How much does having 5+ legacy AND having your grandfather teach at Stanford help?

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
1

<p>In terms of admissions, I mean.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
GPA: 3.74 W
SAT: 2150 (690 CR 660 M 800 W 11 essay)
ACT: 32 (35 E 30 M 34 R 28 S)
Subject tests: 760 Lit, 660 Math II
APs: Psych (self-study) (5), English Lang (4), World History (3)
Courseload this year: AP Stat, AP English Lit, AP Comp Sci (self-study), Calculus (outside of school), Intensive Classical Greek 1-2, Mandarin 3, English 4 Honors, Prayer & Meditation

  • might self-study another AP but I haven’t decided yet.</p>

<p>My GPA is low because I had a horrible freshman year, but I’ve had 3.89+ ever since (junior year was a 4.0). Stanford doesn’t look at frosh year grades, right? I also go to a rigorous school where a 3.5 is worth a much higher GPA elsewhere.</p>

<p>I want to major in psychology and minor in English. My talents definitely lie in creative writing (and psychology, of course). I’ve earned college credit for my writing and will submit those transcripts to colleges, too. I also run a self-help blog.</p>

<p>I have about 300 hours worth of community service, but I’m not sure that all of it will go on my application.</p>

<p>I have a pretty big hook, but I’m not going to put it here. Basically I’ve been the maternal head of my household since my freshman year and am in charge of taking care of my brother who says he might commit suicide once I’m in college because our family life is so bad. Stanford is right next door and I want to stay close by…just in case something happens. This is by far not the only reason why I want to go, but it stresses how important to me it is that I do go to Stanford.
The other major reason is that Stanford has the best psychology program in the country for undergrads. I want to become a clinical psychologist and am very passionate about helping those with mental disorders like my mother, my brother, and even myself (though I overcame my depression by studying psychology, and am working on overcoming anxiety and ADHD)</p>

<p>So at the top of my head I can think of 5 people in my immediate family that went to Stanford. My dad is a big name in Silicon Valley. Some of my other colleges I’m applying to have contacted him saying they’d do anything if he invested in them, that sort of thing. He’s donated a lot to Stanford (upwards of $3M) and is one of the reasons why a particular fraternity house is on Stanford’s campus.</p>

<p>There’s also a building on campus with my last name (my last name is not common at all), but I don’t know if I’m related to the man who it was named after.</p>

<p>My grandfather taught there for I don’t know how long, but he earned his Bachelors, PhD, and Masters degree there and even has an award named after him. He currently teaches at Princeton.</p>

<p>How much will my legacy status alone help me? Now that I think about it, I think it would be cool if I went to Stanford, married a Stanford alum, had kids, had them go to Stanford, and just continued the cycle until we just created an unstoppable 100+ legacy family. Lol, no I’m just kidding. But seriously, any feedback?</p>

2

<p>Stats are weak, but you seem like you’re a development admit as well as a legacy.</p>

<p>Those two factors probably increase what would be around a 10 or 15% chance by around 30% or more. Perhaps much more.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the feedback. How should I improve my stats before the end of the semester?</p>

4

<p>I think you have a good shot. Find out if the building was named after a relative. :wink: Get a 4.0 this semester and retake the SAT if you can, 2150/2400 is passable but 1350/1600 is weak.</p>

<p>Also be careful how you phrase the thing about your brother. If it comes off sounding like your brother will kill himself if Stanford doesn’t accept you that will be a HUGE red flag.</p>

5

<p>I’m not going to mention the brother thing to admissions. I know that whether or not he kills himself will NOT depend on where I go to school. I just wanted to be nearby just in case I needed to rush over there and help out.</p>

<p>And you’re definitely right about the SAT bit. Would they accept January scores in time?
Will my 760 in Lit excuse my CR score? I know I can raise CR regardless. Math will be tricky just because I never have enough time to finish, but it is doable.</p>

6

<p>"[My dad has] donated a lot to Stanford (upwards of $3M)."</p>

<p>I think you’re in.</p>

7

<p>1M donation by alum will get you in. You are in.</p>

8

<p>I don’t think these other posters have any idea whether those donations will get you in or not. Without knowing your hook it is hard to say. Legacy is not usually good for much more than a courtesy waitlist these days, and your stats are weak for Stanford. But the donation may help, and if your hook is genuine it may as well. Without more info, no one here can say.</p>

