<p><just pointing="" out="" this="" thread="" is="" from="" last="" spring–not="" sure="" why="" it="" was="" resurrected=""></just></p>
<p>At some schools, including MIT and Brown, siblings ARE considered legacies.</p>
<p>Oldfort, I know that siblings are not legacies, I’m simply pointing out that besides legacies, siblings get high priority particularly at Yale and Harvard. I’ve seen it firsthand where the older siblings are smart, but the last of the bunch is a ditz. High contributors, in private high schools, as well as colleges, are very much welcomed especially in today’s economy. And I agree with jonri, MIT and Brown also consider siblings.</p>
<p>medavinci - there is a difference between high contributors and able to afford full fare. For a school like Yale, we are talking about 7 digit number to be considered high contributor, and that’s not possible for most people. Whether a school consider sibling as legacy or not, that status/connection wouldn’t get anyone in if his/her stats weren’t within range of admittance, especially when it is schools like MIT, Brown, Harvard, Yale. </p>
<p>From Brown’s website:
</p>
<p>My kid didn’t apply to Brown, so I am not that familiar with their policy, but this seems to be that it is nice for them to know that you have a relative(s) who are alumni, but they only note it when it is a parent.</p>
<p>From MIT’s admission blog:
<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/just-to-be-clear-we-dont-do-legacy[/url]”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/just-to-be-clear-we-dont-do-legacy</a></p>
<p>Agree with MyLB- Was there a reason this old thread was resurrected?</p>
<p>I noticed too it is an old thread and thought about saying something, but actually, this is an appropriate time of year for current college applicants and parents to be reading it so they can hopefully avoid a similar situation.</p>
<p>If the unqualified legacies / daddy’s rich kids are so prevalent, and so unqualified, wouldn’t they then dilute the value of the education which would then be reflected in how well the school is regarded by employers and grad schools? It’s fascinating to me, this endless they-didn’t-let-the-right-kids-in-(not-my-kid) coupled with but-my-kid’s-gotta-go-there. Look, if elite schools are just unqualified rich-kid havens, why would you want your kid to go there anyway - wouldn’t you be glad your kid dodged that bullet and didn’t get in?</p>
<p>Agree very timely. Everyone should have safeties that they love!</p>
<p>Even if the “elite” schools automatically DISQUALIFIED legacies from admission (say, on the theory that they always want new blood), admissions to those schools would not be much easier. There are still only X seats in a class, and there are still going to be
( X x 1000s) who want those seats. Even if 10% of a Yale class was given over to legacies (and I doubt the number is that high) that’s maybe 150 seats? And some of those legacies are legitimately as qualified as any other applicant. Why shouldn’t a school show some loyalty to those who have been loyal to them? To do otherwise would be to spite themselves. If the admitted students weren’t qualified to be on campus, there would be a much higher flunk-out rate.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how someone with a 4.2 and 36 act would get rejected from UMass instate</p>
<p>Oldfort, I can only speak to what I know for sure. Duke, for example, tells you in their letters that they do give consideration to legacies. We are not, so it wouldn’t apply to us.</p>
<p>What I know is that I’ve seen a politician (one who lied to boot) get his children into Yale (no surprise - and not all were smart); a woman who is way beyond wealthy and whose father was a huge democratic campaign fundraiser, get her three kids into Yale (the youngest not as smart as the other two; in fact, probably in the bottom quartile of the grade); celebrities get their kids into Yale (can’t speak to their smarts), a celebrity whose child was definitely not smart but whose parents were high contributors in high school and whose son went there and now the daughter is (USC); and those that just wrote checks to Stanford and Harvard for $20 million each per daughter. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ve seen a child of deceased celebrities not get in Harvard despite being interviewed by a parent in the same school. At a lot of these private schools, the alumni interviews are given by parents in the school. So far those kids have gotten in. Connections in the guidance counselor’s office is also a big plus. One of the GC’s at this particular private school went to princeton so about 6-12 kids per year go there (some not so smart). </p>
