<p>does having two harvard college alumni parents help a significant amount more than just one alumni parent? thanks</p>
<p>I would say that it does help significantly, in most cases. However, if you are seeking financial aid, having two parents who have been unable to parlay their Harvard degrees into an ability to pay for college will be seen as a negative by the committee on admissions.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t think that having 2 Havard alum parents would be any more of a boost than having one legacy parent. From what I’ve seen as an alum volunteer, the legacies who get in are as strong as are the nonlegacies.</p>
<p>As for Proud Ivy Mom’s comment about money, I know that Harvard wouldn’t care if you are applying for financial aid. First, it’s need blind. Second, Harvard doesn’t judge alum’s success by the fatness of their wallets.</p>
<p>Harvard wants alums to enter a broad range of fields, and that includes things like social work, elementary school teaching, nonprofits, and other fields that are very important, but don’t result in high pay.</p>
<p>I am an alum who by choice entered a low paying field and have been treated very well by Harvard, including by the admissions officers whom I know. Harvard insiders don’t judge success by whether a person parlays their degree into wealth, but by the impact a person has made on society, which could even be where they work or the small community where they live.</p>
<p>One of the most admired people in my Harvard class lives on a bare bones budget in a developing nation where she started a nonprofit in an impoverished community.</p>
<p>“if you are seeking financial aid, having two parents who have been unable to parlay their Harvard degrees into an ability to pay for college will be seen as a negative by the committee on admissions”</p>
<p>…umm…ok…you sure about that?</p>
<p>Yes, I’m sure that I read an article from a few years ago on the subject of legacy preferences that quoted an unnamed Harvard admissions officer who specifically said that legacies applying for FA were viewed with suspicion, as the children of potential slackers. I’ll see if I can locate the article.</p>
<p>I think I find Northstarmom a more reliable source than double hearsay from an “unnamed Harvard admissions officer.”</p>
<p>Applying for financial aid certainly doesn’t equate with slackerdom. My parents are hardworking and quite successful, just not in terms of financial wealth. I would be quite interested in reading that article. Was it from before Harvard was need blind?</p>
<p>You’re free to believe what you want, of course. I know what I read several years ago. One reason that legacies get a boost is the assumption that the parents will be financially supportive of the school. This is simply fact. There is also the simple fact that the typical Harvard alumnus makes a great deal more money than their counterparts from less famous institutions. The idea that two such people, combined, couldn’t produce enough income to pay for their child’s college would certainly raise eyebrows in any Ivy admissions committee.</p>
<p>Proud Ivy Mom, </p>
<p>I don’t think you could be any more incorrect. Harvard admissions could not possibly expect all of their alum to be wealthy; they would expect them to be successful, but not necessarily financially well-off. Also, because Harvard is need-blind, how could they possibly know that their double-legacy applicant is applying for financial aid?</p>
<p>I would really like to see this “article” that you so vaguely reference – especially since you have the audacity to discourage someone from applying for financial aid.</p>
<p>Proud Ivy Mom…</p>
<p>First of all…that is not a fact. That is called a correlation. There is a big difference.</p>
<p>Second, do you believe everything you read? Do you believe everything you watch on the Fox news? You don’t think the journalist was biased a bit? And on top of that, it’s an article you read from several years ago…I wonder how good your memory is…</p>
<p>Third, you automatically think good education = success and money. Simply not true. Not everyone goes to Harvard so they can buy 5 cars and a beach house in Malibu. Ivy admissions committee admit people who can make a difference in campus and out in the world, not people who can make millions of dollars.</p>
<p>
The gist of the article was that if you can’t provide for your family with a Harvard degree [let alone two!] you aren’t going to be able to make much of a difference in the world and your kids probably won’t either…fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.</p>
<p>I’ll see if I can find the article later, right now a busy racking up billables.</p>
<p>Proud Ivy Mom, </p>
<p>How can you possibly say that you need money to make an impact on the world!? Teachers, nurses, astronauts, musicians, and humanitarians are ALL people that impact the world with modest salaries! (They would ALL struggle to pay $40,000+ a year for a Harvard education.)</p>
<p>I must say that, for a mother, you are either incredibly misguided or incredibly immature.</p>