Legacy acceptance rate at Brown

[Anonymous]

Hello from Fairfield Co (CT). 100% of the offspring and siblings of Brown students that I know have been admitted. Most, if not all, had a very strong chance of acceptance on their own merits (in the group of ~8 kids I'm talking about, there are two or three valedictorians).

About half the kids accepted the spot, half went elsewhere (Duke, Princeton, 2xDartmouth.)

[Anonymous]

Brown alum from a long time ago here.

Comparing Brown legacy admission rate to other Ivies is a bit misleading because Brown has a broader definition which includes siblings. At least one other Ivy does this, but most do not. Studies at Brown have shown that when multiple siblings attend Brown the rates of giving and donated amount and participation in alumni activities is higher than overall stats for alumni so Brown gives siblings legacy status. But that means that more applicants are in the legacy "bucket. "

The admissions consultation program was NOT in lieu of a legacy bump. They co-existed. The program was originally put in place when Brown had "early action" rather than "early decision" and Harvard, Yale and Princeton had early decision.

Brown and other private colleges granting legacy preference know that alums who donate at good but not developmental levels get angry when their kids or grandkids don't get in. They stop giving. They rewrite their wills to omit Brown as a beneficiary. Three Ivy alum magazines come to my household and most years; they each print a couple of angry letters from alums whose kids or grandchildren are rejected. They usually say something like "I have been secretary of my class for the last 20 years, I have donated every year since I graduated and in the last 5 years have given $5,000 a year, but my grandson who was president of his senior class at a top suburban high school and the yearbook editor with a 4.0 with 4 APs and a 1490 SAT was rejected! I will NEVER give the college another dime."

I used to wonder why the colleges print these letters, but I think it's a subtle way to let alums know that their kids and grandkids might be rejected too.
There's another top school that had the college consultation program and Brown copied it. The purpose of the program was I suspect to get alums like the letter writers above get used to the idea that admission to Brown for their kids and grandkids was unlikely and for Brown to help them find a good fit for them. The hope was that these alums would gradually come to terms with reality so that they would NOT stop giving. Apparently, it had worked at the other college.

The program was short lived.

[Anonymous]

Good for brown!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know the legacy acceptance rate at Brown? DH went there are our high school aged twins are interested in applying! Is it similar to other ivies?

Brown LOVES their legacies. Also celebrities.

No they don't. Their legacy is as low as Hopkins which has no legacy preference--8%. Harvard has a 34% legacy rate.

Anecdotally, we have two families with a Brown alum parent on our block and none of their kids (really good students) were accepted.

Correct. Brown's is statistically a non-advantage. It's 8% which is the same as 'non-legacy' schools.

On the other hand, look at these legacy numbers:

Vanderbilt 31%
Princeton legacy 31%
Georgetown legacy 12%
Harvard 34%
Yale 14%
Stanford 14%
Northwestern 10%

These legacy numbers are incorrect. Harvard is about 12 percent; Vanderbilt is about 14 percent.

Statistically, your odds are better if you're a first generation applicant. Legacy is a very minor boost at the top schools these days. It's helpful in a tie-breaker situation, but it doesn't move the dial like it did 30 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^I’d like to see some data on that. At least at my alma mater, I think the decision to do away with legacy consideration in admissions will further gut the middle class at the school. I do not agree with that path, and am reducing my donations accordingly. Pretty soon, I predict my school will be just like Princeton, a bunch of rich people and poor people studying together.

What makes you think that legacy benefits the middle class more than the rich? Or, why would more middle class students attend under a legacy policy than without?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP-- sorry it won't help. Harvard or Princeton, however, they'd be shoe-ins. Lots of disappointed Brown alum out there with rejected kids.

Hardly “shoe-in” at Harvard. Our friends’ son was a double legacy (both parents Harvard grads) at Harvard, 1600 SAT, top rigor, ranked 5th in a class of ~400, athlete, etc. Denied REA. Accepted and attended Brown regular decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting that people think they are entitled to hoard their privilege.

