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"Prestigious" private schools and college placement of NON-LEGACY students
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Anonymous
| We all seem obsessed with exmissions from the so-called Big Three schools and other highly reputed (and highly expensive) private schools in the DC area. However, little discussion has occurred about college placement results for non-legacies and, more generally, unconnected students graduating from such schools. Could anyone provide data (either by direct experience or through reliable sources) about the real situation? Does anyone feel that such students do have equally good prospects of being admitted to prestigious colleges or does the college-placement reputation of those schools actually depend mainly on the links that individual students' families already have with particular colleges? |
Anonymous
Being a legacy does not carry the same punch it once did. It might almost, almost but not quite, be a hindrance unless DC is very close to gaining admission on his/her own merits, or you have consistently been giving substantial amounts of money. |
Anonymous
| Can you point to any hard evidence? Thanks. |
Anonymous
The analysis would be meaningless unless you did the same for public school graduates. Now you've got me thinking someone must have already done this (regression analysis on determinants of college placement, to see if private gets you more than public, controlling for legacy). If I find it I'll post. |
Anonymous
| Actually I was just referring to your statement about the diminishing value of legacy status. At Harvard this year, about 40% of legacy applicants were accepted, compared to I believe 7% of non-legacies. This obviously doesn't control for applicant quality, but I believe that back in the 1980s about 50% of legacies were accepted, compared to about 10% for non-legacies. So I'm not sure the decline in impact is as significant as you suggest (the "almost might be a hindrance" part). |
Anonymous
| My undergraduate alma mater (always in the top 3 in USNWR) clearly states that legacies are given a slight advantage in the admissions process - given two equally qualified individuals the legacy will be accepted. |
Anonymous
| So can we infer that it's easier to get into these "elite" schools if the parents graduated from Harvard, Yale or Princeton? Seems like they'd like to have that legacy advantage to improve their own college acceptance rates. |
Anonymous
| Honestly, I think when parents become too invested in the college admission process -- particularly in getting their kids into top schools -- it can do great harm to the kids. I've seen it when i was in school, as a parent, and I've heard it from teachers as well. Even with top scores/grades/whatever its a crap shoot and putting that kind of pressure on a kid is so necessary given how many terrific colleges there are in this country. |
Anonymous
Yes, you can infer that. It is fairly common knowledge that top tier privates look at the legacy status of applicants as part of the admissions process. |
Anonymous
So can we also infer that the supposedly stellar college placement of top private high schools depends on the legacy status of their graduates more than on the academic preparation that the schools' actually provide and also more than on the schools' counseling and connections? Which also means that non-legacy students in top private high schools do not necessarily get the same successful college placement? I think these are the questions that the original post asked. |
Anonymous
You can infer that the admissions to the Ivies and other top colleges and universities reported by the Top Tier privates are likely to be heavily weighted with legacy applicants. However, college admissions are so competitive these days that the students admitted will also likely be prepared very well academically regardless of what schools they went to for high school. I have wondered about your final inference and believe it is possibly the case that for an unconnected applicant it might be better to be applying to an Ivy or other such institution from a public high school rather than competing against the larger number of legacies within a private school. But I don't know. If one's primary educational concern for one's child is ultimate college placement, then it is an important question. That is not my primary focus, so I do not dwell on it. Talk to me again in about 12 years and I might have a different story, however 
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Anonymous
| Legacies will always get a slight advantage at private institutions. How else will the school ensure that the family contributions stay in one place, which reminds me, I need to write that check to Harvard. |
Anonymous
|
You helicopter parents are pathetic.
If a kid is good enough to get into Harvard, but is bypassed because of legacy, then so what. Your child will do well whereever he goes. Stop worrying, tell the kid to use his own head. Then go and get drunk. You've raised a good kid and now it's your turn to look after yourself and rest. |
Anonymous
| New poster to this thread here with a serious question: just how much does one need to contribute to attain "serious donor" status? Anyone know? One lump sum? Sustained donations over time? My DH and I started donating yearly to our alma maters years ago before we had kids and this thread has me wondering whether that will help us in the long run... |
Anonymous
|
Help you in the long run to do what?
Get in yourself or get your kid in? Not enough to want your kid in. Your kid will have to want to get in. |