I have many aunts and uncles who have attended some of the schools I hope to go to (brown, uchicago, etc). Would they be considered legacy? Is it worth noting in the additional information?
No
Agree with above.
Colleges define legacy differently so you can check with each school – but aunts and uncles generally don’t count.
Generally it is parents, sometimes grandparents.
True legacy, no. As mentioned, some schools will ask about other relatives who have attended. I suspect it does little for most people in terms of a tip. With that said, if you are from Texas and applying to Bowdoin, for example, and have several relatives who have attended, the adcoms may be less likely to think you picked it simply because it is highly ranked and that you might be serious about attending, Maine winters and all… That could help. Of course, if your family name is all over the buildings, those aunts and uncles might come in handy. Few of us fit into that category, though.
Funny story about names on buildings, and how it is or isn’t helpful. D was accepted to a pretigious LAC in the Midwest. We happen to be close friends wih a family who have a long history with the college and have buildings and fields named after the family. Close friend’s sister attended this LAC, but years later, a cousin with family name was rejected. So a family connection isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
At colleges that consider legacy, if your stats put you in the bottom 10% of applicants, legacy won’t help.
And there are kids who realize how weird it would be to attend a school at which several buildings share their surname.
But if a kid is otherwise qualified and Uncle Deep Pockets wants to make a call to the development office and let them know his niece is applying and will attend if admitted, I would think it might help. “Otherwise Qualified” being operative words here… So OP, if this is you, don’t assume the name is enough. Get someone to pick up the phone!
Colleges who want to know about legacy will ask. We were asked on some apps Q: do you have any family who attended here. answer “yes”. Q: were they a parent? A: No usually it ends there. Columbia’s application asked for information on Aunts and Uncles however, which we were pleased to share. U of WI Madison - no place for us to the put the uncle. Oh well, move on. Rutgers asked if a parent or grandparent attended, we said yes but that was the end of the questioning.
You can include that information in the supplemental essays if the relative was part of the reason that you are interested in the school. Do not expect it to have the weight of a parental legacy.
One of our apps did ask for aunts and uncles to be noted. So my S did. No clue if it will mean a thing, we don’t expect it to but the school is a match without that so it really doesn’t matter much.