Legacy Admissions Explained
Level 2 - Admissions 101
Welcome! One of the current pushes in admissions is the elimination of legacy admissions as a factor. There is a pending lawsuit against Harvard University to eliminate legacy admissions as a factor in determining who is accepted to colleges.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there on what legacy admissions are and how they impact people being accepted. Our hope is to clear that up.
Part 1: What are legacy admissions?
Legacy admits is a term used for someone who is admitted who has at least one family member that previously attended and graduated from the college.
The most common example is a mother or father that attended the college that a son or daughter is accepted to, but it is important to note that every college will have different rules.
For example, an older brother that attends the same college may count for the purposes of legacy admissions. Or a grandparent. Or an uncle. It just depends on the institution.
At any rate, anyone who qualifies as a legacy is typically given some preferential treatment in how their application is reviewed.
Parents, counselors, and students may be curious as to why a college or university would even consider an applicant’s family history as a factor in admissions. Historically, colleges and universities have chosen to support legacy status for a variety of reasons:
Legacy applicants are more likely to graduate than non-legacy applicants
Alumni are more likely to donate to their alma mater when their children are actively benefiting from the college or university
Legacy applicants are more likely to attend the university if given an offer, which helps universities with acceptance rates.
Understanding that rationale will influence your understanding of how admissions officers review a legacy applicant.
Part 2: How does an admissions officer review a legacy applicant?
When an applicant that qualifies for legacy status submits their application, the way in which it is reviewed can vary by university.
In general, there are three ways that colleges will view a legacy applicant in the review process:
Separate Application Pile
Upfront Factor Boost
Back End Consideration
Again, a key is that a university could use multiples of the above, a single option, or none of the above.
A college that uses a separate application pile approach will review the applications of legacy students separately from those of general admit colleges. Often, this can be a two step process, where an applicant is reviewed in a separate pool first, and then if they are not accepted within that pool, they are reviewed against the general applicant pool.
A college that uses an upfront factor boost will have a legacy applicant in the general admission pool, but they will be given some “boost” in favor of admission by factor (similar to what used to occur with affirmative action).
A college that uses a back end consideration will not consider whether a student is a legacy until either they need to make final decisions for the class (two equal applicants for one spot scenario) or more likely, if they need to call an individual off of the waitlist.
Part 3: Why does a change in legacy admissions affect non-legacy applicants?
The simplest answer: if legacy preference is removed, it provides others with a greater chance of admission.
This will affect students that apply to more selective colleges more than similar applicants applying to less selective colleges.
But if we dig a little deeper, here is what you need to consider.
Not all colleges have a legacy preference at all
In these situations, the elimination of a legacy preference does not matter.
Legacy status only accounts for so much of a boost.
In most cases, legacy status can provide some boost, but there is a limit. Even in a separate legacy applicant pool, there is still some requirement for legacy applicants to be accepted. Like athletes, legacy applicants typically have to be within some range of the general admissions requirements (e.g., No 1.7 GPA applicants to a school that typically only accepts students with a 4.0).
Legacy applicants may also qualify as some other preferred group
Legacy status is not the only group that receives some advantage in admissions. Whether an applicant’s family has donated to the university, if they are an athlete, or can afford the full cost of attendance are often used as other ways to determine if an applicant is accepted to a college.
If you remove legacy status from the list of considerations, it does not mean that someone will suddenly not be accepted, or that another applicant automatically will.
Have additional questions on legacy status? Feel free to message or leave a comment.