Do you feel the same way about racial preferences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brown alum from a long time ago here.

Comparing Brown legacy admission rate to other Ivies is a bit misleading because Brown has a broader definition which includes siblings. At least one other Ivy does this, but most do not. Studies at Brown have shown that when multiple siblings attend Brown the rates of giving and donated amount and participation in alumni activities is higher than overall stats for alumni so Brown gives siblings legacy status. But that means that more applicants are in the legacy "bucket. "

The admissions consultation program was NOT in lieu of a legacy bump. They co-existed. The program was originally put in place when Brown had "early action" rather than "early decision" and Harvard, Yale and Princeton had early decision.

Brown and other private colleges granting legacy preference know that alums who donate at good but not developmental levels get angry when their kids or grandkids don't get in. They stop giving. They rewrite their wills to omit Brown as a beneficiary. Three Ivy alum magazines come to my household and most years; they each print a couple of angry letters from alums whose kids or grandchildren are rejected. They usually say something like "I have been secretary of my class for the last 20 years, I have donated every year since I graduated and in the last 5 years have given $5,000 a year, but my grandson who was president of his senior class at a top suburban high school and the yearbook editor with a 4.0 with 4 APs and a 1490 SAT was rejected! I will NEVER give the college another dime."

I used to wonder why the colleges print these letters, but I think it's a subtle way to let alums know that their kids and grandkids might be rejected too.
There's another top school that had the college consultation program and Brown copied it. The purpose of the program was I suspect to get alums like the letter writers above get used to the idea that admission to Brown for their kids and grandkids was unlikely and for Brown to help them find a good fit for them. The hope was that these alums would gradually come to terms with reality so that they would NOT stop giving. Apparently, it had worked at the other college.

The program was short lived.

This is the problem with legacy preferences. It turns the alumni relationship transactional rather than emotional.
20 years ago, Brown could have admitted that grandkid with a 4.0 and 1490 SAT but now it can't. The most competitive schools have to get away from legacy admissions or just make the seats at their schools hereditary.

[Anonymous]

Race should not matter. Legacy should not matter.

Giving a leg up to economically disadvantaged kids who lacked opportunity but showed smarts, grit and promise? That’s cool. That bump I can live with. And no, it won’t help my kid.

[Anonymous]

The Brown legacies we know all went to Brown.

In all cases, these were strong students - but it sure helps to have that extra something to pull you out of the huge pile of equally strong students that Brown has to sadly turn away. And to also support that notion - we also know most of those Brown legacy kids applied early to a different Ivy in the early round and were deferred and not accepted later. So luckily Brown came through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown alum from a long time ago here.

Comparing Brown legacy admission rate to other Ivies is a bit misleading because Brown has a broader definition which includes siblings. At least one other Ivy does this, but most do not. Studies at Brown have shown that when multiple siblings attend Brown the rates of giving and donated amount and participation in alumni activities is higher than overall stats for alumni so Brown gives siblings legacy status. But that means that more applicants are in the legacy "bucket. "

The admissions consultation program was NOT in lieu of a legacy bump. They co-existed. The program was originally put in place when Brown had "early action" rather than "early decision" and Harvard, Yale and Princeton had early decision.

Brown and other private colleges granting legacy preference know that alums who donate at good but not developmental levels get angry when their kids or grandkids don't get in. They stop giving. They rewrite their wills to omit Brown as a beneficiary. Three Ivy alum magazines come to my household and most years; they each print a couple of angry letters from alums whose kids or grandchildren are rejected. They usually say something like "I have been secretary of my class for the last 20 years, I have donated every year since I graduated and in the last 5 years have given $5,000 a year, but my grandson who was president of his senior class at a top suburban high school and the yearbook editor with a 4.0 with 4 APs and a 1490 SAT was rejected! I will NEVER give the college another dime."

