<p>I'm pretty sure everyone on this board knows about the legacy system at many colleges, so I won't go into details. The system is extremely bad at my school, especially since it's practically right next door to Stanford. Several of my classmates have at least one parent, if not two, that has either graduated from, donated to, and/or works at Stanford. This year was particularly bad. I know I didn't get in because I screwed up on my common app (uploaded the wrong essay), but I know several of my classmates who are much more qualified than those who have legacy and simply got rejected (not even deferred). Everyone that got in had some kind of legacy to Stanford.
And it's not just Stanford either. This one kid had both parents that went to Brown, and he easily got in (guess where). This other kid had a much better GPA, much better test scores, more extracurricular credentials. Result: outright rejected. One of my classmates that was a valedictorian favorite got deferred from Princeton, while others with fewer credentials got in with legacy.
I could rant on about other experiences at my school, but I won't waste any more of your time. My point is, the legacy system needs to go. IMMEDIATELY.</p>