Every institution has its own legacy policies. Some specifically state that there is absolutely no legacy advantage, others only consider undergraduate alumni children as legacies, still others (contrary to @collegemom3717’s assertion) unambiguously treat graduate and professional school legacies identically with undergraduate legacies, and so forth. Concisely, you’d be wise to ascertain the legacy guidelines that apply at each of your applicable target schools.
With this said, it is a VERY common misconception to believe that all legacies, at a particular university, receive an equal benefit; however, this is FAR from accurate. More precisely:
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The child of an alum who fundamentally has not deeply participated in the university’s life or made significant – and successful – efforts to help the institution attain its goals, will receive very little, if any, real legacy advantage. This category certainly includes 95+ percent of alumni, who attend an occasional function, donate sporadically and relatively parsimoniously, and have never served the university in leadership, governance, managerial oversight, or similar roles.
On the other hand, the children of alumni who (for example) are officers of the alumni association, serve as trustees, lead reunion and fundraising campaigns, provide jobs and internships to students, co-teach classes, host major functions in their cities, frequently are panelists and/or speakers at important university events, chair regional alumni organizations, donate constantly and generously, and much more are quite likely to receive an appreciable legacy admissions advantage. In essence, devotion of substantial “time, talent, and treasury” for decades is appreciated and recognized.
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