<p>We've all heard the rumors that if you're a Penn legacy, and have decent enough grades, you're pretty much in (for ED). Can anyone validate (or challenge) this rumor? Does double legacy bode any better than single legacy? Does it matter if the alum have given money?</p>
<p>My understanding as a long-time alum who’s attended a lot of admissions and alumni sessions, and read what Penn has had to say about legacy admissions over the years:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Single vs. double legacy is irrelevant. Once you’re a legacy (have at least one parent or grandparent who is a graduate of any school at Penn), it doesn’t matter how many additional alumni parents or grandparents you may have.</p></li>
<li><p>These days, at least 2/3 of legacy applicants–and perhaps even more at this point, since Penn has stopped publishing these statisitics–are rejected. Legacy status gives a slight advantage during the early decision round, all other factors (grades, SATs, ECs, recommendations, essays, etc.) being equal, but it will not make up for any “deficiencies” in an application, and is essentially not an advantage at all during the regular decision round.</p></li>
<li><p>Whether or not the parent/grandparent alum has donated to Penn is not a factor in the legacy “bump.” If a parent or grandparent has given a significant amount to Penn (6 or 7 figures), that might be taken into account in the admissions process, but that would make the applicant a “developmental” admit as they say in the admissions biz, which is not the same as a legacy admit.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>When Penn used to release statistics for legacy admissions, the acceptance rate for legacies was maybe 5 or 10 points higher than the overall acceptance rate for non-legacy appicants during the ED round (e.g., 30-35% for legacies applicants vs. an overall ED acceptance rate of 25%), and the RD acceptance rate for legacy applicants was not higher than the overall RD acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. Another question: Both my parents went to Penn and I’d like to know my chance of getting in (so I know if I should play my one-time ED card somewhere else).
ACT: Composite 33 (taken once)
GPA: Will be around a 3.8-3.9 (at the number one public high school in my state)
5 APs (have not taken the tests for those yet)
ECs: President Culinary Club, President Israeli Culture Club, President Jewish Student Union, Graphic Editor for #1 High School Newspaper in the nation, Director of Cinematography for my school’s live recordings in our studio (#1 High School Radio Station in the nation), Teacher Assistant for Culinary Classes for two years, one year of Varsity wrestling (not really so into sports anymore)
Also I am taking SATII for Lit, Math I, US History (hopefully I will do well on those)
Hooks: Legacy
Reason not to take me: I’m Jewish, white, and rich (okay maybe that’s a plus)
What are my chances of ED?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There are high school newspaper rankings now?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure… I might be just BSing that part though. We won some type of big award and I want to sound important.</p>
<p>That’s kind of what I figured.</p>
<p>Now that you snuffed out my lie, can you at least answer my question?</p>
<p>How would I know your chance of getting in? I’m just a high schooler.</p>
<p>45-Percenter, can you help me out?</p>
<p>Given your “demographic”, apply ED to maximize chances. </p>
<p>If you don’t improve ACT and/or you pull 4’s instead of 5’s on APs, you will be sweating next April if you skip the ED round at Penn. Basically, you will go from an odds-on favorite for Penn ED to no more than even-money, and perhaps even a slight underdog, in RD. And you are a longshot for ED at a better school with your current stats. Why go through the tzuris of a prolonged process that is unlikely to yield a better outcome?</p>
<p>@paradocs So you think I have a pretty good shot at ED? I kind’ve assumed I have no shot at RD and wouldn’t waste the $70 to apply RD.</p>
<p>I will preface this by saying my evidence is 1) completely anecdotal and 2) uses false logic by saying that if you get denied by one type of school you should get denied by all schools of that ‘tier’ - that’s not always the case.</p>
<p>My one experience with a legacy is a friend of mine who is a huge legacy. 2 grandparents and both her parents went to penn, but do not have a building named after them or anything. She applied REGULAR decision. She applied to a ton of schools - she got accepted to Case Western, Michigan, Tulane and Penn. She got rejected from Brown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Tufts, Vanderbilt, and Wash U in St Louis.</p>
<p>this kind of leads me to believe that legacy had a major impact.</p>
<p>I just think that your odds fall off pretty dramatically as a legacy from ED to RD unless you are a stellar applicant. As you stand now, I think you are about even money in ED. But in RD, you are maybe dropping to 2-1 against. If you don’t have the numbers to get into Yale or Harvard, why bother taking the risk? This is the essence of my point.</p>