From everything I read top schools are trying to de emphasize the legacy bump because they are taking kids from higher end families and want to diversify their economic base? The thought being that legacy kids come from very successful upbringings.
Any truth to that ?
MIT is one of the few schools where applying EA or RD makes little difference.
Yes there is some truth to that. I have some hard numbers from Duke admissions:
Year / Overall admit % / Legacy admit % / % of class legacy
2005 / 22% / 43% / 11.6%
2017 / 9.5% / 25% / 13.3%
The percentage of legacy admits has dropped by about 50% within a 12 year period at Duke. The percentage of the class that is filled with legacy kids still hovers around 10-12% though. While Duke admits less legacy applicants, the class makeup still hasn’t changed much. Roughly half of the class is from students who are full pay. In the past legacy students made up a large % of that. In recent years they’ve shifted towards wealthy non-legacy students.
Just filling in the entire table…
2004 / 23% / 46% / 13%
2005 / 22% / 43% / 13%
2006 / 21% / 37% / 12%
2007 / 21% / 43% / 11%
2008 / 19% / 37% / 12%
2009 / 18% / 36% / 12%
2010 / 16% / 34% / 12%
2011 / 13% / 31% / 13%
2012 / 13% / 31% / 12%
2013 / 12% / 27% / 13%
2014 / 11% / 30% / 12%
2015 / 11% / 29% / 12%
2016 / 11% / 23% / 10%
2017 / 9.5% / 25% / 13.3%
This shows that legacy at Duke was more an advantage in 2017 (about 2.5x the overall rate) than in 2005 (about 2x overall). The composition of the legacy class could be stronger of course, but it’s a bigger advantage now.
OP, Yale giving the same legacy advantage in RD as SCEA, could mean you EA or SCEA your first choice if that isn’t Yale.
https://www.alumni.upenn.edu/s/1587/gid2/16/interior.aspx?sid=1587&gid=2&pgid=20995 says that “Legacies who apply to Penn during Early Decision receive thorough consideration in the application process” but does not say that legacy status is not considered for RD applicants.
First-Year Admission | Penn Admissions says that “We appreciate that attending Penn is a tradition for many families, so an applicant’s affiliation with Penn, either by being a child or grandchild of alumni, is given the most consideration through Early Decision.” This also does not say that legacy status is not considered for RD applicants.
Yes, my comment may have been overstated, but the fact is that the legacy advantage is given much more weight in ED at Penn as compared to Yale (to my knowledge, neutral) which was the point of the advice to the OP who had assumed he had to apply SCEA to get a legacy bump for Yale. I also think to most legacy applicants for Penn, the statement is pretty clear that if you want a real legacy bump, you need to apply ED.
Agreed. The Penn alum page suggests legacy is considered only in the ED round (and that is what Eric Furda and other AOs verbally communicate)
What else can I do to improve my child’s chances of being admitted? How does Admissions know my child is a legacy? The Admissions Office identifies legacy applicants based on the information provided in a student’s application. Legacies who apply to Penn during Early Decision receive thorough consideration in the application process.
Things could change though, now that Eric Furda is out as Dean of Admissions, and Whitney Soule in.
The statements on Penn’s web site look like great examples of how to make a weak statement (basically, “legacy ED >= legacy RD”) into something that is commonly read as being a much stronger statement (“legacy is only considered during ED”).
Like how “recommended” is interpreted as “required?”
Legacy ED >= legacy RD is not a correct formulation if we want to reduce the words to formula. “Most (emphasis added) consideration” is not weak or equivocal. More accurately, legacy ED >> legacy RD. There is no equal in there. The point is if you want to take full advantage of legacy status, Penn is telling you to do it in the early round. Other colleges do not make that statement.
“Most” does not necessarily mean that there are no other conditions that are co-equal with that which is described with “most”.
Even if you exclude the equality possibility, > does not necessarily mean >>. Nor does it mean that “legacy RD = 0” in terms of added consideration of legacy.
Yes, Penn wants more students to apply ED. Its statement here is very good marketing in suggesting something that is not actually being said.
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