<p>Okay, two questions: what the heck is superscoring? I’ve heard about it on here before but never figured out what it was.</p>
<p>Number 2- how important are legacies in the admissions process? What if it’s just a sibling who went there, and not a parent? If you’re a good applicant, but not a phenomenal one, is it likely to make much of a difference?</p>
<p>Superscoring is when the school combines the best scores of each section from multiple sittings. For example you score a 720 in math and a 750 in critical reading the first time you take the SAT. </p>
<p>Then the second time you take it your score is 750 in math and 700 in critical reading. The college will take the best you’ve done on each section and you’ll have a 750 math and 750 CR.</p>
<p>I believe having a parent who attended qualifies you as a legacy, but a sibling counts for very little if anything (there is no space on the application for it). As far as the benefit of being a legacy…I can’t attest to that because I’m not terribly familiar. It is certainly a boost, but not as big as most people make it out to be.</p>
<p>We’re also talking about “how much” of a legacy someone is. If you’re a Bush at Yale, that will give you more of an advantage than simply having one parent who attended the school.</p>
<p>How do you think Kerry got into Yale? With a lower SAT score than George Bush and a prestigious alum father. Things aren’t always as they appear…did you not learn anything from A Tale of Two Cities?</p>
<p>Kerry had around a 1000 and Bush had around a 1200. I can’t believe Al Gore got beat out - especially when he’s smarter than Bush and had higher SAT scores. He knows how to pronounce “nuclear” correctly too.</p>
<p>How is 15 % legacies messed up? There are many reasons legacies should be admitted over equally-qualified peer applicants. To put your argument in perspective, Princeton’s student body is 13 % Asian. America is only 3.6 % Asian. That’s messed up.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was about to point out how fallacious Kowloon’s post is. Thanks for getting to it before me. ;)</p>
<p>Anyways, why would 15% be a messed up figure? Firstly, legacies are more likely, in general, to attend the school if admitted, and also more likely to apply (think about why, it’s not tough to justify). Thus, even if there were no advantage to being a legacy, they would matriculate at a higher rate than non-legacies, once admitted. That explains some of the heightened amount. The other half of the explanation is that Princeton admits them at a higher rate, to encourage alumni loyalty - because familial alumni loyalty is what gets Princeton much of its donations. People on the forum may or may not realize it, but it is the big loyal alumni families with lots of legacies that largely drive the major fund raising efforts of the university.</p>
<p>So no, I don’t think the amount of legacies is messed up. I think it’s correct, for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>There are so many smart kids of direct princeton alums (i.e. kids whose mother and father went to Princeton) that it really doesn’t give you that much of an edge. You still have to have the same scores, grades, etc. as the rest of the kids.</p>
<p>I agree with both of the posters above. The edge for legacies (direct, that is, not brother/sister/aunt/uncle or whatever) most definitely exists, otherwise the University wouldn’t be so hesitant to release the stats (SATs, GPA, etc) of legacy applicants. They do, however, release the legacy acceptance rate, which hovers around 39-40%. That said, people assume that legacies are admitted solely because they have connections. That is not true, children from Princeton families are usually more qualified than the average applicant because they come from homes that put high emphasis on education. I can say that, as a legacy applying for this year’s class, my Dad (alum) has always expected the best and given me every advantage for success. Part of the University’s thinking is that legacies have more of a stake in the application process–we’ve always wanted to go to Princeton, have always worn orange and black, have always gone to Reunions…a rejection letter for us has a much more profound impact than on the average candidate. While it may not seem fair, life in general (including other aspects of the college admissions process) is not fair either.</p>
<p>As a Princeton student, I think it’s pretty obvious there’s a distinct edge for legacies…most of the least qualified kids there that I have met are all legacies. That being said, I know plenty of talented legacies too. Legacy isn’t something to really worry about…nice to have, but no big deal if you don’t. </p>
<p>That being said, it’s good for schools like Princeton and Yale to give legacies a bit of an advantage…any sort of prestigious institution will value legacy.</p>