Why do schools prefer legacy students?

The “logic” is that legacy students are most likely to matriculate, most likely to graduate, most likely to be happy with the school, and most likely to donate. They continually support the school. Students are familiar with what their parents do and did, and where they went to school.

Do legacy students have an advantage?

Legacy Advantage, Quantified. Children of alumni had a large admissions advantage. But when they applied to other elite colleges in the study, their admissions rates were only slightly higher than average.

Why does Harvard care about legacy?

These institutions say legacy admissions help foster relationships with alumni and promote an intergenerational community. But experts told me there is an underlying justification: money. Schools might believe that giving preference to children of alumni would prompt donations down the road.

What schools do not accept legacy preference?

What are the cons of legacy admissions?

In the case of legacy admissions, elite universities are effectively discriminating against less privileged students for the benefit of the wealthy — and some donors are enabling them. Fortunately, some universities have already taken legacy preferences off the table. MIT and Wesleyan, for example.

U.S. colleges divided over whether to end legacy admissions

Why do colleges care so much about legacy?

The “logic” is that legacy students are most likely to matriculate, most likely to graduate, most likely to be happy with the school, and most likely to donate. They continually support the school. Students are familiar with what their parents do and did, and where they went to school.

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?

Do legacy students have a higher chance?

A research group at Harvard conducted an analysis of a dozen elite schools — including the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, and the University of Chicago — and determined that, among applicants with similar test scores, legacy applicants were far more likely to be accepted into the school their parents attended than those whose ...

Do all legacy students get in?

Although being a legacy often helps students get admitted to a competitive college, many experts agree that the true value of legacy status is contextual – it depends on both the institution and the applicant.

What colleges have the highest legacy admissions?

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.

Why do Ivy Leagues care about legacy?

In fact, legacy admission isn't just a non-merit-based advantage — it is the mechanism by which elite schools shield themselves from having to demonstrate their own merit. The first time I applied to Harvard Law School, I was waitlisted, then rejected. My mother had attended the law school three decades earlier.

How many legacy students are white?

The complaint argues that legacy admissions are tantamount to racial discrimination because Harvard grants preferential treatment to legacies – 70% of whom are white.

What percent of Ivy students are legacy?

At many Ivy League schools, about 12 to 16 percent of each class is made up of legacies. (The portion is smaller at some.)

Do legacy students pay less?

Legacy status may also work as a proxy for financial need.

In other words, these students are more likely to be able to pay full tuition without help from the university. “It's a way to circumvent need-blind policies,” said Richard D. Kahlenberg, an education expert and a nonresident scholar at Georgetown University.

Are legacy admissions fair?

Just 30% of college students say that legacy admissions practices are fair. Overall, 32% agree that legacy admissions could have helped their chances of getting into the college of their choice versus the 46% who say the practice may have hurt their chances.

Will colleges get rid of legacy admissions?

According to Education Reform Now, more than a hundred colleges and universities have ended legacy admissions since 2015.

Do schools still care about legacy?

Legacy preferences, which often favor the White and wealthy, often raise admission chances significantly at colleges that deny 80 percent or more of applicants. Some schools, though, are publicly rejecting the practice.

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 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.

What percent of Harvard is 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 Harvard prefer legacy students?

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.

Why is legacy so important?

A legacy gives you an opportunity to live for a purpose that's bigger than yourself. It allows you to change your family tree, not just for your children, but for generations to come! You can decide to use everything you have—wealth, resources, talent and relationships—to bless those around you.

Do aunts 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.

How much do colleges care about legacy?

Stats on legacy admissions

A study of thirty elite colleges, found that primary legacy students are an astonishing 45% more likely to get into a highly selective college or university than a non-legacy. Secondary legacies receive a lesser pick-me-up of 13%.

Is it easier to get into college as a legacy?

A study actually found that students are 45% more likely to get into a highly selective college if they're considered primary legacy. This includes universities like Harvard, whose recent incoming 2021 class had 29% of students qualify for legacy status.