<p>What is the general consensus here about how much legacy status helps in Harvard EA?</p>
<p>Ummmm... it helps. Though, it's still hard as hell to get in.</p>
<p>harvard is considered one of the best places for legacy admits. i've heard about 40 percent get in, but that could be a little off. And clearly it's a bigger deal if you're a zillionth generation legacy or if your legacy parent has given millions, but even if they haven't, it can be a good boost for some people.</p>
<p>Most agree that there are two reasons why the legacy admit rate is higher than the non-legacy admit rate. One is that children of alumni, almost by definition, come from intellectual families which are naturally better environments to learn and develop in for the purposes of entrance into intellectual institutions. Also, in some cases, schoolwork is emphasized more. The other reason is that they do give more consideration to legacies, for reasons of keeping good relations with alumni, getting donations, and so on. I don't think anyone can argue that the first reason is unfair, but solely in terms of admissions, the second reason is quite unfair. Colleges may have other priorities (i.e. money) which justify it, but it is still unfair and possibly impractical (since it admits some legacies that are not as qualified, plus it makes it more difficult to properly recognize the merits of the qualified legacies). Thus, in order to be fair, the end result will be a lower legacy admit rate overall, but one which is still higher than the overall admit rate.</p>
<p>I know this isn't what the original poster was asking, but I figured I'd just discuss it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
harvard is considered one of the best places for legacy admits.
[/quote]
Although Harvard does pretty well with legacies, I'd have to give the honor of the #1 spot to Notre Dame, which does its very best to make sure 25% of each class is made up of legacies.</p>
<p>I was told that the admit rate is around 30% for legacies.</p>
<p>While I do have a bias for legacy status, I would have to say that it is unfair system both to students don't get in because of it and to the school, which is taking in students that really don't deserve to be there.</p>
<p>In the 1990's, the admit rates for legacies were around 30%. For the latst few years, I've seen very strong legacies (even double legacies) turned down. It really does look now that legacies only help if the applicant is as qualified as others. It's still a tip because not all qualified people get in, and a qualified legacy has a great chance, but the key word here is qualified. I know this sounds like a party line, but it's what I've seen as an alumna interviewer since 1990.</p>
<p>I don't know... I've seen a number of people be admitted that were almost definitely not qualified in my opinion, and I'm sure it's not a coincidence that they were all legacies. Though I would not be surprised if in recent years legacies are not given as much preference, since they seem to care a lot more now about making sure they have the most qualified candidates and the most qualified admitees (as exemplified by their new financial aid initiatives).</p>
<p>"I was told that the admit rate is around 30% for legacies."</p>
<p>Its around 40%.!! (i know :( )</p>
<p>The admissions office looked at legacy admissions at one point during the 90's (sometime before I started doing info sessions there).</p>
<p>They knew that legacies got in at about three times the rate of the general population. But then they compared the legacy admit rate to the admit rate of the children of Yale and Princeton alumni.</p>
<p>The result? The children of Y & P alumni do almost as well, even though they aren't given any edge when they apply to Harvard. The actual legacy boost, isolated from other effects, is only a few percentage points (I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was something like a 33% admit rate for H legacies vs. 28% for Y & P legacies). This comparison shows that the primary reason legacies do so well is because they're the kids of smart, well-educated people who put a high priority on education. The bottom line is that HYP-educated parents are doing a great job of bringing up qualified kids. Now, that fact raises different kinds of fairness issues...but the legacy edge is not really at the heart of the story.</p>
<p>Unfair to whom?
These schools have no obligation to be fair to what the applicants think is fair. They are "fair" to themselves---and why not----promoting more loyalty and money for the school by admitting legacies. If everyone can do the work at , what 1500 sat score and above, why not?</p>
<p>And no, I was not a legacy admit</p>
<p>I remember reading this article in New Yorker about how the whole Ivy admission system came about and it obviously talked a lot about legacies.</p>
<p>Such grand schools like Harvard have to have "customer satisfaction." If they admit legacies, they will get more donations, etc from the parents. Plus, for some people the fact that Harvard accepts so many legacies is incentive enough to apply - your kids will have an easier time getting into the school.</p>
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<p>These schools have no obligation to be fair to what the applicants think is fair. </p>
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<p>They may not have any obligation to do it, but if they're smart, they will care about what applicants think (in the aggregate). Applicants are, in a sense, Harvard's customers, too. Harvard's continued success depends on their willingness to participate in the admissions process. If the process becomes widely perceived as unfair because of shifts in public opinion, Harvard will get hit where it hurts the most -- in the quality of the aplicant pool and hence the entering class.</p>
<p>Legacies are one area where Harvard has to balance the feelings of one set of important customers -- alumni -- against those of another -- the vast majority of the top high school students in the country, who are not legacies. Any wise policy is going to take both of those into account.</p>
<p>depends on if ur like double legacy and a bajillion legacy or something</p>
<p>if i get in, i'ma making me a batch of double legacys</p>
<p>Hanna, your insight on Harvard's balancing is brilliant! And I think that's what it genuinely does try to do.
By the way, about my double legacy kids who are also really good students: one is a freshman at another great university (applied and got in ED1 there) and the other is a high school senior waiting for an ED1 decision at the same school. Smiley face (darn, I still can't figure out how to do those smiley faces. Proof that Harvard teaches you how to think but not necessarily how to be practical?).</p>
<p>if you were not joking...about the smileys...</p>
<p>a ; followed by a ) gives you ;)
a : followed by a ) gives you :)
a : followed by a D gives you :D</p>
<p>but i guess you were joking.....so :)</p>
<p>:)
:D
Thank you! I wasn't joking. Another student had told me, but I didn't understand it because it looks like maybe the actual face doesn't appear until the post is logged.</p>
<p>It worked!!! Thank you!</p>