<p>How much does legacy help?</p>
<p>My family has sent pretty much everyone except my mother’s generation to Harvard since 1747.</p>
<p>Our family (throughout the years) has donated a court room, an herbarium, 2 on-campus libraries, a library to a secret society, donated historical documents, etc.</p>
<p>How will Harvard know if I’m legacy?</p>
<p>My last name is different from my alumni relatives, including non-donors.</p>
<p>31 views but this’ll be the first response…?</p>
<p>if you are from a significant family of harvard’s community, they will know it</p>
<p>Does it help?</p>
<p>Heck yes. If they really did donate all of that…it’s a huge booster. Since 1747…hmmm…makes me think your family could be famous.</p>
<p>Mark me down as a cynic, but I suspect what will count most is how likely your family is to give money in the future. </p>
<p>Presumably those past donations have already been acknowledged in the form of Harvard admitting
</p>
<p>How the hell do you trace yourself back to 1747? </p>
<p>Wonder if people in your family fought in the Revolutionary War and died.</p>
<p>Are your family’s contributions ongoing, or were they in the very distant past? Do you have some grandparents/great-uncles/etc. still connected with Harvard? A family foundation that continues to contribute to Harvard? A word from them is likely to help.</p>
<p>There are no secret societies at Harvard–they are at Yale. Perhaps your family donated the library to Yale?</p>
<p>Yikes, you may have to be admitted on your own merits.</p>
<p>No, I’m pretty sure I know what family this is. Significant contributor to Harvard, starting at the turn of the 20th Century and at least as recently as the late 30’s.</p>
<p>I would think that would be very helpful in admissions if the family continues to support Harvard and the applicant is closely related.</p>
<p>If you aren’t a complete idiot and show compentancy on you standardized tests, I would say your in easily. For your case, a gpa of 3.8 UW, 4.2W, 33+ ACT, 2200+ SAT, and you are a garunteed admit. If lower, not garunteeded but still basically in.</p>
<p>DeskPotato, if you really know what family it is, PM me in private, I’ll tell you if you’re right.</p>
<p>Yes, it is famous, but not as in nouveau-riche celebrity famous. Old-money, historical famous.</p>
<p>My family continues to donate, and the patriarch has listed Harvard in his will.</p>
<p>The contributions were ongoing, in that the facilities are still used to this day.</p>
<p>And I traced it back to 1757 (typo before) because a member of my family signed the Declaration of Independence and thus, there is a wikipedia article about him, including his time at Harvard, leading to his family tree, which intersects with the other family. Family A is the DiO side, family B was important in many fields, from science to media to transportation. Both sent many of their children to Harvard.</p>
<p>And aren’t the finals clubs somewhat like secret societies?</p>
<p>Wow, you’re related to a signer! That’s so cool.</p>
<p>Is it Robert Treat Paine?</p>
<p>Don’t certain universities ask if there have been alumni you’re related to, and if so to write their names in a certain spot in your application? I know during my prep school application process they had a special section of the application to write the name of any alumni you’re related to, and I would guess these universities do the same since the schools I’m applying to were modeled after top-tier unis.</p>
<p>Whoa! with that new info I’d say forget the app! You’re in! That big of a history with Harvard, you continue to donate, AND it’s on the will? Garunteed Admit.</p>
<p>Jesus. I guess money really can buy you brains.</p>
<p>I have the brains too, I think.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/873169-chance-me-9-hrs-cs-week.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/873169-chance-me-9-hrs-cs-week.html</a></p>
<p>My chance-me thread.</p>
<p>tl;dr</p>
<p>4.0 Weighted GPA
Took all honors/AP available
School does not rank
Over 9 hrs/community service/week</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I really don’t mean to be rude but those stats are not impressive at all. Your course-load will be among the weakest at Harvard and your standardized test scores are less than exceptional (to say the least). </p>
<p>Regardless, you will probably still be accepted because of your (truly remarkable) family connections. This is not to say that you aren’t bright, however you need to keep in mind that Harvard will be rejecting hundreds of students with academic records that are greatly superior to your own. And then, of course, there are hundreds more students (like me!) who were accepted to Ivies but cannot go because of financial reasons. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m done whining. I didn’t write this post to be confrontational, just to give you a sense of perspective. I would kill to be in your position. Best of luck with the application process.</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, by the way, to answer your original question – there is a sheet (I can’t remember if it’s on Harvard’s supplement or the Common App) that asks for Alumni relations.</p>
<p>It sounds like you might go to a private school that doesn’t have APs but has its own very challenging courses instead. If that’s true, your curriculum is more challenging than it looks.</p>
<p>Even with a great legacy like yours, I think you should try to increase your SAT score from what you had on your PSAT. Significantly.</p>
<p>I don’t think most of the Honors/Awards you listed count. You were what, 6, in 1999? Colleges care about your HS record. You could mention that your community service started early, but there isn’t that much space for awards on the ComApp and you’ll need to stick to HS. I’m pretty sure Harvard doesn’t care about book dedications, but if they do, please tell me, so I can call them up 
(My aunt dedicated one of her best selling books to me & my sister).</p>
<p>Harvard, like lotsa lotsa colleges, has places on the ComApp supplement for you to list alumni relations (I want to say every ComApp college, but I don’t know). On the supplement, they ask if any recent relatives have gone. So you don’t need to list out every relative of yours who has gone to Harvard since time immemorial. It sounds like you’ll just put down your grandparents, since your mother’s generation didn’t go, you said. If your family’s contributions to Harvard have been as significant as they sound, the reader of the app will recognize the name.</p>