Hi all! Do I have legacy to the schools my parents went to for graduate school or residency? Or just where they they attended undergrad?
It depends on the particular schools. Each college admissions office handles legacy differently. You might be able to find such information on the school websites. Googling may also help.
(Just a guess, but residency seems highly unlikely to confer legacy status.)
Hmm. I’m having trouble finding the info on the schools’ websites. However, I did just stumble across some old cc threads that say you are a legacy at the universities if you are an immediate relative of someone who attended any of their schools (undergrad, grad, and professional). I am trying to investigate UPenn (where mom did her residency) and NYU (where dad got his Master of Law).
Check with the alumni associations’ websites, too, if you can’t find anything on the university sites.
There is a spot on the most school’s supplements to put legacy information. The school will then decide if you qualify as a legacy or not. Understand that “legacy” is at most just a small bump at most schools so you need to have the whole package. If you aren’t academically qualified, being a legacy wont help you unless your parents are uber generous donors.
^Post this question on the school specific section if you can’t easily find it on the school webpage. For Penn, the Director of Admissions answered this in the NYT. https://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/pennq-and-a-part-2/ :
“At Penn, legacy is defined as having a parent or grandparent graduate from any of Penn’s undergraduate or graduate schools.”
Being a former resident is a bit ambiguous, was she a graduate or an employee? I think the question on legacy is close enough that you should phone the AO, particularly if you are considering applying ED where the legacy bump is greater in the ED round. From Penn’s website:
“We appreciate that attending Penn is a tradition for many families, so an applicant’s affiliation with Penn, either by being a child or grandchild of alumni, is given the most consideration through Early Decision.”
This is the definitive answer. Some colleges only consider undergraduate; others include graduate school. Some only count parents; others count grandparents and other relatives. Some give a legacy bumo, some don’t, and some only give it for ED.
Regardless, I would not spend a lot of time on it - it is what it is.