What is a Legacy?
In the college admissions world, the word “legacy” gets thrown around a lot, and you may have heard that one kid at your school talking about how he’ll be going to Harvard because he’s a legacy - as if being a legacy gives you a secret password for admissions at a top school!
Spoiler alert: legacy status is not a golden ticket for admission at any school. That said, the concept of “legacy” can mean very different things to different institutions, and admissions committees handle legacy applicants in different ways.
In general, know that the vast majority of schools will not consider applicants to be legacies if their connections are through extended family members (aunts and uncles, cousins, so forth). Most schools do not even extend legacy preference for siblings! While every school will consider an applicant to be a legacy if their mother or father received an undergraduate degree, that legacy status does not always mean that the student will receive any kind of preferential treatment in the admissions process.
Want to know where you can get more legacy bang for your buck? Keep reading to learn more about the various types of policies that exist and examples of schools in each category.
1. Schools that only consider “primary legacy status”
These schools limit legacy preference to only those applicants with parents who graduated from the institution. It’s also important to note that elite schools will also grant more weight to a parent who attended the undergraduate school, rather than a graduate program. And the more involved a parent has been since graduation, the more likely it is for their legacy status to help out their child as an applicant.
Schools that use this definition include:
UVA - “A legacy student is defined by the Office of Admission as a child of a degree-holder. Step-children are also considered legacy applicants if they reside with a step-parent who has earned a UVA diploma.”
Stanford - “At Stanford, “legacy” applicants are defined as the children of Stanford graduates at either the undergraduate or graduate level.”
UNC (only for out-of state applicants) - “For non-resident children of alumni (those whose mother, father, step-father, or step-mother attended Carolina), family ties to the University may be used in our final admission decision. Please note that legacy status cannot be derived from siblings, grandparents, or other extended family. There is no formal preference for resident applicants who are children or step-children of alumni.”
Columbia - “Applicants are considered to be "legacies" of Columbia only if they are the children of Columbia College or Columbia Engineering graduates.”
2. Schools that consider children and grandchildren to be full legacies
A number of schools consider applicants to be legacies if their parents or grandparents are alumni. Make sure that you think about where your grandparents went to school, and look into whether any of the schools to which you are applying use this definition. Penn, for instance, admits around one-third of legacy applicants - more than double the overall admissions rate!
Schools that use this definition include:
Cornell - A legacy applicant is “a student whose parents or grandparents — or great-, or great-great, etc. — hold a degree from Cornell University.”
Duke - Legacy applicants are “the children and grandchildren of alumni."
Penn - “Legacy applicants are defined as those whose parents or grandparents graduated from any affiliated school or graduate program.”
3. Schools that extend legacy consideration to siblings of current students and alumni
Do you have an older sibling applying to college anytime soon? Pay attention to this category, because some schools sweep siblings into the definition of legacies, right along with grandparents and parents. Yes - that mean’s that your brother or sister’s college choice could give you a real leg up in the process when it comes to your own chances!
Schools that use this definition include:
Emory - “In the admission-review process, “legacy” status is for applicants whose immediate relatives have graduated or are currently enrolled in an academic division of Emory University. This includes grandparents, parents, and siblings.”
Northwestern - A legacy applicant “has a sibling, parent, or grandparent that graduated from Northwestern.”
Georgia Tech - “We define legacy as having a parent, sibling or grandparent who attended Tech.”
University of Southern California - “Those applicants with a parent, grandparent, or sibling who graduated from USC (or is currently enrolled) are considered a legacy for admission purposes.”
4. Schools where legacy matters a lot
At certain schools, legacy status can make an enormous difference in your chances of admission, because of the very strong preference extended to these legacy applicants. Georgetown, for example, had a 30% admit rate for legacy students in the class of 2021 - significantly higher than the 15% overall admit rate. It’s important to note that for schools without early decision programs, legacy status can be seen as an indication of demonstrated interest - legacy students typically already have stronger emotional ties to a school, and so colleges may admit more legacies in order to increase yield overall. There is also a higher likelihood of alumni giving down the line when it comes to a candidate with a well-established family ties.
Schools that show substantial legacy preference include:
Baylor- 32% of the freshman class
Notre Dame - 22% of the freshman class
Georgetown - 10% of the freshman class
5. Schools where legacy does not matter at all
At the opposite end of the spectrum, some schools do not consider legacy status at all when it comes to admissions. At certain schools, your legacy status (or lack thereof) won’t make one bit of a difference when it comes to the manner in which your application is reviewed.
Schools that do not extend preferential treatment to legacy applicants include:
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Caltech
Texas A&M
University of California system institutions (UCLA, UC Berkeley, etc)
University of Georgia
6. Schools where legacy only matters if you apply early
We have always been fans of applying early decision for the strategic advantage that it gives an applicant, but for legacy applicants, this may be even more important. Some schools only consider legacy status for early round applicants. This is just one example where legacy status in and of itself will not help a student who doesn’t take advantage of other strategic choices in the admissions process. And if you are not in the middle 50% for test scores and GPA for a college, legacy status is unlikely to give you a huge boost. But that combination of legacy + ED can seal the deal for an otherwise-qualified applicant.
While many schools operate this way behind the scenes and only provide maximum legacy consideration in the early round, those who come right out and state this policy include:
Penn
Cornell
If my daughter was applying to college today and was dead set on an Ivy League school, I’d encourage her to think about ED’ing to Cornell - because of their legacy policies, she could leverage her great-grandfather’s degree with their legacy ED preference for a much better shot!
7. Schools that have expanded legacy status in the interest of social justice
Georgetown most notably expanded legacy status to include the descendants of enslaved people who were sold by the Jesuits who founded the school. It is not the only school who has made a similar move to make the legacy factor in college admissions more equal across race and socioeconomic status, and we may see continued shifts like this change the definition of “legacy” further as more schools reckon with systemic issues.