Legacy (step parent)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

Does step parent count as legacy at Cornell??

2

Legacy counts for very little at Cornell unless it is a big donor situation. Not a hook there no matter biological or step…

3

Legacy counts quite big during ED. It is use it or lose it. It is not as important during RD. Do you regard your step parent as your parent? If so then it counts.

4

@oldfort:
Help us understand what it means when you say “Legacy counts quite big during ED.”

  1. Is it only for legacy where parents have been significant donors?

  2. Does it help only break a tie when everything is equal, or will help lift an applicant’s standing?

  3. What is the source of your information? I ask because there is conflicting information in previous discussions with legacy on this board.

Thank you for helping us understand your reply.

5

Schools like Cornell care about alumni relation. You don’t have to be a big donor to matter. You can be involved with various Cornell initiatives or just donate a bit of money every year (both of my kids are already giving to Cornell). Cornell (and other schools) give their legacies special consideration if the school is their first choice (I think we could all understand that), and what better way to show love than to do ED.

My source of information is my personal experiences (2 nephews, 2 kids), CC information, my younger kid’s private college counselor, my kids’ private school GCs.

6

I understood that Cornell did give a bump/second read for legacy applicants who apply ED.
I got this impression sometime or other during the college hunt processes of my three kids.
But really I no longer recall where.
Presumably from an information session for D1?

I’ve no idea about step-parent specifically, but if there’s a way you can include it why not.

A Cornell admissions officer did unambiguously say, at an information session I attended with my son, that applying ED itself gave a bump; ie the ED round gave better chances than the RD round. That statement was without regard to legacy. She said the aggregate stats of the two pools may look similar in the end, but if you’d read the whole application it was clear that the RD admits had to be stronger.