How much does legacy affect one’s chances of being admitted? Does the chance of being admitted increase if your parent donated money to Cornell?
Legacy has some impact, if you are otherwise qualified, But only if you apply ED. That much we’ve been told.
How much? At least a second look at your application. Certainly not an incredibly huge amount. Between these two points, , if anything, it’s hard to say. If you are admitted by a holistic admissions process, how would you know for sure to what extent you made it in by your own merits or by virtue of a legacy “bump”?
Re: donation, in theory the idea is, legacy is good because, by long association with the school through the parent, the applicant should be more intimately familiar with the school and his/her fit with it. An applicant could potentially make this connection evident regardless of how much his/her parent has donated. Though [this is just my opinion] it may be more readily evident to the extent that the parent’s ongoing connection to the school is more evident. Which is not necessarily by donation. Alumni club, events, interviewing, reunions, etc.
In practice, there is no published information regarding differential treatment of legacies whose parents were donating $100 every couple years vs nothing,
One might imagine that there is a difference between donating $100 every couple years vs. donating a building, eg. A semi-embarrasing story about something like that recently came out in connection with Brown, IIRC. But that’s not necessarily even a legacy issue, it’s a 'development" issue.
Your parents would needed to donate hundreds of thousands/millions for it to be considered a hook.
Legacy hook is use it or lose it for ED. Your chance of getting in is a lot higher than students who are not legacies during the ED round. It is especially the case if the parents were involved alumni, not necessary big donors. If your parent(s) have done a lot for Cornell (volunteered, hosted events), have them call the alumni office to give you a red carpet treatment (personal tour, interview on campus, and your application on a special pile).