<p>Does being a legacy help ones application at all? My grandfather graduated from USC with both an undergraduate degree and his masters. My mom did not go to undergrad at USC but graduated from USC law. Anyone know if this will help my chances?</p>
<p>SoCAGuy, I would suggest doing a quick search for “usc legacy” and read through the threads from previous years. They’re not too long and have good feedback from some that have been contributing to the SC forum for quite some time. Your question Does being a legacy help ones application at all? My hope is (with my D waiting to hear) its at least another piece of information that is considered as part of your entire application. Maybe as an interview might be or an additional letter of rec that may provide some new piece of information?</p>
<p>Hi, there. According to CollegeBoard, being a legacy is something that is considered. But it isn’t considered one of the top criterion. I don.t know what percentange of the accepted class are Legacy students, but last year 20% of the enrolled class were SCions. Sure hope that bodes well for S2. I am an alum and S1 is a current student at SC. Fight on!</p>
<p>I’ve heard it depends on how influential your “legacy” at USC is. Intact relatives who got their undergrad degrees there, and others who got graduate degrees there. But the thing is, one of my cousins has donated a lot of money for many years and has taught classes at USC as well.</p>
<p>Legacy status (parent an undergrad alum) these days may be a happy “tip” to a student who in every other way meets or exceeds the stats of the average SAT & GPA. Even development students (family big contributor alumni) do not find it easy to be accepted to USC in the current admissions climate. Times have really changed (from past reports here on cc). But the good news for legacy kids is when they do get admitted, they can know they really earned it on their own merit. </p>
<p>Hope this doesn’t scare anyone, but it’s among the many shifts in USC admissions culture. We know many legacy students who end up going to SMU, for example–and have wound up very happy, too.</p>
<p>Alum here, son applied for class of 2016. He was accepted and interviewed for Presidential scholarship. Whether it’s because of legacy, or merit, or both, we’ll never know.</p>
<p>ngongs, I think he can feel very confident it had almost nothing to do with legacy! They do not even look at that for the large scholarships and those invited to interview for Presidential or Trustee tend to have the very highest stats and achievements in the applicant pool. Besides, the P/T merit scholarships are really based on merit and are meant to be incentives for many top admits to select USC. In the case of legacy families there is often very little reason to add such an incentive. They are already highly motivated. It’s only when USC might believe these top students will have other attractive choices at top U’s that the P/T merit awards become more alluring.</p>
<p>Anyway, just wanted to say that your S did great–and on his own.</p>
<p>Thank you for the nice comment</p>
<p>Ditto what madbean said. My son is a legacy, NMF and first in his class and I still don’t even know if he will get in! Your son must have done something very special and it has nothing to do with legacy.</p>
<p>Congrats and fight on!</p>