<p>On the other hand, I’ve seen children of the alumni interviewers get waitlisted at Harvard because the parents probably couldn’t give more than $50-100,000 a year to Harvard, in addition to their private high school tuitions, so it wasn’t enough to get their own kids in. And one of the girls was smart; wound up at Dartmouth instead. I’ve seen people whose father and grandfathers were legacies at Georgetown, and they contributed $50K a year hoping to get their children in, but it wasn’t enough even though the kids were smart and had great grades and SAT scores. You just don’t know.</p>
<p>I question Georgetown at this point, because of the article I read about the meth lab in the freshman dorms. Who is watching over these kids? And Amherst with all the rapes, and this huge scandal about the last rape victim splashed all over the Times, is not a place I would want my child to go even they had a full scholarship. All colleges have rapes, but it is how the administration deals with it. This latest case, the admin and counselors should be locked up for how they treated this poor girl. </p>
<p>We are just looking at schools without mold, in an area with low to no tic population (since my child has chronic lyme and mold allergies). Our dr already said so many kids drop out their first year due to the mold issues. St Mary’s in MD had to put students on a cruise ship while they did mold remediation. It’s tough these days. </p>
<p>As for the thread being resurrected, I was sent an email with the latest comment, since I must have been subscribed at one point. I chimed in since my child is a senior.</p>
<p>medavinci, what schools make the no mold/no ticks list? How do you make that determination?</p>
<p>Medavinci, this is slightly off-topic, but as a parent of two ‘smart’ children followed by one who thinks differently (and no, that is not a euphemism), I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. My youngest, while still quite young, does not present as smart as her brothers. She doesn’t think on her feet the way they do, and won’t jump to answer questions, but ask her the question in writing and she will give you a thorough answer. The point is that kids may get into colleges based on skills you aren’t able to observe.</p>
<p>medavinci - you are all over the place with “what you know.” We all know legacies get a bump, but you are claiming siblings are legacies, which isn’t true. You are now saying famous and wealthy people are getting their kids into top schools, that’s not news to anyone. It takes 7 digit number to be a development admit at schools like HY, but only 6 digits at a school like Cornell. They all have a price, but if you don’t want to pay up, then a legacy will only give you a slight bump.</p>
<p>Most of us on CC got our kids into college the good old fashion way.</p>
<p>I’d agree with MomofNEA and caution parents not to make assumptions about other people’s children. </p>
<p>One of my children would appear to the world to be an average student. Most people don’t know he’s getting A’s because he doesn’t tell anyone. He also doesn’t talk about the national awards he’s received or the accomplishment that puts him at about one in 5 million worldwide. Except for his best friend, no one at school knows anything about these things because he does them outside of school and hates the spotlight. The parents of other students would have no clue as to his college prospects except to perhaps assume this laid back kid is a total slacker and any college success he enjoyed must be the result of money or connections.</p>
<p>A friend’s child has been to the junior olympics 3 years in a row and is not yet a senior. He’s on track to be in the next olympics. Because he participates in an unusual sport and is naturally modest almost no one at his school knows this. He’s being heavily recruited but the family is being very private about the whole process.</p>
<p>Sure there is an extremely small number of families who can afford to pony up a donation large enough to sway the admissions committee at a select college. Who do you think is making it possible for most of our kids to get the financial aid they need to attend such schools?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And is there evidence that these donations primarily go to financial aid and not for other uses?</p>
<p>Doesn’t anyone give money to causes they believe in without personally getting something back? If you give money to support the olympic track team, does that mean they should let your kid be on the team?</p>
<p>Although this preference has fallen in the last decade, legacies still receive a pretty significant plus in the college admissions race.</p>
<p>Per the NYT</p>
<p>But among legacy applicants for Princetons class of 2015, 33 percent of those offered a spot were the children of alumni. Harvard generally admits 30 percent, and Yale says it admits 20 percent to 25 percent. For all three, the overall rate is in the single digits.</p>
<hr>
<p>In 1980, 24 percent of Yales freshman class had a parent who had attended, but in the class of 2014, 13 percent were legacy students. At most Ivy League schools, 10 percent to 15 percent of those who end up enrolling are the children of former students.</p>
