek will know more about this but being a legacy is only a slight boost at Columbia. This is because Columbia appears to have the lowest preference for legacies in the lvy League. Legacies only represent about 5% of the typical incoming freshman class and many, if not most, of these students would have gotten in without the legacy boost. That being said, as you probably know, you should apply early to receive any kind of preference. Also, the amount of involvement that your father/family has had with the school since graduating is taken into consideration. If your family has not been a consistent donor to the school and suddenly makes a contribution the year you apply, this will generally not help (unless, of course it is sizable and even then might not help given the timing). Good luck with everything!</p>

<p>there was a nice article a few years back on being a yale double legacy with 2300 testing and being denied.</p>

<p>in admissions speak, you have a ‘bump.’ all things being equal, columbia would admit you over a similar student.</p>

<p>in your situation, your choice not to submit an early application will bring questions. if you love columbia so much and you clearly have more positive reasons to attend columbia than your average student that has never been to campus, why didn’t you apply. the leg bump in regular decision is minimal. in the end your admission probably would be more about your application strength than your dad’s attendance. so take solace in your success.</p>

<p>the real obvious elephant in the room: so where did you apply early? it is the question i would be thinking.</p>

<p>^^ He is only a Junior as he says in the post.</p>