Anonymous wrote:The fact that Harvard has a high share of legacies attending only tells you so much
Those kids are probably more likely to attend if admitted and their parents are probably better able to play the college admissions game to make their kids top candidates.
It is not as much of a boost as being a recruited athlete.
Being a recruited athlete is a HUGE advantage across the range of colleges. My kid is a longtime member of a DMV dive club that sends almost all of its seniors on to dive in college - most of them at the D1 level, including Ivies, Duke, UVA, etc. Many of these kids have the process wrapped up by the beginning of their junior year, when they announce on their social media that they have “committed” to XYZ University. Which really means that they have a verbal agreement with the coach to apply to the school
the following year, ED or EA. This so-called commitment is entered into after there has been vetting for academics, and it is always conditional (on maintaining certain academic and athletic levels of performance). That said, in the many years I’ve been observing this recruiting process for a fairly obscure, under-the-radar sport, those early-junior-year commitments almost always turn into actual admission offers senior year.