<p>I already got admitted SCEA to Stanford, but I'm also applying to Penn for RD. I put down that my dad went to Graduate School at Penn...
Does that help? Am I still a legacy because he went to Grad School? And do they prefer Undergrad Legacies or Grad Legacies, or regardless of either one?</p>
<p>Can SOMEONE please answer this ? :P</p>
<p>You would still be a legacy; however, to take full advantage of your legacy status, you would have had to apply ED.</p>
<p>I've been told by both my college counselor and Penn itself that being a legacy does not help regular decision applicants. The reasoning, I was told, is that if Penn is your first choice and thus you're applying ED, then you must be applying out of your own will, not just because of family influence/pressure. I'm not sure about the undergrad/grad thing--I, too, have a dad who went to just graduate school at Penn and I'm fairly certain that that DID help me in the ED pool. </p>
<p>But seriously, you got into Stanford (congrats)... you have a perfectly good shot at Penn with or without a legacy. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think if you look on the Penn website, you'll see that (a) they have a very broad definition of legacy, and that your father's graduate degree will count, and (b) they say that they give more consideration to legacy status ED, but they don't say "no consideration" RD. The general folklore, however, is that legacy status is meaningless RD. Sorry.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I think Penn accepts about 1/3 of legacies, and I bet it accepts a lot more than 1/3 of students who are cross-accepted at Stanford. So don't sweat it so much.</p>
<p>Now, why you're applying to Penn is a whole 'nother question. Are there really circumstances under which you would turn Stanford down for Penn? Not a popular decision.</p>
<p>Does Penn have SCEA or Early action? (Just wondering)</p>
<p>penn has early decision.</p>
<p>stoompy312, you'll probably get in even without the legacy status (although it doesn't help much in RD anyway)</p>
<p>JHS, it's probably a popular thing to do on the east coast though, right? i know i would turn down stanford for penn. they're rather similar schools and you would get a similar education at both schools. i would not want to travel across an entire continent for college. then again, i'm a philly native, and i love being close to home...</p>
<p>I dunno, Crystal. Lots of my kids' friends who felt like you applied ED to Penn, so the question never came up. The ones who applied to HYPS-level colleges and were accepted chose them over Penn. One friend of theirs turned down Stanford for Brown, and Harvard-Stanford choices split about 60-40. I don't know anyone who was actually accepted at Stanford and who turned it down for Penn. MIT, yes. Stanford, no.</p>
<p>Penn and Stanford are "rather similar schools" in the sense that they are both elite research universities, and are roughly the same size. Besides that, they feel very, very different.</p>
<p>Stop beating around the bush. Stanford is a bit more prestigious and selective FOR UNDERGRAD than Penn. Grad school, there's basic parity in everything except engineering, but for undergrad, I'm pretty sure the cross-admit rate for Penn vs Stanford is 1 out of 5 kids choose Penn.</p>
<p>The difference isn't huge, mind you; it's just like Columbia is slightly less prestigious and selective than Harvard. Sure, a little bit. But not very much.</p>
<p>I really think it is personal preference. The schools feel very different and I know this may be hard to believe but quite a few people prefer the East coast and the urban traditional campus. Then there is Wharton etc......</p>
<p>Yeah, but this girl isn't saying "Wharton." She's saying Penn. That means CAS.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some people (maybe not you, muerteapablo) actually choose to attend the college they like most, rather than the most selective or prestigious. In fact, most who apply ED to places like Penn, Dartmouth, Columbia and Brown have decided that their ED school is preferable to HYPSM (else why apply ED?). In my own home, for example, I spent a lot of time with my younger son discussing "The Hypothetical": Assume you have an acceptance letter from both Columbia and Harvard; which do you accept? Assume Columbia and Yale? Columbia and Stanford? Etc. Columbia came out on top every time. He applied ED to Columbia, got in, and has never looked back.</p>
<p>^ That's very smart of you pbr.</p>
<p>I ALWAYS see people who say "I am applying ED, but I don't know where yet..."</p>
<p>For the majority of cases, you should only apply ED (to one of these top-flight schools) if you would still choose it should you be accepted to every other member of the Ivy League. (Because there are no students who are able to get into an Ivy ED that can definitively say they had no shot at the rest.)</p>
<p>Things change a little if you have a legacy at a school that only seems gives a bump to legacies who apply ED.</p>
<p>I did ED to Penn too, so I'm actually pretty biased. I love staying close to home and being on the east coast. I love being in a city (I EAed to UChicago and planned to apply to a bunch of other city/suburban schools) I would have chosen Penn over HYPSM any day, but I didn't have to choose :)</p>
<p>Dartmoose, I agree that legacy may give you an admissions boost (ED or otherwise). I believe, however, that choice and fit is more important than admissions odds. (My wife went to Harvard, but all three of us wisely (in my opinion) ignored that fact in discussing colleges for our son.) If you don't have a clear first choice, don't apply ED, legacy or not.</p>