Does a family legacy in a certain school only help you if it is one of your parents who attended that school. For example, my uncle attended UPenn, is that something that would help me in the admissions process?
Thanks,
It varies by school. Look at each school’s website.
It depends on the schools. In most cases, secondary legacies do not help.
Highly unlikely, and even then, apparently legacy only really helps in the early rounds.
Each school defines a “legacy” in a certain way. Most schools include parents and siblings, but a few schools reach out to grandparents and uncles/aunts. You would have to check on the UPenn site. I agree with the above post that it really on matters in the early rounds, especially at UPenn. It’s a competitive school.
A quick look at the school website would provide the answer. In the future you could find answers to question like this faster and with more certainty by doing a little bit of research on your own.
- The legacy that is given the most consideration is having parent and/or grandparent as an alum Penn
- Legacys are made well aware that any legacy benefit will only count for applicants in the ED round.
http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/freshman-admission/early-and-regular-decision
So having an uncle who went to Penn won’t hurt but it won’t provide much of an advantage either.
And from what I see in other posts, you have many positives but would need to raise your standardized tests significantly (from 1300) to have a shot at Penn so I’d focus on that for now.