<p>My dad went to Duke for business school. He receives the magazine and everything from them. I think he occasionally donates a little bit of money, I'm not sure though. How much would this help if I applied to Duke? What about if he didn't donate anything? I am not totally sure that he did. Even if he did, it wouldn't be million dollar or thousands of dollars. Also he went to Lehigh for undergraduate school. How much would these connections help in applying to these schools? Thank you. </p>
<p>Legacy usually applies to parents who were undergraduates.</p>
<p>On the Common App you say where your parents went to school and on Duke’s supplement, if they care, they will ask whether your parents (and possibly grandparents or siblings) are alumni. They will probably take it into consideration, but it probably won’t help you too much. It doesn’t matter whether he contributed some or not at all; unless he donated a building they probably only care to a small extent.</p>
<p>One parent who did grad school isn’t much of a legacy at a place as selective–and old! Think how many alums there are!–as Duke.</p>
<p>A father graduating from Duke’s business school certainly does qualify you as a “legacy” applicant. While money can be a contributing factor, they also care about how active of an alumnus he has been (contributions of time through various activities). While legacy status certainly won’t get an unqualified applicant admitted, it does offer you some additional consideration in that your application is automatically read by a third person (instead of the standard two). If you want the legacy status to be more heavily weighted, I’d recommend applying ED (assuming Duke is your first choice) – it is fairly well-known that the advantage afforded to legacy applicants in the ED round is larger than the RD round. So, while legacy status is by no means weighted hugely, it certainly is seen as a positive and can be the tipping point between two seemingly qualified applicants.</p>
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<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>AnnieBeats: “Legacy usually applies to parents who were undergraduates.”</p>
<p>This is absolutely incorrect concerning Duke undergraduate admissions. The children, grandchildren, step-children and -grandchildren of ALL DUKE ALUMNI are defined as legacies, as are siblings. Sometimes, it might be appropriate to know the germane facts, before posting erroneous opinions (especially when this information is available through duke.edu). </p>
<p>Mega: You should be aware that all “legacies” are not equal, nor should they be. The legacies (defined in my immediate prior post) of Duke alumni who have made continuous and substantial contributions to the University’s progress – financial, of course, but also (and likely much more important) leadership, governance, service, and so forth – will probably receive a FAR more significant legacy-advantage than the children of alumni whose parents have had only limited association with Duke since their graduation(s). Critically, legacy status cannot overcome deficiencies in the ESSENTIAL application elements: GPA, standardized test scores, essays, recommendations, being challenged by – and excelling at – the most intellectually demanding preparatory curriculum, etc. (remembering that tens-of-thousaands of exceptionally well qualified applicants – who doubtless would do quite well at Duke – are denied annually).</p>
<p>marvin: “One parent who did grad school isn’t much of a legacy at a place as selective–and old! Think how many alums there are!–as Duke.”</p>
<p>That’s entirely untrue and, more important, it misses the essential point.</p>
<p>Every Duke alum’s – undergraduate, graduate and/or professional school, alike – “legacy influence” is directly tied to his enduring contributions to the University. To illustrate (using your words), if that “one parent who did grad school” happens to become the Chair of Duke’s Trustees (and this isn’t far fetched, a very recent past-Chairperson graduated from Duke Law, but completed his undergraduate degree elsewhere), a considerable legacy-advantage would likely result. On the other hand, the child/grandchild/stepchild of an alum who has not made substantial and continuous contributions to Duke – leadership, governance, and service as well as financial – will probably receive a FAR less significant legacy benefit.</p>
<p>Sure, TopTier, but I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume that if the OP’s father were a major Duke figure that he or she would have mentioned that.</p>
<p>So while I suppose in some pedantic way my comment isn’t true in all cases–there are exceptions–I stand by it.</p>
<p>@TopTier You are someone that I presume to be an adult. I am sure you saw the word ‘usually’ there.</p>
<p>I certainly did. I also appreciate both how irrelevant your comment is to Duke and how easy it would have been for you to ascertain accurate, germane information. </p>
<p>@TopTier You don’t need to be hostile towards other posters. You can make your point and be cordial.</p>
<p>. . . and you can do the research and exert the diligence that does not squander other participants’ time. </p>
<p>Okay, folks, break it up. I agree with both of you. ;)</p>
<p>Hello I’m a Duke alum. And I do interviews. The alumni/legacy connection for Duke is well documented. What @Bluedog writes is correct, all alumni children are considered legacy, not just the undergrad legacies. </p>
<p>Heck, Duke even notes if your uncle or other distant relative went to Duke. This is noted on the supplemental application, so take this with a grain of salt. Good luck!</p>
<p>@bluedog </p>
<p>“it is fairly well-known that the advantage afforded to legacy applicants in the ED round is larger than the RD round.”</p>
<p>It is fairly well-known that the advantage afforded to ALL applicants in the ED round is larger than the RD round. </p>
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<p>True, but my point was that the legacy boost is magnified in ED. The boost in RD is minimal and legacy status does not mean much (unless a major donor or something). A school like Penn even explicitly states this on their website (“if you want an advantage being a legacy applicant, apply ED”). Duke doesn’t directly say the same thing on their website, but based on statistics I have seen, a similar policy exists. It’s more than just saying ED legacy acceptance rate > RD legacy acceptance rate. The net advantage is magnified in ED and the delta of legacy vs. Non legacy acceptances is larger on an absolute and percentage basis. </p>
<p>@TopTier Squandering what time? There is no concept of time on a thread. What are you even talking about? Do you talk just to talk?</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats You should really defer your opinions to those who are more qualified to speak than you are. Did you even go to Duke? I doubt it but TopTier did, making his presence on this thread and forum much more relevant. </p>
<p>@Jwest22 You can call someone wrong without being nasty. I never said I knew everything about Duke. I said “USUALLY”, not “ALWAYS”. This is a case where legacy isn’t limited to undergraduate admissions. That doesn’t make me wrong seeing that I didn’t say something entirely specific to Duke, but it is something for the OP to consider seeing that he most likely will prepare applications for other schools as well.</p>
<p>As for RudeTier, I never said his presence was irrelevant. I just said that he is extremely rude and talks to everyone on every thread as if they are below him (Not a good trait for someone who is allegedly an alumni interviewer). I never said he was wrong. But he made his point and made sure to try to insult me along the way. Which is completely UNNECESSARY. So your comment is completely unwarranted and therefore irrelevant.</p>
<p>Bye.</p>