Reply to Where are the top unhooked kids at your Big3 going this year (not legacy, URM or sports recruit).

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When people talk in threads like these about a kid being "hooked" because a parent went to a certain school, is simply being a legacy that much of a leg up in admissions? My wife and I went to 2 different Ivy League schools. Does that mean our kids are going to have a much easier time getting into those schools than their peers solely because we went there 20 years ago? We barely donate and are otherwise inactive alums. When I was an undergrad, I was a first generation college student and anecdotally heard that my school gave the same amount of extra points to kids who were first generation as those who are legacies. I thought that in the time since we graduated, legacy status meant less and less as time went on and schools turned to other characteristics to give kids a boost. But these threads seem to make it appear that schools are a slam dunk for legacy kids so long as they are competitive otherwise. Anyone have any context for how much legacy status actually matters at Ivies these days? Is it a lock? Merely a tie-breaker? Something akin to athletic recruit status or 1st generation or URM bonus points? [/quote]

[b]My experience at a top DC independent school is that in a class of 100 kids, there are easily 10-20 kids with legacy status (between both parents) at each Ivy[/b].  There are a LOT of Ivy grads walking around DC.
Then maybe 1/10 of these kids will get into the Ivy.   So while a legacy kid may get into Yale from Sidwell, there are 9 other Yale legacies from Sidwell who applied and didn't get in.
There is no way that Yale is taking 10 kids from Sidwell.  Plus there are the athletic recruits, URMs, non-legacy kids who are superstars in their own right, etc who are also taking spots.  
Make sense?

The legacy bump is stronger at other high schools or other parts of the country where kids aren't competing against 10 other legacies in their class.  [/quote]

considering there are 8 schools in question, you're essentially saying that easily over 50% of the class is some Ivy legacy? That's so far off the mark.[/quote]

When you count both parents it's very much the case at in my kids' classes at NCS and STA.  Especially STA. 
I'm not as familiar with Sidwell or GDS. [/quote]

Maybe not 50% but probably at least a third especially if you count grad school. If you count grad school I definitely would say a third.[/quote]

Just as a refresher the original claim is that each of the 8 schools has 10-20% of the class as a legacy. Not 10-20% legacy at all 8 schools as a whole but 10-20% legacy at each of the individual schools 
[/quote]

Well that claim seems ludicrous, because it means that up to 160% of parents graduated from an Ivy league school.[/quote]

even the 1/3 number after taking into account grad school seems ambitious. maybe as a high water mark, but on a consistent basis year in and year out?

yes there are plenty of graduates in the DC area, but we're talking about only 8 schools.  I get the narrative is that everyone is a legacy and that's so damaging to college admissions but it seems highly improbable that say 5-7 privates schools in DC have this kind of representation every year.[/quote]

Well, argue all you want but if you are a parent of a kid at STA and you have been in this community for 14 years ( since Pre-K @ BVR) then, yes, you know your fellow parents quite well and a vast majority have become friends over the past Decade +

People are understated and don't brag about where they went to college or law school partly because EVERYONE who has reached a certain level of success in Washington has followed the same trajectory: Harvard or Yale law, followed by clerkship at SCOTUS... or Stanford followed by Silicon Valley start up followed by.... or son of a US Senator followed by STA then Yale , then Harvard Law then children to STA/NCS while you are VP...

Just from talking to my fellow parents on the sidelines of soccer practice in Pre-K , most went to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, met in Law school and settled in DC because their Dad or their Mom helped them get a top job in Gov following law school - like clerking at SCOTUS[/quote]

These people leave a larger than life impression on you. But I've been at a Big-3 for over a decade as a parent with three children, and there are many, many families whose parents did not go to Ivy-league schools or even have graduate degrees. They are still by-and-large very wealthy with parental help and trust funds, but you are exaggerating when you claim that "most" went to HYP. The percentage is high, especially relative to the larger population, but in reality closer to the 10-20% that PP mentioned. [/quote]

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