Legacy Redux

Loki5 · 04-11-2008, 01:52 PM

For those who have asked whether legacy makes a difference---let me share our C's experience. C has great solid credentials, great high school, 3.9 un weighted, 90th percentile SAT, great recs, outstanding ECs (student government 4 years, great community service, 12 varsity letters in three sports, music supplement (she is an accomplished pianist), arts supplement (she does AP Art and is very talented, etc.) Major weakness in her appl was SAT II, which weren't awful, but weren't through the roof. She was in the running to be a recruited athlete---she has an AI that is high, but not through the roof, but narrowly "missed the cut" for a recruiting spot. She did have a letter of support from the coach, however. A great all-around kid, and nice to boot. (I am, of course, a bit biased.)

We are not development cases, but her legacy parent has given many, many, many hours of volunteer service to Princeton University, has served on millions of committees, has interviewed students for nearly 30 years.

Our c was waitlisted at Princeton, but was accepted to Williams, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, UVA, Tufts, Vassar, Davidson, and Harvard. In all these options, athletics certainly played a role, but not a conclusive one.

C plans to attend Harvard.

08seniors08 · 04-11-2008, 03:17 PM

that's crazy... getting into Harvard and wait-listed at princeton with a legacy?? no sense at all.

LaxFan987 · 04-11-2008, 05:09 PM

I had a 3.85 at a top private school and 2230 SAT. I am a legacy student and was waitlisted this year. What sucks most is that I planned my entire college process around Princeton. Had I known that I was going to be waitlisted at Pton, I would have applied early to Dartmouth. I'm not saying that I would have gotten in, but I would have had a better chance. Ending early decision kind of screwed me.

Loki5 · 04-11-2008, 09:40 PM

In my view, one of the hidden agendas behind eliminating early admission is to cut back on legacy admissions. This should be a wake-up call for the army of volunteers supporting Pton.

ceebee63 · 04-12-2008, 11:31 AM

I am a legacy, have a 3.7/3.8ish GPA, am NOT in the top quartile of my class, and was accepted. My parents do not donate much more than 100 dollars a year. The other legacy from my school was also accepted. At Preview Days, there seemed to be a lot of legacies too. I really don't think there is a secret agenda. I am sad for LaxFan and Loki's son or daughter, but honestly, not every qualified legacy applicant can get in. Lots of qualified non-legacy applicants get rejected or waitlisted too. Maybe I and the other legacy admits this year just somehow "fit" into the class better (you know that whole thing about having well-rounded classes...).

08seniors08 · 04-12-2008, 12:42 PM

lol then ceebee, you probably had something incredibly impressive on your application, esp. since you weren't in top 25%...
that or you have something else huge going for you

Loki5 · 04-12-2008, 04:08 PM

Congrats ceebee to you and your classmate. It will be interesting to see the statistics this year. I still think I am right on this one.....

ceebee63 · 04-13-2008, 10:39 PM

The percentage of legacy admits is usually 35%. I sort of doubt that it will go down this year, but who knows, you might be right!

Oh well, what's nice about legacy kids is that since their parents are well-educated, they most certainly will be too. I know it sounds really annoying to say this, but there are SO many students who don't have Princeton-educated parents, and SO many high school students who don't go to college at all. You have already given your children a fabulous gift, and I'm sure they will succeed ANYWHERE they go.

momofnewP · 04-14-2008, 08:17 AM

Ceebee where do you get the statistic of 35% for the percentage of legacy admits? On the Princeton Univ. website I thought I read that last year the class contained 14% legacy admits.

midatlmom · 04-14-2008, 10:10 AM

I'm not sure of the stats, but I think what ceebee was saying was that of the legacies that apply to Princeton, approximately 35% get in. However, as a percentage of the class, 14% of the class consists of legacies. You're both right.

ceebee63 · 04-14-2008, 12:23 PM

Legacy admissions have gone up slightly this year.

Quote from April 11, 2008 ABC News story: "At 40 percent, Princeton's legacy acceptance rate is more than four times higher than the rate of its general applicant pool."
(ABC News: Legacy #'s Strong, Admissions Down: Fair?)

I'm having a hard time finding an exact rate from last year, but last year (for the class of 2011), the Daily Princetonian reported that "Rapelye declined to provide statistics on admitted legacy students but said they were similar to last year's. 'We have admitted legacies at a rate three times as great [as the overall rate], and this has been consistently true for 25 years.'" Since last year the admissions rate was approximately 10%, I would guess that last year the rate was about 30%, and maybe as high as 35%.

MomofnewP: You are right too. Here is the article that says about 15% of the matriculating (not admitted) class is composed of legacies (Browse Archives - The Daily Princetonian.

Loki5 · 04-14-2008, 08:15 PM

I think it is unclear from the article whether there was an actual rate of admission given for legacies at Princeton. As far as I can tell, there has been no official disclosure of that number. Princeton officials declined to be interviewed. The historic rate is around 40%, it is true, but the article is fuzzy on whether Princeton actually disclosed this year's rate. My guess is that they will not disclose any numbers until after the waitlist process is over, and any admits from the waitlist will be figured into the disclosed figures. What has never been disclosed is what the creditials are of the admitted legacies, although Bill Bowen's book sheds some light on that topic.