Does having a parent that graduated from the University you are applying too help with being accepted?
If the University considers legacy it can help but it cannot overcome inadequacies in a less than competitive application.
It can be a nudge at some schools.
On the school’s Common Data Set, look to see if it’s something considered in admissions.
@futurenurse2001 Look at the Common Data Set (CDS) for each school, specifically, section C7, where there is a list of academic and nonacademic factors. The factor to look for in terms of legacy is “Alumni/ae relation.” The CDS will indicate whether this factor is Very Important down to Not Considered. As the posters above have said, having a parent who is an alumni/ae can help, but it depends on the school. For example, Notre Dame ranks Alumni/ae relation as as “Important” while University of Wisconsin-Madison ranks it as “Considered” and University of Arizon ranks it as “Not Considered.” There is also a lot of debate as to how much being a legacy actually helps with admissions, and if the boost is more of a help with ED than RD applications.