Of course we all know that the ivies and some other top tier schools take a certain percentage of their incoming freshman class from legacy families. That’s a known fact and its is as high as 30% in some schools. However, does legacy also work from within at some of the older, more established prep schools? For example, let’s say my daughter attends Spence or Brearley (in Manhattan) and she is a first generation attendee. When the time comes, she has her sights set on Harvard and Harvard says they will only take one student from her school. Let’s say she goes up against a girl who is a second or third generation attendee of Spence or Brearley and both girls have equal qualifications- will the admissions officer push the legacy girl ahead of mine? I am pretty sure I know the answer but want to know what others think.
Why would Harvard only take one student from a particular school? I don’t think they have quotas like that. If they want both students, they’ll take both.
That’s not how legacy works- there is no “set aside” for legacy kids as you describe it.
Unless the family has donated a library (or is being cultivated to donate the new nanotechnology lab, or a named chair), legacy is going to be a tip factor at best.
And the “push” that you describe- the colleges aren’t so naive as to care (or be manipulated into caring) who is a Spence legacy when constructing their own Freshman class.
This is the “you need to get over yourself” moment. Really, in the real world, no one really cares about these elite private high schools except the people who go there or desire to go there. When Harvard is evaluating the Spence (or whatever) students, they’ll evaluate them accordingly. If they want neither, they take neither. If they want one, they’ll take that one. And as austinmshauri said, if they want both, they’ll take both. They aren’t going to give a darn if one is a “Spence legacy.” Sorry - just not all that important in life.
It doesn’t really matter either if your ancestors came over on the Mayflower 
The high school alma mater of an applicant’s parent will have no bearing on admissions.
As for the hs guidance counselor pushing one kid over another - that may happen but the parents’ high school is not going to drive that conversation. They may push the candidate that is most likely to attend, or the one that they see as a better fit, but most likely they will support both candidates equally and enthusiastically.
@Pizzagirl How true! My ancestors really did come over on the Mayflower and I don’t think that question has been asked once in any school or job interview nor did my college notice or care that one of my scholarships was from the society!! And nobody asked Kid either in any interview.
I said that because of the OP’s screen name.
I thought OP was asking if one sibling went to a private school, would other siblings have a leg up being admitted to the private school. I was going to say “it depends.”
True - but that’s a different question!
You seem to have completely misunderstood the concept of legacy admissions. Harvard couldn’t possibly care less if one girls is a Spence legacy (i.e., that the girl attended Spence, and so did her mother). Harvard might care – though much less than it used to, back in the day – if the girl is a Harvard legacy. Legacy is only relevant to the school with the legacy connection, not just in some general sense of “oh, my family generally goes to elite, private schools, and therefore I am somehow better than the masses.”
I think the question is about whether the high school itself (particularly the college counselor) will favor legacy students from that high school, as far as recommending them for college. I think that will depend on the school culture. I can imagine it happening somewhere but have never heard of it directly.
If “both girls have the same qualifications”? Then if the CC favors one or the other, it could make a difference. But would CC’s invariably favor the student who is second/third generation attending the school? Well, if the school doesn’t have a policy for that which most likely it doesn’t, then it depends on how obnoxious the CC is. I think under normal situation, CC will sell both candidates equally hard and let the chip fall where it should. For a school like Spence or Brearley, it’s not at all strange that both of them are admitted in the end. With that said, I think the CC’s in smaller but highly competitive private schools will be managing more proactively. In this hypothetical situation. One of them may be routed to apply to a different college so two students with very similar profiles don’t end up competing for the same spot in the same college. As for AOs in college, it’s not a given that they will favor one or the other. It will depend on factors other than the one of your concern although it could be related (e.g. one of the families is more influential than the other, or if one will add the needed diversity for the college).
The question is actually slightly better than it’s been given credit for. Top prep schools absolutely manage their seniors’ applications to ensure that they maximize placement potential at the top schools. No one would argue that.
That means, for any range of factors, they are going to favor some applicants over the other. It may be because even though little Joanie really wants to get into Harvard, she’s also likely to get into Yale, whereas little Betty might not have such a good chance at Yale and also wants Harvard. So the prep school college counselor will position it so they both get into elite schools (or have the best chance). In the original question, it relates explicitly to legacy status at the prep school level–and my opinion is that in many scenarios, the legacy child might be better plugged in and better connected to this whole process, and thus more easily “positioned” by the school’s college counselor.
But as far as Harvard itself, I don’t think they would necessarily care WHY the student was being positioned. So at best it’s an input at the school level, not at the college level, and I think more driven by parental awareness and connectivity than by an explicit legacy status.
Ah, if that’s the question, then now I understand. Essentially, the query is whether legacy admits retain a “most favored nation” status after being admitted to a private high school, and can expect continued benefits from the legacy status at that school. I can’t speak to schools like Spence or Brearly specifically, but I would say that generally the answer is “no”, though I would qualify the answer slightly. If Kid A and B are otherwise identical, but B’s parent also went to that school, I don’t think that it makes one whit of difference after the admissions process is done and the kids are students at the school But if Kid A and Kid B are identical, but Kid B had multiple family members who all went to the school, those family members are still active and well known at the school (for instance, serving on the board of trustees, helping at campus events, giving non-negligible sums of money), then I do think that there is some chance that Kid B will get the nod for certain advantages at the school. Not necessarily anything hugely overt, but perhaps an increased likelihood of getting picked to participate in some selective program within the school, getting picked as a dorm proctor, etc. I actually think these types of “advantages” are more likely to occur than the college counseling staff deciding to favor Kid B over Kid A in recommending them to elite colleges, but I suppose it’s not impossible to imagine. But there’s legacy, and then there’s LEGACY.
For what it’s worth, Harvard took 4 students from Spence some year (like in 2015) and none in other year (like in 2016), out of a typical graduating class of 50-60.
sorry - I was referring to matriculation, not admission.
None at all? Why do I find it a little surprising? That’s one of the most prestigious NYC private schools right? Did the “none” phenomenon start happening in recent years or has it been so “random” all the time?
Having a good friend that is a CC at a top day school in Boston, Mr. Wendel’s answer is very close to how she explained to me her process of promoting students to top schools. The bottom-line for all private schools is maximum placements to highly selective schools. It is one of the top items discussed in the admission process about how well the graduates of their school do getting into top colleges.
@panpacific I recall reading an article discussing the power of admission directors at elite privates. The article discussed that some admissions directors at top NYC schools had extremely good relationships with various Ivies. Some of these people have retired or moved elsewhere and it was apparently taking a toll on admissions. Not sure if Spence was one of them.