<p>Well, feel free to discount my view because of emotional bias, my kids having gone 0-for on their legacy applications. But here’s what I base it on:</p>
<p>– In the past 6 years, the legacy kids I’ve seen admitted to HYPS have either been admitted to at least one of the others with no legacy boost, or were sensational candidates (#1 at a top school) who were accepted EA and never applied anywhere else. If a Harvard legacy is accepted at Harvard, but also at Yale and Stanford, it’s a little hard to attribute her Harvard acceptance to legacy status.
– I have seen many non-legacy kids chosen over legacy classmates with indistinguishable “stats”. In most cases, this was a correct decision.
– I have seen legacy kids turned down, while being accepted at one of the other hyperselective colleges. E.g., Princeton legacies dinged at Princeton, accepted at Harvard (2), Yale legacy dinged at Yale, accepted at Harvard (2) and Oxford.
– Several years ago, a senior Harvard admissions person told a friend that Harvard’s admissions rate for Yale and Princeton legacies was only slightly lower than its rate for Harvard legacies, and that the office had to be careful to cap the number of legacies it accepted.</p>