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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am white, from a privileged background, and have parents and grandparents who went to Ivy league schools, Stanford, and other top universities.  I don't think legacy status should be considered at all.  I mean come on; the truth is the practice does give a leg up to those who are already privileged - aka resource hoarding.  It says little to nothing about the applicant themselves.  There is just no way to defeat that argument.  It is a bs reason to let a kid into a school over another equally qualified applicant (as that is really how its most frequently used).  It should not be considered a hook in any way.

I have one question though that I have never been able to find a solution to - how do you encourage alum to donate if it won't help their kid get in?  It is the number one reason people donate long term.  How do you replace the private scholarships funded for basically the same reason?  How do you replace all that money that the school depends on?  When most don't have enough to give to have a building named for them, and there is no longer any legacy status bestowed on their kids, how do you get donations from the ordinary graduates?[/quote]

Schools that got rid of legacy have not had a measurable effect on donations. They are still getting plenty of donations.
Most people give money because they ultimately believe in the school’s mission and values - that is what the big donations are generally about [/quote]
+1 Not only that, but they could lower the cost and so they don't need to provide that much aide.

Oxbridge is half the cost of Harvard, but it's still an elite college. And they don't look at legacies.

We have a friend in the UK whose kid went to Oxbridge.  We were talking to them about how college works here, the cost, the legacy hooks, etc.. and they were just floored.  [/quote]

The US college system of today is beyond absurd. We are encouraging our kids to study abroad.[/quote]

Too many people, too many students, and not enough spaces.  The US is becoming overcrowded - FAST.[/quote]

There are tons of spaces. Most colleges out there are dying for students. The problem is that everyone want sot go to the same few places. [/quote]
+1000

Step outside the T20-25 and it is much easier to get accepted.  These are still excellent universities---majority of people attend schools ranked below T20 and many do well in life. Change your attitude and you can succeed at a great school[/quote]

If you think crazy admissions are limited to T25, you haven't been paying attention for the last few years [/quote]

Oh, I've been living it thank you.

However, if you choose well, you can find amazing schools for your kids even outside the T50.  My own high stat kid (1500/3.99UW, 10 AP with 5's on all, EC with 20+ hours per week dedication along with several other ECs), didn't get into T20, but they got into one in 30s, 2 in 40s, and one in the 60s (their safety).  How did we do this?  We showed interest (but didn't visit until summer before and for one didn't visit until April senior year), and continued to show interest. We scheduled interviews at schools that offered them---learned what it takes to show demonstrated interest so my kid was not "yield protected".  We had a wide range of schools selected, including safeties that my kid loved.  My kid seriously considered their top safety up until mid April---because it was an amazing school.

Had we needed merit, we would have applied to schools that would have offered it---it would have meant dropping a tier but that would be fine, much better than being in debt.  As it is my kid got 60% tuition at a T45 school, making it $40-45K/year cost.  So decent merit at a good school and 30% tuition at their safety.  Had we needed 100% tuition, there were schools we could have found that (likely ranked 80+ or beyond, but these schools exist).

Basically, we got rid of the "t20 or bust" mentality and actively searched for the best fit for our kid.  Did the ED at a T20, got deferred, made our kid "get over it" 48 hours later and consider it a rejection and focus on the rest of process. Found a great safety school, that was so good my own kid seriously considered turning down 3 higher ranked schools and attend the safety.

Yes, it's competitive, but if you choose wisely you will have amazing choices for your kid.  Sure my kid isn't at a T20 school, but they will do amazing things because they aren't at college complaining they didn't get into a T20/elite school.  Instead they are focused on life, learning and getting all they can out of their best fit school.  They will go far in life because of what they do.  [/quote]

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