Does being a legacy help you in the ED2 round at vanderbilt at all? My grandfather and my uncle both attended the university.
Unfortunately, legacy only helps a little. You still have to meet the standards. It will help you stand out, however.
I believe you are only considered a legacy if one or both of your parents attended. To stretch it to grandfather and uncle, they would have to be significant donors (like having a building named for them). What helps just a little bit more is having a sibling who was/is attending, IMO.
IMHO there are different levels of legacy.
- Parents and siblings
- Family members that donate time (interview) and $$$ to VU.
- Family members that provide jobs and internships to students, and/or have a building named after them.
- Related to an Ingram.
Note: 4>3>2>1>0.
Legacy, other than bud’s 3 & 4 categories, means less and less as time goes by. On move-in day for D (2nd VU child), Admissions Dean Shain highlighted the number of siblings in the class. About 75 that year. As numbers of applicants climb each year, the legacy preference diminishes. While the national demographic of declining numbers of potential freshmen is pressuring schools at the other end of the spectrum in terms of enrollment, it is evidently not a problem for the elite schools. Vanderbilt will have record numbers again this year. I think the Common App has made it so easy to apply to multiple reach schools that this trend will hold for the foreseeable future.
As parents, we were once employed in both Nashville and in Atlanta. I can’t tell you how few Atlanta legacies manage to get their children into Vanderbilt these days, and I feel for their families as admission rates were more like 30% only a decade ago. The dominant feeder cities of eras gone by have a ton of Vandy graduates working in them, and these are the people who get their hopes dashed as globalization has altered Vandy’s alum future footprint. I wonder how much luck our sons will have getting their sons or daughters into either Vandy or Duke down the road as it is most unlikely that major donor will be attached to our family name. I do not think today’s freshman class resembles the groups of alum adults who show up at Homecoming.
Very true.
Vandy’s official policy is legacy may be considered when a students profile meets that of other students being accepted. In other words, you must have the required profile to get in.
Legacy policy at elite U’s is getting some heat from the liberal elite as these students tend to be white, wealthy, and come from enriched academic environments. At some ivy schools legacy make up to 15% on the class and fill 40% of the “spots” for white students. (I know, not PC). On the other hand, schools like to continue the family tradition and they need students who can pay the full COA to “keep the lights on”.
The other challenge is that disregarding legacy has some pretty serious (negative) impact on financial contributions from alumni. It upsets alums so much that the development office has blackout periods for solicitation in periods around the time decisions are released (all rounds).
My daughter is applying to Vanderbilt RD. I graduated from the law school in 1984. I support the law school with small contributions each year. Will being a kid of a law alum help at all in undergrad admissions? She attended Vanderbilt Summer Academy for the past 2 summers also. Will VSA help at all? She has almost straight As, 33 ACT, and 800 and 780 on SAT subject tests. She attends a very rigorous private school in Houston.
Law school alum and donor won’t provide any significant help, but VSA might give a very slight edge. Years ago when it was called PTY (Program for Talented Youth), that did provide a boost, although not a big one. RD has become a very tough ticket, but her testing is solid and if the OUA has a strong relationship with her school, she might make it in. Good luck to her!
My daughter also attended VSA last summer and really LOVED it!
Also, her sister is a Vandy Junior. She is planning to apply ED next fall.
Maybe it will happen for her???
We are also from the San Francisco Bay Area which might give her a little boost?
Her scores are solid for sure but not as stellar as her sister’s who got in RD.
All of the students that got in ED1 from my daughter’s school were legacies, and many of those had current siblings at the school. Good luck to your daughter.