<p>My aunt has a PhD from Duke, could that in anyway help me when I transfer?</p>
<p>probably not. if she has a phd in the same field you plan on going into, maybe she could write you a rec, but still, that wouldn't carry that much weight. sorry.</p>
<p>At some schools, only parents count as "legacy." At some schools, other relatives do as well. You can look at the Duke app and see whether it asks you to list <em>any</em> relative who has attended or only parents/sibs/grandparents.</p>
<p>Also, at some schools legacy boost only comes from relatives who have attended undergrad. At others, graduate work by a relative counts.</p>
<p>And then there is the question of how much of a boost legacy provides. Everyone's mileage seems to vary on that one.</p>
<p>My guess is that your aunt's PhD won't count for much. And that having her write a rec (I know you didn't necessarily plan to do that) would be a bad move unless she has taught you or she holds some major sway in your field. Even then, I would not use her as a rec over profs who have taught you.</p>
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Also, at some schools legacy boost only comes from relatives who have attended undergrad. At others, graduate work by a relative counts.
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<p>where did you hear that?</p>
<p>there have been a lot of threads about legacy, not necessarily in the transfer forum, but it does seem like some schools only count undergrad for legacy.</p>
<p>that's really weird.....</p>
<p>Well, I went to Stanford grad school, so naturally I was interested in whether that would help my S :rolleyes:. So I asked at the Info session whether they consider grad degrees legacy. Stanford does.</p>
<p>But I have read here on cc, and maybe elsewhere, that other schools don't. </p>
<p>If there is a place to put any relative with any University degree on the app, I think it's safe to assume it might count for <em>something.</em> But it's very difficult to quantify and just because they ask about any relative and any degree doesn't mean they all get the same weight.</p>
<p>BTW, my S did <em>not</em> get into Stanford. ;)</p>