Anonymous
03/11/2026 10:40
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:It matters for twins so I think it’s only fair that when an older sibling is currently enrolled it matters for sibs too (if they have the similar high stats).
+1
*with the caveat that they have the same/or very close to the same stats
Anonymous
03/11/2026 10:17
Subject: Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Johns Hopkins explicitly states that they do not care.
They don't take into account legacy of any kind. In fact, they are so outspoken about this, they almost seem hostile to legacies: "the quality of our students has gone way up since we stopped admitting legacies"----to paraphrase their AD.
Why were they admitting unqualified legacies to begin with? That makes no sense and kind of dumb of them to insult their own graduates and their families.
Yep. Pretty tone deaf.
Anonymous
03/11/2026 10:07
Subject: Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Johns Hopkins explicitly states that they do not care.
They don't take into account legacy of any kind. In fact, they are so outspoken about this, they almost seem hostile to legacies: "the quality of our students has gone way up since we stopped admitting legacies"----to paraphrase their AD.
Why were they admitting unqualified legacies to begin with? That makes no sense and kind of dumb of them to insult their own graduates and their families.
Anonymous
03/11/2026 09:23
Subject: Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Johns Hopkins explicitly states that they do not care.
They don't take into account legacy of any kind. In fact, they are so outspoken about this, they almost seem hostile to legacies: "the quality of our students has gone way up since we stopped admitting legacies"----to paraphrase their AD.
Anonymous
03/11/2026 09:16
Subject: Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Johns Hopkins explicitly states that they do not care.
Anonymous
03/10/2026 21:46
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:ND does not seem to care, 4 nieces and nephews in short succession and 5th who had stats did not get in. I was very surprised…full-pay, successful kids. Parents very disgruntled now on school.
ND's competitiveness has been ramping up rapidly -- big difference even over 2-4 years.
They have some of the most generous (need blind) aid for internationals there is. So there are MANY who apply. Hundreds on Reddit.
Anonymous
03/10/2026 21:37
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:ND does not seem to care, 4 nieces and nephews in short succession and 5th who had stats did not get in. I was very surprised…full-pay, successful kids. Parents very disgruntled now on school.
ND's competitiveness has been ramping up rapidly -- big difference even over 2-4 years.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 17:35
Subject: Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Notre Dame has taken a dislike to overly rah rah applications. Heard the same from a rep who came to our high school.. You're there to get an education. My legacy kid got in without ever mentioning legacy (although it was obviously included in where I went to college) and leaning way into the academic stuff. FWIW.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 17:06
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:ND does not seem to care, 4 nieces and nephews in short succession and 5th who had stats did not get in. I was very surprised…full-pay, successful kids. Parents very disgruntled now on school.
you can't be too "rah rah football". they want kids who are there for academics primarily. we had a counselor that told my kid to rewrite the why ND essay bcs of this. Catholic service stuff is good too. But don't include: I've been tailgating since I was in diapers, a poster of xyz player was on my wall at age 6, or my granddad was buried in his ND quarter zip. They want you to talk about the course offerings in mid eastern history and the seminar with xyz professor looking at the history of whatever whatever
They are as Catholic as it gets and while I’ve never asked, I think it’s safe to assume they had siblings read essays.
NP why would the siblings know?
this is a common thing, right? people assume since x got into Yale, x knows what Yale wants.
I was responding to the poster talking about not coming off rah rah sports and not Catholic enough. With 4 siblings that are active alums, I’m sure they’d have some insight if there was a red flag in essays. You’re free to disagree.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 16:56
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Harvard and Cornell care too, I believe. Anecdotally, the older siblings from our private who matriculated to Harvard and Cornell were very strong students and competitive for admission, whereas their siblings were weaker in comparison, likely to be denied/deferred without sibling legacy, but were still admitted.
Only Harvard siblings I know were legacies or development cases.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 16:26
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Some schools directly ask in the app.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 16:23
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
It matters for twins so I think it’s only fair that when an older sibling is currently enrolled it matters for sibs too (if they have the similar high stats).
Anonymous
03/09/2026 15:31
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:ND does not seem to care, 4 nieces and nephews in short succession and 5th who had stats did not get in. I was very surprised…full-pay, successful kids. Parents very disgruntled now on school.
you can't be too "rah rah football". they want kids who are there for academics primarily. we had a counselor that told my kid to rewrite the why ND essay bcs of this. Catholic service stuff is good too. But don't include: I've been tailgating since I was in diapers, a poster of xyz player was on my wall at age 6, or my granddad was buried in his ND quarter zip. They want you to talk about the course offerings in mid eastern history and the seminar with xyz professor looking at the history of whatever whatever
They are as Catholic as it gets and while I’ve never asked, I think it’s safe to assume they had siblings read essays.
NP why would the siblings know?
this is a common thing, right? people assume since x got into Yale, x knows what Yale wants.
Anonymous
03/09/2026 15:14
Subject: Re:Do top20 schools care if a sibling currently attends?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:ND does not seem to care, 4 nieces and nephews in short succession and 5th who had stats did not get in. I was very surprised…full-pay, successful kids. Parents very disgruntled now on school.
you can't be too "rah rah football". they want kids who are there for academics primarily. we had a counselor that told my kid to rewrite the why ND essay bcs of this. Catholic service stuff is good too. But don't include: I've been tailgating since I was in diapers, a poster of xyz player was on my wall at age 6, or my granddad was buried in his ND quarter zip. They want you to talk about the course offerings in mid eastern history and the seminar with xyz professor looking at the history of whatever whatever
They are as Catholic as it gets and while I’ve never asked, I think it’s safe to assume they had siblings read essays.