I used to wonder why the colleges print these letters, but I think it's a subtle way to let alums know that their kids and grandkids might be rejected too.
There's another top school that had the college consultation program and Brown copied it. The purpose of the program was I suspect to get alums like the letter writers above get used to the idea that admission to Brown for their kids and grandkids was unlikely and for Brown to help them find a good fit for them. The hope was that these alums would gradually come to terms with reality so that they would NOT stop giving. Apparently, it had worked at the other college.

The program was short lived.

This is the problem with legacy preferences. It turns the alumni relationship transactional rather than emotional.
20 years ago, Brown could have admitted that grandkid with a 4.0 and 1490 SAT but now it can't. The most competitive schools have to get away from legacy admissions or just make the seats at their schools hereditary.

This is an interesting point. By keeping seats limited at these institutions, it makes it harder to show love to alum and still allow seats for others in order to diversify the class in a variety of ways. So many seats are spoken for. Getting harder for these schools to both evolve the brand and not upset constituencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown alum from a long time ago here.

Comparing Brown legacy admission rate to other Ivies is a bit misleading because Brown has a broader definition which includes siblings. At least one other Ivy does this, but most do not. Studies at Brown have shown that when multiple siblings attend Brown the rates of giving and donated amount and participation in alumni activities is higher than overall stats for alumni so Brown gives siblings legacy status. But that means that more applicants are in the legacy "bucket. "

The admissions consultation program was NOT in lieu of a legacy bump. They co-existed. The program was originally put in place when Brown had "early action" rather than "early decision" and Harvard, Yale and Princeton had early decision.

Brown and other private colleges granting legacy preference know that alums who donate at good but not developmental levels get angry when their kids or grandkids don't get in. They stop giving. They rewrite their wills to omit Brown as a beneficiary. Three Ivy alum magazines come to my household and most years; they each print a couple of angry letters from alums whose kids or grandchildren are rejected. They usually say something like "I have been secretary of my class for the last 20 years, I have donated every year since I graduated and in the last 5 years have given $5,000 a year, but my grandson who was president of his senior class at a top suburban high school and the yearbook editor with a 4.0 with 4 APs and a 1490 SAT was rejected! I will NEVER give the college another dime."

I used to wonder why the colleges print these letters, but I think it's a subtle way to let alums know that their kids and grandkids might be rejected too.
There's another top school that had the college consultation program and Brown copied it. The purpose of the program was I suspect to get alums like the letter writers above get used to the idea that admission to Brown for their kids and grandkids was unlikely and for Brown to help them find a good fit for them. The hope was that these alums would gradually come to terms with reality so that they would NOT stop giving. Apparently, it had worked at the other college.

The program was short lived.

This is the problem with legacy preferences. It turns the alumni relationship transactional rather than emotional.
20 years ago, Brown could have admitted that grandkid with a 4.0 and 1490 SAT but now it can't. The most competitive schools have to get away from legacy admissions or just make the seats at their schools hereditary.

This is an interesting point. By keeping seats limited at these institutions, it makes it harder to show love to alum and still allow seats for others in order to diversify the class in a variety of ways. So many seats are spoken for. Getting harder for these schools to both evolve the brand and not upset constituencies.

MIT does not have this problem, they branded themselves as a bastion of merit and their alumni were cool with that and they raise as much money as any Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Legacy needs to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
MIT does not have this problem, they branded themselves as a bastion of merit and their alumni were cool with that and they raise as much money as any Ivy.

MIT is a very different type of university - very different graduates, very different department structure and needs (an engineering department will bring in lots of overhead $$ from funding etc.). What works for MIT won't necessarily work for Brown.
Something that is rarely mentioned in these discussions about abolishing legacies is that the donations $$ from alumni hoping for a legacy seat at a university to fund financial aid and other priorities, like first generation students. Seems like a win-win to me?

[Anonymous]

My DD got in regular to Brown and decided not to go. Admittedly, I would have stopped donating had she not gotten in. After she got in, I sent a check for $5,000 even though she chose another school.

I was a first gen and had a scholarship to attend Brown. I have donated many multiples of that. I have many friends who were full-pay and don't donate at all.