University of Chicago Legacies?

<p>One of my parents went to Chicago for undergrad, then my parents met in their grad school (they both got PhDs, if that affects this kind of thing). Does UChicago give weight to legacies? If they do, would I only get the weight from the undergrad legacy? Or would I get extra from grad school?</p>

<p>I think you have seen the posting in the “Parents” forum that some alum parents are mad at the school because their son/daughter did not get in and stopped donation to the school.</p>

<p>I believe in these days, unless your parents made a noticeaible donation/contribution to the alum school (like in the magnitude of 10 to 100 million), you will be treated equal.</p>

<p>I have actually not seen this thread; can you provide a link? And is the donation thing for all legacies or just for grad school ones?</p>

<p>In the past under Ted O’Neill, legacies were held to a HIGHER standard than non-legacies, since they should have been more educated than usual as they lived with more educated parents. Under O’Neill, Chicago admissions was a true meritocracy.</p>

<p>However, Chicago has realized that this has been hurting donations. So under the new dean of admissions, Chicago almost certainly recognizes legacies, ESPECIALLY (but not exclusively) those who have donated significant sums of money.</p>

<p>Okay- thank you!</p>

<p>try this one
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/955718-could-you-afford-send-your-child-your-alma-mater.html?highlight=donations[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/955718-could-you-afford-send-your-child-your-alma-mater.html?highlight=donations&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The issue of legacies with Chicago is different than with other schools. Whether or not there was a legacy preference, and how strong it was, wasn’t really tested very much, and wasn’t a big issue, until the last couple of years.</p>

<p>The College was at its nadir, in terms of size and in terms of student happiness, when the current generation of parents was in college. So Chicago has a relatively small number of alumni in that cohort, and many of that small number feel ambivalent about the University. Their kids have not – at least not until recently – been applying in large numbers. I know a bunch of Chicago alumni, and so far only one of their kids has applied. (She was accepted and chose to go elsewhere. Her parents – both alumni of the College, one also a Law School alumnus and the other the daughter and granddaughter of College alumni – were angry because the College didn’t do enough to recruit her.) And until 5-6 years ago Chicago was admitting half or more of the students who applied (especially EA). </p>

<p>So no one really knows, as a practical matter, what Chicago’s policy actually is. They just don’t have enough experience administering it.</p>

<p>I think in general most universities with endowments in the billions don’t really care about legacies - they can afford to insult the small-time alumni donors. In other words, it takes a much larger donation(in the millions) to get the administrations attention at these top schools.</p>