Legacy Admissions to Independent Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does being the child of an alum still help you get into an independent school in the area?
Or have DC schools begun to stop this practice like some universities have?

Still gets you in. And no universities have really stopped this process. Why donate if it doesn’t at least give you this advantage? To allow some stranger’s kid to benefit? Get real.

California just banned it for both lrivate and public universities

They should have no say over how private schools admit their students.

They have no say over private universities who don’t take cal grants. So far none, have turned down the grants to keep the legacies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a "big 3" alum and it is shocking how many of the kids were legacies. I knew it'd be high but it's almost 25%!! The other 50% seem to be siblings of older students. It's tough out there to get in without a hook.

And then you throw in faculty kids, VIP, DEI admits....there's only a handful of spots left for everyone else.

... DEI? Really? None of these schools are swimming in diversity.

While that may be true, but the DEI admits do contribute to the overall group that has advantage in the admissions process including legacies, siblings, VIP kids, faculty kids, athletes in certain sports and graduates of “feeder” schools.

Those without any of these advantages want a completely level playing field.

The school, however, has constituencies it has to satisfy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a "big 3" alum and it is shocking how many of the kids were legacies. I knew it'd be high but it's almost 25%!! The other 50% seem to be siblings of older students. It's tough out there to get in without a hook.

And then you throw in faculty kids, VIP, DEI admits....there's only a handful of spots left for everyone else.

And the Admissions Department or person will not admit to this. Their efforts are, in part, are evaluated based on the number of applications the school receives. They have absolutely no interest in discouraging anyone from applying.

[Anonymous]

I think sibling preference is a bigger hook at most private schools. The ones my kids attend still reject legacies/siblings who can’t meet the academic standards, occasionally causes some drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think sibling preference is a bigger hook at most private schools. The ones my kids attend still reject legacies/siblings who can’t meet the academic standards, occasionally causes some drama.

If you are going to have a preference, sibling preference makes sense for elementary/middle school, and even high school. It allows families to keep their kids together at the same school, which I can understand being something a school (and their student families) value. It does lead to a bunch of strategies that families employ to take advantage of this preference, but so be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sibling preference is a bigger hook at most private schools. The ones my kids attend still reject legacies/siblings who can’t meet the academic standards, occasionally causes some drama.

If you are going to have a preference, sibling preference makes sense for elementary/middle school, and even high school. It allows families to keep their kids together at the same school, which I can understand being something a school (and their student families) value. It does lead to a bunch of strategies that families employ to take advantage of this preference, but so be it.

What strategies ae you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sibling preference is a bigger hook at most private schools. The ones my kids attend still reject legacies/siblings who can’t meet the academic standards, occasionally causes some drama.

If you are going to have a preference, sibling preference makes sense for elementary/middle school, and even high school. It allows families to keep their kids together at the same school, which I can understand being something a school (and their student families) value. It does lead to a bunch of strategies that families employ to take advantage of this preference, but so be it.

What strategies ae you talking about?

The only thing I can think of is to enroll the strongest candidate in the school and hope that they can get the weaker one in based on sibling preference. Sounds wild, I know. But, DC probably has people who might do this.

This strategy is high risk and depends on the second child, the school, the performance of the first child and the school’s experience with the parents.

Sibling preference is certainly not an automatic pass to acceptance. It usually works, but if the second child has academic, social or other problems, the school will bite the bullet and reject them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does being the child of an alum still help you get into an independent school in the area?
Or have DC schools begun to stop this practice like some universities have?

Still gets you in. And no universities have really stopped this process. Why donate if it doesn’t at least give you this advantage? To allow some stranger’s kid to benefit? Get real.

Plenty of universities have stopped including the UC system, Wesleyan, Carleton, etc.

Exactly! Many universities ended it, including highly desirable ones : VA Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Hopkins etc.

That isa step in the right direction toward meritocracy.

[Anonymous]

Yes, they admit legacy kids, and, no, it isn't quite like Universities. Schools are communities. Just like you might have three generations of a family attending the public school in the town where they live, you might also have three generations attending the local parochial school where they are parishioners, or the local private school where they have been active members of the school community, helping to keep the school afloat for generations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does being the child of an alum still help you get into an independent school in the area?
Or have DC schools begun to stop this practice like some universities have?

Still gets you in. And no universities have really stopped this process. Why donate if it doesn’t at least give you this advantage? To allow some stranger’s kid to benefit? Get real.

Plenty of universities have stopped including the UC system, Wesleyan, Carleton, etc.

Exactly! Many universities ended it, including highly desirable ones : VA Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Hopkins etc.

That isa step in the right direction toward meritocracy.

No, it's not about meritocracy. That suggests schools regularly fail to get a full pool of qualified applicants, which is clearly not true. The question is, how should they choose out of the giant pile of qualified applicants? They all have "merit."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does being the child of an alum still help you get into an independent school in the area?
Or have DC schools begun to stop this practice like some universities have?

Depending on the school, it can help a lot or a just somewhat. Our private seems to admit every legacy kid - for better or worse.