Development cases? What percentage? I bet single digits. Legacy admits constitute a crazy amount -- 30% at Harvard as of 2011 (not sure it remained the same for more recent admissions cycles).
How could being a legacy hurt?
Most legacies get in because they have the grades, test scores, and accomplishments to independently achieve admission on their own merit, like the previous poster who provided their child's impressive stats. I have heard that, in some cases, it is actually more difficult for an independently accomplished and qualified legacy of one top-25 school to be admitted to another top-25 school, because the other school(s) (who want healthy yield stats) work under the assumption that the legacy will likely prefer the parent's alma mater over them.
I know, personally, one family legacy of the Ivies (three past family members went) who kid met all the criteria to get in, but he refused to pay the 150K donation (read extortion) to the legacy fund, so she went somewhere else.
I've never heard of a $150K "legacy fund," and I know several Harvard legacy kids, including in my own family. Sure, it's true that even Harvard, heck any college, looks more favorably on legacies where the family shows some kind of commitment to the school, like annual donations of a few hundred dollars or doing alumn interviews of applicants.
Anonymous wrote:I bet if Harvard just one year admitted an entire class of normal students - A/B students with an occasional C, students that worked at the Dairy Queen,played a sport or belonged to a club or two, those students could thrive at a place like Harvard.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Development cases? What percentage? I bet single digits. Legacy admits constitute a crazy amount -- 30% at Harvard as of 2011 (not sure it remained the same for more recent admissions cycles).
How could being a legacy hurt?
Most legacies get in because they have the grades, test scores, and accomplishments to independently achieve admission on their own merit, like the previous poster who provided their child's impressive stats. I have heard that, in some cases, it is actually more difficult for an independently accomplished and qualified legacy of one top-25 school to be admitted to another top-25 school, because the other school(s) (who want healthy yield stats) work under the assumption that the legacy will likely prefer the parent's alma mater over them.
I know, personally, one family legacy of the Ivies (three past family members went) who kid met all the criteria to get in, but he refused to pay the 150K donation (read extortion) to the legacy fund, so she went somewhere else.