<p>What relationships make you a legacy? Does it have to a direct relative, like mom, dad, grandma or grandpa, or can it be aunts and uncles, etc?</p>
<p>oh and does that only matter to private schools?</p>
<p>Depends on the school and some schools also don’t consider you to be a legacy if your parent(s) or relatives attended that school for graduate school. And others like UPenn only allow legacy to be used as an advantage for Early decision applicants.</p>
<p>Most of the highly selective schools consider legacies the children of undergrad alumni. Lesser selective schools often include grandchildren.</p>
<p>Policies vary widely. Yale considers the children and grandchildren of alumni of Yale College, the Graduate School, and Yale professional schools (law, business, medicine, divinity) to be legacies. Harvard uses a narrower definition: “the daughters and sons of College alumni/ae may receive an additional look.”</p>
<p>Many public universities don’t consider legacy status, but some do. The University of Michigan says: “Although not a primary factor in admissions decisions, having a parent, step-parent, grandparent, or sibling who attended the University of Michigan will be considered a plus in the review of your application.”</p>
<p>Cornell gives legacy advantage to children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of undergraduate students, even if the student didn’t graduate!</p>
<p>Does PSU consider legacy status at all? Even if both parents went there? Or do they just have too many alumni for it to matter?</p>
<p>As others said, it usually depends on the school, but overall legacy status only applies to someone if their direct descendant attended the school in a similar fashion as what the applicant is applying for (apologies for the odd wording). Meaning that you wouldn’t get legacy at Yale if you’re applying as an undergrad but your grandfather got an MA in Literature. You WOULD get legacy status if he was an undergrad there.</p>