Does Harvard consider grandparent legacy?

An applicant whose grandparent attended Harvard would be considered a secondary legacy. A primary legacy is an applicant who has a parent who graduated from the college. Primary legacies are the main beneficiaries of the legacy boost.

Do grandparents count as legacy Harvard?

A legacy is someone who is related to an alumnus of a school—usually a child of a graduate. More distant relations (such as aunts, uncles, and cousins) rarely count. Grandparents sometimes, but not always, count. To take an example, if your mom graduated from Harvard College, you'd be considered a Harvard legacy.

What counts as a legacy for Harvard?

Someone with a parent who attended Harvard is a primary legacy. Someone with a grandparent or some other relative who attended is a secondary legacy. Only primary legacies really get an advantage in terms of admissions.

Does legacy apply to grandchildren?

Many selective colleges give a boost during the admissions process to the children or grandchildren of alumni, making them more likely to gain admission.

Do grandparents count as alumni?

Some institutions, such as Stanford and UNC, only consider "primary legacy" status—where one or both applicant's parents are alumni. Yet, most schools will also grant favor to "secondary legacies" who claim a grandparent, sibling, or other non-parental familial affiliation to the school.

Harvard Targeted on Legacy Admissions

Does grandparent count as legacy?

An applicant normally has legacy status at a college if a member of the applicant's immediate family attends or attended the college, but at certain schools it might also mean a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or cousin.

Do you get legacy from grandparents?

Having a loose connection such as great aunt Merle, a grandparent, or a sibling qualifies you as being a “secondary legacy” and can be slightly helpful in the admissions process.

What percent of Harvard students are legacy?

Harvard gives preference to applicants who are recruited athletes, legacies, relatives of donors and children of faculty and staff. As a group, they make up less than 5 percent of applicants, but around 30 percent of those admitted each year.

Does Duke consider grandparents as legacy?

Who is a Legacy at Duke? Duke defines legacy as “children and grandchildren of alumni.” Many top colleges only consider children of alums and not grandchildren, so Duke is slightly unique for considering both.

Does Yale consider legacy?

Eleven percent of the Yale College class of 2027 are legacies, according to the admissions office's First-Year Class Profile. This number marks a slight decrease in legacy population from the class of 2026, which has 12 percent legacy students, and the class of 2025, which has 14 percent legacy students.

Does Harvard look at legacy?

While Harvard doesn't directly define what makes you a legacy, their application only asks about parents' and siblings' education and only mentions parents in their materials. While Harvard doesn't confirm it, it is safe to say that “legacy” means having a parent that went to Harvard…

Does Harvard accept legacy?

Not just Harvard but all Ivy League institutions, considered some of the world's most prestigious, give consideration to legacy status. Other leading institutions, including New York University, Georgetown University, Vassar College and Michigan State University, also follow the practice.

Do Ivy Leagues care about legacy?

Legacy admissions does not ensure acceptance at an Ivy League university. Being a legacy applicant does help a bit. However if a student wants to get accepted to an Ivy League university they have to be an exceptional student on their own.

Does Cornell consider grandparents legacy?

Legacy Award eligibility requirements

Do you have Cornell graduates in your family (parents, grandparents or great-grandparents)? If yes, great! You are eligible. Make sure to note your alumni relationships on your admissions application.

Do grandparents count as legacy at Stanford?

At Stanford, “legacy” applicants are defined as the children of Stanford graduates at either the undergraduate or graduate level.

Does legacy only apply to parents?

Legacy admissions, also known as legacy preferences or alumni connections, refers to a boost in a prospective student's odds of admission to a college just because the applicant is related to an alumnus, usually a parent or grandparent.

How do colleges know if you're a legacy?

Colleges can include questions about legacy status in their supplements on the Common Application, and it's often just two or three questions. Are you related to an alumnus? What is your relationship to that alumnus? Who is that alumnus?

Does NYU consider legacy?

“And, to repeat: NYU does not admit students on the basis of legacy; being the child of an alum is not a factor in our admissions decision-making; we don't pay heed to legacy status in shaping a class; and NYU doesn't have legacy 'tips.

Does Duke care about legacy?

It's a testament to the special nature of Duke that the children and grandchildren of alumni so often include Duke among the colleges they are considering. Family ties that span generations are a valued part of our tradition.

Why does Harvard like legacy students?

Given how Harvard and other high-status schools have valued legacy students, it's unlikely they will give up the practice easily, even with the Department of Education investigating the practice. These institutions say legacy admissions help foster relationships with alumni and promote an intergenerational community.

Which high school sends the most students to Harvard?

Nationwide, these are the three top schools with the most graduates who registered at Harvard, Princeton or MIT from 2015-18: Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia: 96; Stuyvesant High School in New York City: 94; and Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire: 87.

What is the acceptance rate for Harvard without legacy students?

This adds to other damning data on the subject: Evidence submitted by the plaintiffs in the affirmative action case reveals that 34% of legacy applicants were admitted to Harvard compared with 6% of non-legacies; last year, an Associated Press review found that “legacy students outnumbered Black students in freshman ...

Which universities value legacy the most?

In short, Ivy League and other top schools typically admit legacies at two to five times their overall admission rates. Among top universities, the University of Notre Dame and Georgetown University are known to weigh legacy status heavily in their application processes.

Does MIT consider legacy?

The selection process at MIT is student centered: each application is evaluated within its unique context. No school, state, or regional quotas are applied, and we do not consider legacy/alumni relations in our process.

Does Princeton care about legacy?

The legacy category in Princeton admissions is a major positive for the University, its students and its alumni. One of Princeton's important and unique strengths is its culture of being a family and the cohesiveness of its student body, as well as the loyalty of its alumni.