“It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” I’m guessing you’ve heard that expression at some point in your life, and it is true in a lot of situations, like when it comes to who gets into their dream university.
Legacy status—that is, whether or not you have direct family ties to a college or university—has played a major role in who has gotten accepted into higher education institutions for nearly a century. In fact, Yale accepted all legacy applicants regardless of their qualifications when they first enacted their legacy admissions policy in 1925. In 2020, roughly half of higher education institutions considered legacy status in their admissions process, and 80% of highly selective colleges (University of Chicago, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, The Ivy League, etc.) weigh legacy status when making their admissions decisions. At those prestigious schools, applicants with a direct family tie to the institution are three times more likely to be admitted than equally qualified students without one.
That may not be the case for much longer, however.
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that functionally ended race-conscious admissions programs, congress members, presidential candidates, and state officials are pushing for an end to legacy admissions. Some universities, including prominent ones like Wesleyan and Carnegie Mellon, are no longer considering legacy status when making their admission decisions, moving towards merit-based admissions.
We cannot know if or for how long colleges will continue to use legacy status as a component of their selection criteria–that is the business of federal policymakers, state boards, and admissions offices. At The Enrichery, we’ve made it our business to understand the existing admissions landscape in order to develop a winning application strategy for each student.
If you’ll be the first person in your family to go to college and Princeton is your dream school, you don’t need to worry about not being a legacy candidate. Our expert college admissions counselors know what reviewers are looking for, and we can help you develop compelling admissions materials that present the best possible version of yourself. That’s true for every student in our admission workshops. If you are a legacy candidate and want to apply to the university your family has attended for three generations, that’s great, and we can help strategize the most meaningful way to incorporate that information into your application. If you don’t think the university a family member attended is the right fit for you, we’ll help you develop a list of schools that align with your personality, values, and academic goals.
College applications can be daunting, but you don’t have to figure them out on your own! Our weeklong summer college admissions workshops start in June. Over five days, our college admissions counselors will walk you through the entire application process so you can knock it all out before senior year even starts! Spaces are limited, however. If you are interested, please consider signing up today. We also offer a variety of one-on-one sessions with our admissions counselors for high school seniors and prospective transfer students. We are here to help make your admissions goals a reality!
