What is a Strong Legacy School Connection?

While it has come under fire recently, legacy admissions remains a strong influencing factor for college admissions to many American schools from the Ivy Leagues to public universities. Families understandably want to take advantage of any possible connection they have in an admissions landscape that is increasingly ultra-competitive. What, then, serves as a connection that could feasibly assist a student’s chances of admission?

Weak: Siblings, Extended Family

While they are offered as options of connections on many applications, siblings and other extended family members do not materially influence an applicant’s chances at that school. These kinds of connections do not hurt, and can even indirectly boost applications through students knowing more about those schools, but ultimately will not lead directly to any kind of boost in admission.

Medium: Parents

Direct parental legacy is the most common form of legacy admission. Depending on the school, parental legacy can lead to anything from a small bump to a huge boost in a student’s chances at getting in. Alumni parents are the baseline for whether legacy admissions could be in play or not, but it is not the best students can hope for.

Strong: Multiple Generations

When it comes to legacy admissions, more is better. Multiple alumni parents are only the start, here. If grandparents also attended a school, or there is some other kind of long-standing, multi-generational history with a school, students will find their chances of admission much increased.

Despite these connections, however, schools will not let their standards for admission slide. Students must still submit at least moderately competitive grades, exam scores, activities, and essays for any given school they apply to. Legacy admissions are not the end of a student’s process; it’s simply another tool in their toolbox when applying to colleges.

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