<p>So I've been reading around and have noticed a lot of people saying that applying RD with legacy shows disinterest and can actually hurt your chances. Well, this is frightening to say the least. I have had a distinct interest in Penn, but never was attracted to one particular school to the point of wanting to commit ED. I've sat in on classes on campus, went to the CAS Cognoscenti presentation and stayed overnight this weekend with one of my really good friends who attends Penn. I do intend to demonstrate all of that in my supplement and do love Penn. I'm just a bit shocked that my double legacy(mother+grandfather) can work against me especially since I'm probably a borderline candidate(33 ACT, 3.86 UW, 4 APs junior year/5 APs senior year, a ton of leadership/awards/ECs, 10 varsity letters). Am I really worse off since I didn't go ED?</p>
<p>My understanding is that your legacy status won’t HURT your chances if you apply RD, but it just won’t help. My suggestion would be to try to convey your knowledge of and enthusiasm for Penn–citing your legacy connections as appropriate–in your essay. That can still come across in your application even if you don’t get the official legacy “bump” that is accorded during the ED round.</p>
<p>45 percenter is correct. Your legacy standing will NOT work against you in the RD round it just won’t help. In the ED round legacy (and children of staff and faculty) are given ‘maximal consideration’. What this really means is that qualified legacies do better (percentage wise) in the ED round than in the RD round. If you apply RD - you’re odds are the same as any other RD candidate - you have no disadvantage. I suppose you could argue that means you’re chances are not as good as they would have been if you applied ED- and that’s true - but you’re chances aren’t worse than any other RD candidate.</p>