One of my parents is a former post-doctoral fellow at Stanford. My academic/extracurricular credentials are on-par (maybe above average) compared to other Stanford admits. How much support, if anything, should I expect from this relationship? I understand that legacy usually only applies to students whose parents attended undergrad at the school, but will this help at all?
Stanford typically affords “legacy” benefits to graduates of any of its schools. The benefit, however, is limited to guaranteeing that your application gets 2 readers. No preference, just protection against one reader in a foul mood.
To get any more of a boost, they would probably need to be a major donor and/or have significant continued involvement with the school.
I suspect a post-doc wouldn’t be considered a graduate. More of an employee, as noted. I don’t thing children of employees are generally considered ‘legacy’.
RichInPitt, would it help my application at all or do nothing?
Not sure how you think you’d fit it in. It would show a past temporary connection. For anything else, tip-wise, it would be up to you, personally, to prove out your own desirability and match.
It’s not hard to find that S considers legacy, "at least one parent or stepparent received an undergraduate and/or graduate degree from Stanford.” That’s the sort of digging you need to be able to do, about various points that matter to them, when they’re choosing a class.
A post-doctoral fellow is neither an employee nor a legacy booster. Even if they’re, it’s virtually meaningless in terms of carrying any weight. Forget about this past connection and rely more on your own weight.