<p>Why are legacies given preference in college admissions? Does it matter how much money (if any) their parents have donated to the university, or do they get a free push simply because their parents graduated from the same school?</p>
<p>I think it might be because they know your parents did fine at the university so you are a safer bet…?</p>
<p>But what if the parents weren’t great students, and barely graduated from the university? Was a free push for their future kids part of their admission package?</p>
<p>The thing about high school is everyone wants to get the ***** out
In college, you’re kind of in it for life and most people carry a bias
i.e. If I went to BU and i own a business, im more likely to hire/give preference to BU alumni.</p>
<p>sofie that’s not always true. Not all people are in love with their alma mater.</p>
<p>Legacies are more likely to give as alumni would be my guess.</p>
<p>that’s why i said ‘most people’ instead of ‘ALL people’</p>
<p>My guess is that if the parents donate to the school regularly and the student has OK stats, they’d accept him/her to make the parents happy so they’d continue donating. In that case that student nay not be asking for aid or perhaps not as much so that’s another bonus for them?</p>
<p>It’s 99% about money and 1% about recruiting. If a parents kid doesn’t get into the university that the parent went to they’re more likely to cut off donations. Also I’ve heard some people say that it is so someone will choose to go to a school that does use legacies over one who doesn’t since it’ll give their kid a leg up, but I’m not sure if any 18 year old is really that forward thinking.</p>
<p>If you never donate a penny to your alma mater, your kids won’t get a leg up in admissions?</p>
<p>^^ I think maybe it won’t be weighted as much? (I’m totally guessing here.) but if someone had parents who both went to say, Yale, and paid for a brand new library (extreme example), they’re child might get more consideration to be allowed in – because they’re hoping the kid’s parents will keep donating.
I’d guess that the average absurdly wealthy parent, even if they did attend the school, wouldn’t continue shoving out millions to a school that denied their child and the school obviously wants more money. </p>
<p>Oppositely, if they didn’t donate anything to the school. They may still take their legacy into consideration, but maybe not weight it as heavily.</p>
<p>Again, I’m completely guessing.</p>
<p>It protects the school’s brand. Imagine if you’re planning a lunch for Pepsi clients. Wouldn’t you ask the caterer to be certain to have Pepsi there, and no Cokes? Same thing. Legacies show college support. That’s even one of the criteria that is factored into USNews’ rankings (how many alums participated in their fund raising, not $$ amount). That said, some schools give legacies a much larger importance than other schools and some legacies are much tighter about what defines a legacy (parents only? undergraduate only?) Legacy at the more selective the school (like Harvard, YAle…) looks very different than a large state school.</p>