Legacy Early Advantage vs. Top Choice (Yale)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

Hello everyone,

 I am currently a rising senior thinking about applying to colleges this fall.  Right now, my top choice is definitely Yale.  However, I do have legacy to Princeton (dad).  I'll try to clarify my question as follows:

 1) How much of an advantage is it to apply early to Yale/Princeton?  I've seen a lot of mixed answers online.

 2) How much of an advantage is it to apply early to Princeton as a legacy vs. applying RD?

 3) Would it be better to apply early Yale (my top choice) without legacy, or play it safer and apply to Princeton early (2nd choice)?

 My stats should be reasonably high for these schools (2300 SAT, 800 x 2 subject tests, 4.2 uw gpa @ elite private school, #1 in class, good recommendations, very good extracurriculars).  Sorry for the long post, but thany you in advance for all of your advice!
2

Here’s an interesting article on the subject -
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/01/24/early-programs-not-created-equal/

Your answer might differ depending on how you look at the question. If you approach it strategically, you’re probably better off applying early to Princeton so you don’t dilute your legacy advantage. If you approach it more philosophically, it seems a little crazy to waste your early shot on a school that isn’t your first choice.

Another approach would be to consider the possible outcomes and imagine how you’d feel about each of those eventualities.

Scenario 1: Apply SCEA to Y, accepted.
Scenario 2: Apply SCEA to Y, deferred then rejected. Apply RD to P, rejected there too.
Scenario 3: Apply SCEA to Y, deferred then rejected. Apply RD to P, accepted.
Scenario 4: Apply SCEA to P, accepted. Apply RD to Y, accepted.
Scenario 5: Apply SCEA to P, accepted. Apply RD to Y, denied.
Scenario 6: Apply SCEA to P, rejected. Apply RD to Yale,accepted.
Scenario 7: Apply SCEA to P, rejected. Apply RD to Yale, rejected.

Under scenarios 1,4, or 6 you end up at your first choice school, so everything’s good.

Under scenarios 3 or 5 you’ll be at your second choice (not bad), but if you arrived there via scenario 5, you might always wonder what might have been.

Under scenario 2 or 7, you’re shut out of your top two choices, and might always wonder what would had happened if you’d used your early chance at the other school.

I think it’s important to keep in mind that it’s entirely possible that you might be rejected by both schools , even if you play your Princeton legacy card int he early round.

3

I know a Princeton legacy who decided to apply early to Yale instead of Princeton. She was deferred by Yale and in the regular round was rejected by Yale but waitlisted by Princeton. Ultimately she could not get off the Princeton waitlist. An alum who was involved in advocating for her opined to me that the fact that she did not apply early to Princeton was a minor negative at Princeton as it signals that you are not that interested in Princeton. Why does Princeton care if you are interested? Apparently one of the reasons for the legacy “tip” is a perception that alumni loyalty is good for the university and the legacy “tip” is one way of reinforcing that loyalty. If you are a legacy and don’t apply early, then it signals that the sense of loyalty really isn’t there so the legacy “tip” is correspondingly weakened. This is anecdotal of course so take it for what it is worth.

4

The advantage of applying early to either school as an unhooked applicant is smaller than the overall statistics indicate. Athletic recruits, children of faculty and legacies generally apply to their first choice in the early round and their much higher acceptance rates skew the overall numbers for SCEA. I believe you gain only a small advantage by applying to Yale early as an unhooked applicant.

To give you some idea of legacy admission rates, for example, Princeton published that the acceptance rate was 30.8% for the class of 2018. http://www.princeton.edu/pub/profile/admission/undergraduate/ If you wish to take advantage of the higher legacy rate you most likely do need to apply early. Admissions will tend to offer admission to those children of alumni who are most likely to enroll. If you apply in the regular round, admissions may interpret this to mean Princeton is not your first choice as a legacy and you are not likely to enroll unless you cannot gain admission to your first choice.

The real difficulty is that nearly 70% of all legacies at Princeton are denied admission for one reason or another, so ‘playing it safe’ is just better odds but by no means guaranteed. As @sherpa outlined above, there is a very real possibility that scenarios you are unhappy with may come about in spite of playing the odds in your favor. And if Princeton isn’t your first choice, will that sentiment somehow come through in your application?

5

My sense is that there are legacies and then there are legacies . . . if your dad is an active Princeton alum, and especially if he’s a significant financial contributor, that’s different than if he hasn’t maintained much of a connection with the school. You may want to ask your school counselors what they think, assuming you’re at a school where it’s common for students to apply to the two schools.

6

I’d SCEA to Princeton, as applying early to Yale barely increases your chances and they have a tendency of rejecting a lot of people, while Princeton does not. If you get into Princeton SCEA, you can still apply to Yale RD and make the decision when acceptances come out. Until then, demonstrate interest in both to play your chances.

Best of luck!

7

Thank you everyone for your great responses. I feel as though, all things being equal, I would rather apply early to the school which is more likely to accept me early, allowing me to get the process out of the way and not stress out the rest of senior year. If I get into Princeton early, I can still apply RD to Yale as codemachine suggested. I guess that the one thing that would change my mind is if Yale offers a significant advantage to early applicants, but it doesn’t seem like this is the case. One other thing: I am Latino; would this have any influence in Yale’s SCEA consideration? Thank you again.

8

Ever so slightly I guess, as you’re a URM, or underrepresented minority. Still, your chances at Princeton would be higher SCEA in spite of this.

9

being a URM would help regardless of whether you applied SCEA or not

10

Your odds at Princeton if you apply SCEA are definitely higher than your odds at Yale, early or not.

I think it comes down to how you’d feel if you were accepted to Princeton and rejected by Yale. If you’d have regrets, then use your early shot at Yale.

11

Why do you prefer Yale? Maybe we can sort out whether it’s a dealbreaker, or whether it’s a leaning that Princeton could clearly address if you were accepted?

12

@Alumother

Not the thread starter, but in the exact same situation. For me, Yale seems to be a more cooperative, community-focused place. The location is more appealing too (having grown up in basically Princeton my whole life). The only other thing is the (petty yet possibly severe) uncertainty I would have of not knowing if I got in because of merit or because of the legacy, especially if I didn’t get into Yale.

13

Don’t know much about Yale but know Princeton better. Princeton weight heavy on legacy. I know a kid with SAT 1350 was rejected while a legacy kid with same SAT was accepted. Remember all Ivy application is unpredictable. If you have legacy advantage, use it the best way to buy you a spot first before anything else.