D25 is a high stats average excellent student. She has a lot of great but not world changing ec activities (leadership, lab research, science/conservation outreach work) and a strong love of Stanford. She also happens to be legacy. Her plan is to apply REA and hope for the best. My feeling is that while the chance of acceptance is small, she has as good a chance as most and since its her first choice, she should give it her best shot. If she were to gain acceptance it would most certainly be because she earned the spot and not because I completed a degree there (she’s a great student).
But, my question is about the campus sentiments in regards to legacy students. In light of AB 1780 and all the discussion surrounding banning legacy admissions in Ca, are legacy students somehow othered? My ultimate goal for her is to find a university environment where she feels safe, seen, and supported. It would break her heart if classmates saw her as the legacy kid who didn’t really earn her spot on campus. Does anyone have any insights into the current campus feel?
Thank you!
Do students introduce themselves - and say, my mom went here ?
Other than my college gf, I don’t know where anyone’s parents went to school.
They won’t put a welcome legacy sign on her dorm door.
I think she’ll be fine. If you’re at Stanford, you’re deserving. And kids know that.
And don’t forget nearly half are getting need aid at an average $67k. Those kids are super fortunate and I don’t think would look for a way to disparage the school.
I don’t go to school today vs 30+ years ago but I can’t imagine this would be an issue.
If your D gets into Stanford and decides to attend:
- Nobody will know she is a legacy unless she tells them.
- Even if people find out she is a legacy, I fully expect fellow students, professors, etc. will judge your D on her own merits.
I agree with other responses that students at Stanford will likely neither ask nor care whether your daughter is a legacy student. When I was there (for a master’s degree) I do not recall ever talking about this subject at all. We were all too busy keeping up with the course work and otherwise living our lives in a beautiful spot at a great school. We were in most cases (or maybe all?) just happy to be there and to have the opportunities that Stanford provides.
If Stanford is your daughter’s clear first choice, and if either you can afford being full pay or the NPC shows that it is likely to be affordable, then applying REA is a good plan. I actually like REA significant better than ED, since if something goes wrong or your daughter changes her mind it is still fine to back out.
And how would they know one of her parents attended the same college…unless she tells them. No need to do so.
Good luck to her. I hope she gets accepted!!
Unless the parent is a famous grad from Stanford (an athlete, an astronaut, say on the Supreme Court), how would the other students know? Also, if it were easy for legacies to get in, there would be a whole lot more of them. It’s still very hard for a legacy to get it and I think if another student knew your daughter was a legacy, they’d be impressed that she was admitted.
Thank you all for the reality check. It’s so easy to find things to worry about. This is clearly not one to cling onto. Moving on.
My daughter is a rising senior at Stanford,
not a legacy. She has several friends who are legacy students and in no way are they othered. It’s not something that comes up in everyday conversation. Legacy admit rates are still tough odds, at roughly 10%, and the reality is that most legacies are denied. Best of luck to your daughter, REA helps but we know one legacy admitted RD.
I would only worry that your kid will feel “othered” as a legacy if she isn’t really capable of the work and your family has buildings and fields named after them.
The normal legacy preference (vs major donor) is that your application gets two reads as protection against an AO on a bad day. The kids that get past that are, ime, pretty wow.
The boost is actually quite a bit bigger than just a 2nd read. But in any case, I don’t think there is a perception problem on campus for legacies. I know 1 current legacy and 1 recent grad legacy. Both average excellent students, and both having a great time.
That’s not what they tell alums. They also mention that large gifts can make a difference. Many of the legacies I know who have attended have parents who have been involved and/or have donated meaningfully. The ones who are average excellent students seem to follow a more normal distribution of admissions success, i.e., got into Harvard but not Stanford. Not sure, without the data, we can know how big of a bump there is or if it’s what admissions says.
What I do know is that at my next reunion, there will be no tour for alums with kids applying – that ship has sailed!
Of course it isn’t. Can you imagine if they straight out told the alums the truth? Someone would record them saying it and then leak it to the press and it would cause a huge stink, because the general public is understandably against the legacy advantage.
@Data10 might have stats for Stanford.
The legacy admits I know did not also get into Harvard. One in particular sought to prove that he got in on his own merits by also apply RD to all the Ivys and other T20s. He was shut out of all.
That said, I don’t believe there is prejudice on campus against legacies.
I don’t believe that the OP asked for a discussion on admissions rates for legacies, so let’s not go down that rabbit hole.
I know 20+ Stanford alumnus & students and the general view is that:
-
Once on campus, nobody differentiates between legacy and non legacy. I know someone who got in this year with double legacy and it has not been mentionned by any of her classmates, though many know.
-
The California law banning legacy will very likely impact the percentage of legacy applicants admitted to Stanford, USC, Pomona, etc but likely will not flatten it to the same percentage as for non legacy. The difference at Stanford was historically significant: non legacy admit (~3.6%) vs legacy admit (~15%) which equates to 4x better odds for legacy
-
Bear in mind that whilst the data isn’t disclosed, the admit rate for legacy+very large donor >> legacy + sizeable donor >> legacy >> non-legacy. The general suspicion is that the legacy+very large donor category will continue to benefit very significantly
Best of luck !
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.