9

<p>Who cares about the legacy? He’s a development admit. 3 million dollars. Three million dollars.</p>

<p>How many need based packages can be handed out in a year with 3 million dollars?</p>

10

<p>“Developmental” admits come from families that have donated, or pledge to donate, way more than $3 million. That’s why there aren’t many developmental admits.</p>

11

<p>Well, let’s see.</p>

<p>High (over actual cost) end: 60,000</p>

<p>3,000,000/60,000 = 50</p>

<p>50 students? Seriously. Boom goes the dynamite. You’re in.</p>

<p>Oh, and you had better pull your wait in saving the world, we have a lot of work to do (even if you only get in because of money).</p>

<p>I’m sure your a great guy, though, maybe you would’ve gotten in without the money as well.</p>

12

<p>I know a person whose great grandfather, grandfather, and father all graduated from Stanford and the next generation did not get accepted. </p>

<p>I also know of another person whose grandfather and father graduated from Stanford and a sibling was attending… who also did not get accepted because grades were not strong enough. </p>

<p>You can only count on the legacy connection if you have the stats to be a competitive student there. </p>

<p>If your family has a list of mental health disorders, you may be red flagged as a potential suicide case. No school wants those. Not even for $3million.</p>

13

<p>No, haginrainbow, the dynamite does not go boom for a donation in that range. Stanford receives a very large number of multimillion dollar donations on a regular basis, which is a major reason why it has a $17 billion endowment (and more than $19 billion on a consolidated basis with affiliates). At HYPS, with their humongous endowments, it takes significantly more than $3 million these days to create a developmental admit. They don’t just divide the donation by the number of students the donation could cover in costs of attendance.</p>

14

<p>Could you get some stats please? That seems pretty far fetched. $3,000,000 is not chump change by any university’s standards.</p>

<p>[Finances:</a> Stanford University Facts](<a href=“http://facts.stanford.edu/finances.html]Finances:”>http://facts.stanford.edu/finances.html)</p>

<p>Though, that does only make up 0.3% of their gifts for last last. Perhaps you really do need donations in the range of $30,000,000?</p>

15

<p>hagin, no school is going to publish “stats” about how much it takes to be a developmental admit at any point in time. But many people (including some legacies) have complained publicly about having donated millions to HYPS schools, only to have their offspring turned down. People who fund buildings and other major initiatives can generally count on developmental status, and yes, those tend to be donations of at 8-figure amounts (or more).</p>

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<p>You’re in…</p>

17

<p>I have heard that there are several special categories of applicants that are considered differently than ‘regular’ candidates: athletic recruits, children of faculty members, URMs, and ‘development’ candidates. Notice that legacy status is not on the list. The admission office sends a legacy letter to alumni parents of applicants informing them that legacy status does not really help. I know of many legacy applicants that were courtesy wait-listed or rejected outright. </p>

<p>I have heard that the donation needed to be considered separately is much higher than 3M, and that few are accepted in this way…</p>

18

<p>It’s actually much lower than that. </p>

<p>[Inside</a> Stanford?s Exclusive Admission Path - Palo Alto, CA Patch](<a href=“http://paloalto.patch.com/articles/inside-stanford-s-exclusive-admission-path-c38ea20a]Inside”>Inside Stanford's Exclusive Admission Path | Palo Alto, CA Patch)</p>

<p>$500,000 seems to be the price.</p>

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<p>^LOL. Yeah, and I hear another anonymous guy said it’s more like $500, so I believe that too.</p>

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<p>For a forum full of smarties, you guys don’t seem to do a great job with backing up your evidence with facts. All I ever see is “I have heard” this and “There are rumors” that. Jeez, why don’t y’all just stop speculating and let the college process do its thing. </p>

<p>TRT, can you post a link to the page where Stanford states that only those categories are considered separately, and not legacies? Oh and that alumni letter, did you receive one yourself? 'Cause I did, and I can assure you that they did NOT say it doesn’t help. Quite the contrary, they said in recent years the admit rate for legacies was triple the regular rate. Triple. That is a fact.</p>