Legacy Advantage at Vanderbilt

dwhite
Tue, 23 Jul 2013 09:09:57 +0000

Although I’m not sure if sibling legacy holds as much weight as a child of an alum, but my S2 was denied admission fall of 2012. He applied ED, his brother was a current student and he had higher “stats” than his brother who had applied 3 years prior. He wasn’t at the tippy-top of the admission pool, but was certainly “in range” so we really thought he had a chance. In addition, we are full-pay which some people now say is also an slight advantage.

Needless to say, it was disappointing at the time. I think S1 took it the hardest - he was furious that they denied his brother who he felt was a great fit. On a positive note, S2 LOVES his chosen school and can’t see himself anywhere else - thank goodness!

S1 just graduated this May and I had a long discussion with a Vandy alum (his son was graduating and his daughter had just been denied) about this issue. He told me that the majority of his friend’s kids had been denied these past few years. Also, in my son’s fraternity 3 siblings (all applied ED) were denied the same year S2 was denied and 2 were accepted. The accepted 2 had near perfect SAT/ACT scores and 4.0++ GPAs. These are just a couple examples but I do think the admission stats for Vanderbilt have gone through the roof and the legacy thing may not be much of an advantage for a kid needing a little bit of a boost.

Best of luck!