We work with a wide range of legacy students every year and we always get questions from parents about how their children’s legacy status will affect the admissions process. Because of this, we decided to do a series on our blog breaking down legacy admissions at top schools across the US. We thought it was important to include the University of Michigan, not only because it’s a great school that our students love, but because it has one of the most confusing legacy policies out there. So we wanted to break down some of the ins and outs of legacy status at U Mich.
Brown University Legacy Guide
Most universities like to keep a couple of secrets. One of the most heavily guarded secrets is the truth about legacy admissions. Some top schools, like Brown, barely publish anything about legacies. We love getting to the bottom of tough questions, especially ones important to our clients. We talk to insiders, sift through data, and watch trends closely to get as much information as we can to help our students. We have been doing a series about legacy admission at top schools. We get a lot of questions about Brown (mostly because they don't make a lot of info readily avaible.) With this in mind, we wanted to answer some of the most common questions we get from parents about Brown.
Columbia University Legacy Guide
“Does being a legacy help their chances of getting into Columbia?” It’s a question we get all the time from concerned alumni parents. Legacy admissions can be difficult to get to the bottom of. Many schools do not like to publish a lot of information about legacy admissions and Columbia is one of them. Every year we talk to admissions officers, go through data, and forecast admissions trends, and getting good information can be harder than it looks. So we wanted to break down some of the ins and out of legacy admissions at Columbia and try to answer some of our most asked questions.
Dartmouth Legacy Guide
“I went to Dartmouth, do you think my kid will get in?” It’s a question we get often from parents. Legacy admissions are a hard topic to talk about. They can be controversial and many schools simply do not want to discuss them but still do them behind closed doors. Most alumni parents don’t know much about legacy admissions, so we wanted to help by answering some of our most asked questions. Legacy admissions can be confusing, so we wanted to cover all the ins and outs of navigating legacy status at Dartmouth.
UCLA Legacy Guide
We often work with students who are legacies. Legacy status can help at many top schools but not all of them. And in general, the topic of legacy status isn’t the easiest to navigate. We have been working on a series of guides to help parents navigate legacy status at top schools and today we want to talk about UCLA.
Vanderbilt University Legacy Admissions Guide
Vanderbilt seems like a school where legacy admissions would run rampant. Something about the south, a great baseball program, and a $10.9 billion endowment just makes it feel like Vandy is a place that would care about legacy admissions. We work with legacies all the time and get constantly asked about legacy admissions at Vanderbilt. Unfortunately, Vanderbilt is extremely tight-lipped when it comes to legacy admissions data. Nevertheless, we wanted to break down what they have said about legacy admissions, what we know, and tips for getting in as a legacy.
UC Berkeley Legacy Guide
It isn’t uncommon in Northern California to see a child dressed up head to toe in UC Berkeley merch. These kids often go on to dream of going to Cal just like their parents did. We work with a lot of these kids and we always get questions from their parents about if their legacy status will help them get in. We have been doing a series on the ins and outs of legacy status at top schools and wanted to dive into what UC Berkeley says about legacy status and what that can mean for your applicant.
Stanford Legacy Guide
We were recently talking with a UC Berkeley staff member who said, “Well Berkeley doesn’t do legacies, but who the heck knows what’s going on at Stanford?” Well, we do… To be fair, we make it our business to know everything there is to know about admissions at top schools, and recently, due to a California law, we know quite a bit about legacy status at Stanford. We work with children of alums all the time and the same sort of questions come up again and again. So today we wanted to break down some of the most asked questions when it comes to being a legacy applicant at Stanford.
Duke Legacy Guide
We work with legacy students every year and parents always have questions about legacy admissions. It might seem simple, but at top schools like Duke, it can be more complicated than you think. We have been doing a series on legacy admission and wanted to break down legacy admissions at Duke and answer some of our most frequently asked questions.
MIT Legacy Guide
Parents ask us all the time about legacy admissions. Usually, they help… however that’s not always true. Some schools simply don’t consider legacy admissions. And if you are an MIT grad whose kid is hoping to go, legacy really isn’t going to help them. This can shock a lot of parents so we wanted to break down a bit about why this is and what it means for your student.
Yale Legacy Guide
You went to Yale and now your kid is dreaming of following in your footsteps. That’s great. However, you might be wondering to yourself, “Since I went there, is that going to help their chances?” We hear this all the time from alumni parents. It’s not as simple of a question to answer as you might think. We do a ton of research every year. We talk to admissions officers, compile data from class statistic reports, we read alumni newsletters and school papers. Even with all that, the weight of legacy in admissions can still be a difficult question to tackle. We wanted to break down everything we know about legacies at Yale and try to answer some of the most common questions we get from parents. So let’s dive in.
Princeton University Legacy Guide
“I went to Princeton so I’m pretty sure my kid will get in.” This is something we tend to hear from time to time and it always makes us nervous. Mostly because it’s not necessarily true. Legacy admissions can be a lot trickier than 80s teen movies seem to always suggest. We are constantly looking at admissions numbers and class breakdowns so trust us when we say, not all legacies get into a school like Princeton. Because of this, we wanted to break down legacy admissions to ensure that parents and students know what to expect when applying as a legacy to Princeton.
Legacy Admission Guide for Harvard
We hear it all the time. “I went to Harvard… does that mean my kid will get in?” It’s an important question for a lot of the parents of students we work with and it’s a harder question to answer than some might think. Every year we work with legacy students whose parents have realized that simply being a legacy isn’t enough to get into a top school. Being a legacy isn’t everything, but it can help. Your next question is probably, “But how much exactly does it help at a place like Harvard?” We wanted to break it down and talk about the ins and outs of legacy status at Harvard.
Harvard Acceptance Rate for Legacy Students
Students work hard their entire high school careers with their eyes on the Ivy League. But while they might be busting their behinds to break the single-digit entry rate barriers, what they may not realize is the odds might be even less in their favor. According to data published in the Harvard Crimson, legacies are given a significant amount of preferential treatment. While we don’t know how many seats are reserved for legacy students each year, we can tell you that legacy students are typically represented disproportionately in every freshman class.