My older brother is at UChicago- will that have any sort of influence on what my decision might be?
If you have a strong application to begin with, it might help. So will applying ED.
Not officially, but I know of a few siblings that are in the school. I think it may have more to do with application approach than legacy help.
I went to college at a fairly selective LAC with a guy who was the ninth kid in his family to go there. They all became physicians, except for one who became a priest. I thought it was a bit weird. (The all going to the same college part, not the doctor or priest part).
I met a guy at orientation and all seven in his family went to the same school, but it was the flagship. I don’t think all going to the same school is unusual.
Flagships really don’t consider legacy status, sibling or otherwise so its really not applicable ( I doubt they even track it). Legacies is a term mostly reserved for private institutions.
UVA definitely considers legacy, so does UMich. @CU123
@makemesmart There is always a couple that think they are private universities. But since you brought it up, flagships are always going to have a ton of legacies since the parents usually stay in the state they went to school at, thereby giving the appearance of favoring legacies. Here is what the University of Michigan says about it.
Is being a legacy applicant a factor in U-M’s holistic review process?
Legacy status is not a preference in the admissions process but does serve as context - outside of the admissions review - in understanding a student’s interest. Most importantly, it helps us calculate the likelihood of enrollment. Information about a student’s status as a legacy can also be used to acknowledge their relationship to U-M in communications with families during both the application process and when it renders their admissions decisions.
I’m not sure if CU-Boulder gives any sort of legacy boost in admissions @CU123, but they award scholarships and recognize legacies through the Buffalo Legacy program. During admitted students day for D14, there was a special reception at the alumni center hosted by the Chancellor for legacy families. It was pretty neat.
I would call that more of an alumni gathering with there children. Legacy is more of a term that is associated with some sort of favoritism given for admissions. I know CU does not give any type of admission advantage to legacies. Certainly universities promote the idea that they like having multiple generations attend there college but that is a far cry from giving them an advantage in admissions. BTW, giving a legacy an advantage is nothing to be proud of. Most universities don’t even like to admit they give a legacy preference.
I know what legacy is. And in researching colleges, which I’ve been doing for awhile now, it doesn’t seem to me that legacy admits are something colleges are ashamed of.
This might be SOP for all colleges but UChicago assigns an admissions officer to work with alumni families once the legacy applicant has submitted everything. They also provide FAQ’s that say legacy can be an important consideration in the review process, but that admission is highly selective and so forth. Not sure if applicants with siblings are given similar consideration but guessing so.
The Alumni association can help with some things at CU, but not getting you admitted. They don’t even help with organizing reunions or get togethers, but sure, they’ll give you a face tattoo or a frisbee with a logo on it.
Highly doubt that the University of Chicago Alumnae Assoc. pulled any strings for us LOL. We had basically ignored all their mailings over the years. What really got our two kids in was 1) having a strong application to begin with and 2) applying ED. Legacy can help in that in that there is an existing connection to the place and speaks to fit. IMHO legacy and ED are a strong combination, assuming that the rest of the application checks out. However, when you are talking about admit rates in the 5 - 7% range, even multiple attributes may not be enough. Anecdotally, it does seem that top schools will admit sibling groups - frankly, I can’t imagine that it’s ever a non-attribute, despite what they disclose on their website. (Public schools are a tad different as they might have specific mandated disclosures pursuant to state law).
Our state flagship gives some consideration to those with family who have attended, but academic record and test scores are considered primary factors. Having the family link will help, all else equal, but it won’t overcome a marginal application.
“Legacy can help in that in that there is an existing connection to the place and speaks to fit.” Exactly. And if your sibling is doing well and nicely engaged, so much the better.
If a college doesn’t announce they count sib legacy- or officially says they do not- that doesn’t mean it’s not a nice bit of info. But agree with JB that you still need the right app and actions.