<p>Oldfort, what don’t you understand? I NEVER said siblings are legacies. You are misreading everything. I said some schools put it right out there they take legacies.</p>
<p>What I am talking about is the fact that schools take siblings. Period. They are not called legacies. They take them whether they are smart or not.</p>
<p>So what are you talking about that I am all over the place about. I happen to live in an area where I know this is fact.</p>
<p>And what are you implying with this comment? “Most of us on CC got our kids into college the good old fashion way.” I would say we ALL get our kids in that way. The people I am referring to don’t need CC. </p>
<p>Someone brought up athletics…Yes, there were boys in my child’s old school that were recruited in freshman year to Yale and Stanford because they were good in ice hockey. That’s just the way it is. All they needed to do was get C’s for the rest of high school. If you have an athletic talent, you will be recruited. Most of the boys left to go to sports school in MN and then did the Youth Olympic Games… Colleges love Olympians and future Olympians or anyone that will increase alumni gifts.</p>
<p>Sue22 and MomofNEA, I am ONLY talking about information I know to be facts. My child was in school with these people (we have left that school because of all the political stuff going on - exactly what I’m talking about; and several others have left - if you are not high contributors in any private school, you will not get the attention that others who ARE HC or are famous will get). These are not generalizations or guesses. I know the people, and they are actually very nice, but the fact is, I’m just stating how the system works in my area. </p>
<p>We are not in that bracket, and my child works superhard and has been through a lot - having a debilitating disease takes its toll, but my child goes on and doesn’t ask for accommodations (although she qualifies for them). It is standard practice in this area that suddenly kids get ADD in jr yr, and there are dr’s that know how to document things appropriately to afford the accommodations. In fact, the CB cringes when they get requests from this state. If they deny them,then the people, who have paid $3500+ to these neuropsyches, threaten lawsuits. The CB has a very difficult and stressful job as it relates to these requests.</p>
<p>I was just offering what I know, and it does get infuriating to many people to see some of these kids who don’t have to worry about getting straight A’s or participating in extracurriculars and going out and getting drunk, getting their stomachs pumped or worse yet, getting arrested, and are still able to get in decent (ivyies) schools. We are not interested in ivyies, nor are we concerned anymore about the some would say, unfair, ways some kids get in. One of the parents was very upset by it all, because the head of the school will write for these wealthy kids, and when her child asked the head to do the same for her, the head just refused. </p>
<p>It’s life, and it’s something our kids will have to deal with. Many of these kids go to college so that when they apply for jobs where their parents work, whether in law firms, on TV, or wherever else they are in the public eye, they can legitimize it with a degree from a good college. But so far, most of them just bring the parties to college…and have no problems pasting the pix all over facebook. </p>
<p>I’m more concerned about the rapes that are covered up at Amherst. That needs to be dealt with asap. The head of the school said she’d address it in an article in the NY Times, but the letter that the latest victim wrote to the Amherst paper was heart-wrenching. She had no parents, which made it even more difficult. No parent would have stood for what they did to this child.</p>
<p>boysx3, I haven’t finished my research, because to date, almost all colleges, at least the ones my child is looking at, have come up with one mold issue or another. As for tics, we look at my d’s tic chart to determine where they are least populated…Right now, there are over 356 different types of tics worldwide, and there are more cases of lyme disease than AIDS. In our situation, my child went untreated for five years, because there is a huge battle going on between infectious disease dr’s and lyme-literate dr’s. Bottom line, if you have positive WB’s - in IGG or IGM, a child or adult should be treated. Because my child wasn’t, there were tremendous cognitive issues and hypoperfusion of the brain which cannot be cured without IV antibiotics (which have their own problems unfortunately). The fatigue is overwhelming (you can sleep 12 hrs and still feel like you haven’t slept at all), and the scalp and knee pain are excruciating. The antibiotics, anti-malaria and anti-fungal medications cause so many other issues as well. We’ve stopped them after six months, because my child has medication and vitamin fatigue. We’re just hoping for the best. I just want my child to have fun and enjoy college.</p>