<p>When I was interviewed by a Princeton alumni for admissions a couple years ago, he told me that his father had gone to Princeton and so did his grandfather. He informed me that his daughter, however, had chosen to go to a small liberal arts college somewhere (can't remember the name). Just out of curiosity, how easily do you think his daughter would have gotten in? I'm assuming that she had similar GPA and ACT/SAT scores to those who are admitted. But what if she had worse stats? I'm looking forward to your input.</p>
<p>Basically … it’s a secret.
Researchers can pry data from reluctant admission offices then use statistical mojo on it to reveal patterns, but a couple of years later there is no telling how well their conclusions still apply.</p>
<p>One researcher a couple years ago concluded that “primary legacy” status boosts chances at some of the most selective schools by 45 percentage points. Not 45%, but 45 percentage points.
<a href=“Legacy’s Advantage May Be Greater Than Was Thought”>http://chronicle.com/article/Legacys-Advantage-May-Be/125812/</a></p>
<p>Maybe by the time you get to triple or quadruple legacy status, your chances are more than 100%. That is, you’ll not only definitely get in, you’ll have to go even if you don’t want to :)</p>
<p>Not as much as you would think/hope. I am double legacy (both parents) plus an aunt at Duke, but no one has donated. I got rejected ED despite being reasonably qualified (enough so that I would have had a chance at it as a firm reach otherwise). I do think that I would have gotten in were my parents big donors, but legacy in of itself does not give that big of an advantage. I think that my application was sent to the legacy office, which could have admitted me if they had wanted to, after going through the main process.</p>
<p>If these were twenty or thirty years ago, I would say her chances were very good. But with acceptance rates in the teens, I’m not so sure Princeton has to accept legacies so easily. I think the real answer lies in how much money and how consistently this alumnus (and his father and grandfather) has given to Princeton over the years.</p>
<p>Legacy status without money is likely not much of an advantage over no legacy status at all.</p>
<p>Princeton considers legacy as a big factor in its Early Action. My friend’s brother attends Princeton and my friend was also accepted into Princeton with lackluster stats.</p>
<p>Also, I think it’s wrong to think that legacy status “stacks”. You either have it or you don’t, there really isn’t any such thing as double or triple legacy status. It might be interesting, but unless there’s some money coming in from the legacy, what’s in it for the school to keep granting admission to a family who contributes nothing other than tuition? There are 1000s of other possible admits willing to do exactly that.</p>