Warning: Potentially stupid and very obvious question.
Scenario: Applicant has a Mother who attended Institution A; a Father who attended Institution B, and a Stepparent that they live with who attended Institution C.
Are they considered Legacies for all three Institutions? Assume the “Step” relationship is a loving one where the Stepparent considers the applicant their kid in all ways but biological (in their will, call them their kid to the world, etc.), but that the biological is still present, in the picture and welcomed.
How do schools see this from a “Legacy” standpoint?
Not a stupid question, but also not a blanket answer. Some schools consider step parents for legacy and some do not.
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That was exactly what I was thinking also.
There are other reasons why a student might be legacy at more than 2 universities. Some universities consider you legacy if a parent got a master’s degree or some other graduate degree at the school. Thus if you have only two parents, but each got a bachelor’s degree and each got a master’s degree, and if the four degrees were from four different schools, in some cases you could have legacy status at all four schools.
None of this tells you whether or not any of the schools where you are legacy would actually be a good fit for you, and for what you want in a university, and for what you want to study.
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It may depend on the school, so you should reach out to them and ask.
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And even if a 3 school legacy, the schools may give no bump at all.
A few years after I graduated from law school, I got a letter saying that a legacy gets no bump at all since it is a state school and they have to serve everyone in the state, etc etc.
Do I think that applied to the governor’s kids or a really wealthy donor or the chancellor of the university’s kids? I do not, but it wouldn’t be said out loud that they got a bump.
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They see it as a reason for giving thanks for eliminating legacy admissions
At this point, unless state law says otherwise, each school defines legacy as it sees fit. More importantly, each decides what bump, if any, legacy provides
Some might include stepparents: others don’t. Some count grandparents; others don’t. Some might only count an undergrad degree; others count graduate and professional degrees
So in theory, an applicant could be legacy at three, four, five, or more universities
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And you can be a multiple legacy at one school, and still not get accepted. Grandparent, parent, and two siblings in our family attended the same Ivy. The youngest sibling in that family (who had a very similar academic profile than the others) was out right rejected from the school.
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