<p>I'm a "rising senior" from New Mexico planning to apply to Yale EA. I have pretty solid stats (2260, 4.0) and EC's and I am a legacy- I was wondering how much you think the legacy thing helps at Yale.
Thanks for your help
Kath</p>
<p>Several legacies were rejected this year. Not all legacies are created equal. If your family is wealthy and has a history of donating to Yale, it is a huge hook. If not, it is a tip factor, all other things being equal.</p>
<p>I think I read somewhere that the legacy acceptance rate is somewhere between 20 and 30%. While that's two to three times as high as the overall admit rate, consider that:</p>
<p>a) students of Yale grads already tend to be strong students/competitive applicatns</p>
<p>b) 70 to 80% of legacy parents <em>still</em> see their kids rejected from Yale.</p>
<p>The bottom line is (according to a family member who's a Yale interviewer and used to do admissions for another school in the HYPSM range), if Yale is deciding between two students who are equally competent in all other respects, the legacy student may have a slight edge. However, if legacy students don't <em>already</em> have the stats/recs/essays to be extremely competitive applicants on their own, legacy status won't help (unless your family's paid for a building or two recently :P).</p>
<p>2260 and a 4.0, with good ECs, recs, and essays should make you a competitive applicant as it is, and for you, legacy status might be able to push you over the top and into the pool of accepted applicants. Don't count on it, though - it really all comes down to chance. But good luck! Hope you do well :)</p>