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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Lee Coffin, Dean of Admissions for Dartmouth, says on his podcast The Admissions Beat that legacy is not a thumb on the scale, but is a "feather on the scale."  So, basically, a tie breaker.  I believe it's a tiebreaker at Princeton also, because they have said previously that legacy only "mattered" to a small number of kids (I think they said maybe 33 or something like that, don't quote me).

My legacy kid got into an Ivy where we donate small amounts, but was rejected to a lower tier college (DH's alma mater) where we donated zero, so I do think (from a data point of 1) that giving something - even if small - for at least a few years does matter.

Finally, my legacy kid wanted to shoot for HYPMS and was rejected early, but still got into my legacy school RD, so I don't think it's essential that they apply early, but that's what we were told by many people.  I know someone who applied early to their parent's legacy school and got in early, but I think they sort of felt like they *had* to apply early there or would have "no chance" at it.[/quote]

Stanford, my alma mater, also calls it a feather on the scale. When there are so many highly qualified applicants vying for so few spots, however, I’m sure that feather can feel like a thumb.[/quote]

Hmm. [b]The last four admits I know to Stanford were all legacies.[/b] But that is just my personal experience, of course. [/quote]

That’s why I said it feels like a thumb. It is quite an advantage.[/quote]

You are choosing to inflate the importance of legacy, even with AO's and alumni saying it really isn't that much of an advantage. 
None of the Ivy legacies at my kid's school got in last year, FWIW, but you will probably discount that data point. 
It's just not the "thing" people think it is. [/quote]

+1 It just makes people feel better about their own kid's rejection to blame it on the legacies[/quote]

I’m the Stanford grad poster above whose legacy kid got in REA, so I don’t see how you could possibly make this argument. [/quote]

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