Reply to Big College Admissions Year at St. Albans

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
But if you are a legacy who is in the top 1-2% of your class at a great school, have all 5s on your APs, and are a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist, and if non-legacy kids who have that profile also get in to the Ivies, and if you get into great schools at which you are not a legacy as well as the school at which you are a legacy, it's fair to conclude that the legacy status may not have been the determinative factor.

I get that legacy status is important -- the research is indisputable -- but at the same time, it's also reasonable to conclude that (a) you can't assume for any single student that legacy status was determinative if they have the objective qualifications of other successful non-legacy admits; and (b) the legacy pool appears to be, on the average, quite strong academically (we all know smart folks that married other smart folks and have academically gifted kids).

All I'm trying to say is that at the individual level, not the aggregate level, when we're talking the independent schools in this area, the "legacy" applicant might be one of the 4-5 students with the strongest objective academic credentials in the class.  My point is emphasizing this is both to not devalue a nice accomplishment from a hard-working high achieving kid, but also to not have people think that the legacy status is a golden ticket, at least in this very competitive area.  (Now sports. . . That's kind of a golden ticket!  :wink:)[/quote]

You are assuming that legacy admits are somehow "lesser" than the non-legacy admits which for the Ivies simply isn't true.  Legacy admits in general are on par with the general admits which looking at their background, parent went to ivy, should be expected.  It's simply a matter of numbers:  the legacies admit rates are 1 in 3 while non legacies are 1 in 10. Huge difference.  Lots of equally qualified students are rejected so generally, the legacy status is probably what got you in.  This does not take away from their achievements.  Legacies also tend to do very well while in college.[/quote]

Yes, I understand your point.  I am still trying to say that, having seen "legacy" admits who get into their Ivy legacy school and then Stanford and a bunch of other Ivies, I actually don't think your conclusion of "probably what got you in" is fully justified -- it seems a bit overstated.  The 10% vs. 33% acceptance rate is obviously highly significant, but  to have a better sense at a macro level on the "just numbers" approach, wouldn't we need to see the profile of the legacy applicant pool vs. the non-legacy applicant pool?

Anyway, my bottom line point is aimed at those who do seem to suggest that those who got in early but have legacy status are lesser.  [/quote]

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