<p>Hi guys, I will be applying to Penn as an econ/math major next year. If my mom went to Penn for grad school (dental), do I get the legacy boost?</p>
<p>Yes (assuming that she graduated from Penn Dental), but only if you apply ED.</p>
<p>not much. Honestly, I’ve known alum parents whose parents (as in alum grandparents of decent applicant) gave big $ and didn’t get in.</p>
<p>^ It’s not a guarantee, just a small boost all else (stats, ECs, recs, etc.) being equal. When Penn used to publish the general admission stats for legacy applicants, the ED acceptance rate for legacies was about 5-10 points higher than the overall ED acceptance rate (and the RD acceptance rate for legacies was identical to the overall RD rate). But even with that 5-10 point bump, Penn still emphasized that more than 60% of legacy applicants were NOT accepted (at that time, when the overall ED acceptance rate was higher than it is now).</p>
<p>Bottom line, as I said, is that legacy status can give an applicant a slight bump during the ED round, ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL (with emphasis on those last four words). It will NOT make up for an otherwise deficient application vis-a-vis the average applicant admitted through ED.</p>