Significance of a Legacy?

<p>How much does having a legacy affect U of C's decision? I know it's hard for anyone other than the admission officers themselves to comment on the significance of legacies, but what do you guys think?</p>

<p>I would be a quadruple legacy if it means anything.</p>

<p>I believe that Chicago has never had an explicit policy on legacies. Remember, a generation ago the college was much, much smaller (at one point it was down below 500/class) and undergraduates were much, much less happy (lots of alumni in my generation DO NOT promote the University of Chicago to their children). Also, until six or seven years ago the college was accepting half or more of applicants. So the question of whether there was a legacy preference probably didn’t come up much – there were not that many legacy applicants, and the ones who were qualified were probably accepted without anyone giving much thought to it.</p>

<p>I suspect if someone who is a quadruple legacy applies, policy or no people would think that was a positive factor. And I suspect Chicago WILL adopt some explicit legacy bump in the near future.</p>

<p>Unless the policy at UofC has changed since my daughter’s application a few years back, being a legacy at UofC has a clearly defined value: $65, which is the cost of the application fee, assuming they still waive the fee for legacies.</p>

<p>As JHS suggested, the fact that UofC does not advertise any legacy effect means it probably does not have one. </p>

<p>But heck, who knows? These things are hard to quantify unless you have huge datasets.</p>

<p>I have no idea, but my son did mention in his “Why Chicago essay” that his uncle and grandparents had attended. It certainly can’t hurt.</p>

<p>Mathmom touches on a good point. Unless your legacy connection is limited to one or both of your parents (their degrees and granting institutions will be listed in your Common App), the Chicago admissions staff may have no good way of knowing that you are a legacy or the extent of your legacy connections. If grandparents/siblings/other relatives are involved (or a parent who never graduated), you should probably make sure to include something about that in your “Why Chicago?” essay.</p>

<p>I’ve read in a number of places that while Chicago does like legacy applicants, they do expect them to know more about the University and be better able to articulate why they want to go there.</p>

<p>There was a spot on the common app supplement that asked for the names of relatives associated with U of C - I listed all of them there. I also mentioned my legacy briefly in the “Why Chicago?” essay, but nothing too elaborate. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the answers!</p>

<p>Yes, there is a question on the app, S2 mentioned hanging out with his brother and friends in his Why Chicago essay, and there was no legacy discount.</p>

<p>There used to be an application waiver for alumni sons and daughters, but I don’t see it on the alumni site any longer. Here is what they say the “big advantage” is:

I asked Ted O’Neill about legacies and his reply was they expect more out of them since they should know more about Chicago. </p>

<p>I know of a 7 figure alumnus donor who was fuming because his statistically qualified daughter was wait listed. If 7 figures won’t do it, I don’t know what will. Perhaps that will change under the new regime (I think it probably should, big donors should catch a little slack).</p>

<p>I remembered that Ted quote, idad, and told S2 he should consider that in his essays.</p>