My daughter is applying ED o Cornell. Her grandfather, aunt and cousin attended (cousin currently attends). She put down her grandfather on the commonapp as a legacy. But there was no where to also include her aunt and cousin. Should she mention them in additional information? She feels it’s our family school and very connected to it and wants that to come across.
Thx for any insights.
When you’re in the common app on the College Dashboard, and you select Cornell and go to their questions, when adding family who attended Cornell, does the drop-down list only show parent and grandparent? For Penn and Grinnell, the drop-down list shows aunts, uncles as well, and I believe siblings. The first family member listed would be the grandparent, and then you’ll have the option to add additional family members. Maybe double-check the Cornell questions to be sure your D isn’t missing anything. It likely won’t make a difference because technically Cornell considers legacy based on parent/grandparent, but I agree that it’s nice to include when possible.
Thx, but it only shows parents/grandparents on the app.
I take that to mean they only consider parent/grandparent legacies. We had a similar finding on the common app for another school (and in that case they only considered parents/siblings and not grandparents).
Cornell only considers parents and grand parents as legacy relations but that doesn’t mean the other family connections can’t be woven into the ‘why Cornell’ essay.
The whole purpose of legacy from the college’s perspective is a way to get money. Your parents and grandparents are far more likely to donate if you go to their college versus other relatives; this is why only parents and grandparents are included in the legacy section of the common app. If you feel strongly that you want Cornell to know about your other relatives, I would include them in your Cornell supplement.