Legacies

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[Ismet]

IMO it doesn't have bearing on acceptance. And it's not all that common either.

 

[gyngyn]

Does it have bearing on acceptances?

Not much in my experience. It mostly just wastes everyone's time.

 

[TheRhymenocerous]

Ha, I wish. My grandpa was first in his class at Stanford. But no, I've heard it doesn't matter at all.

 

[Goro]

100% concur. The schools find a way to squeeze these people in to make folks happy, but then interviewees get rejected. Qualified applicants don't lose out on a II spot.

Not much in my experience. It mostly just wastes everyone's time.

 

[m.a.r.r.]

I don't think alumni interviews/acceptances are as common as everyone thinks. I think legacy admits are the one thing that everyone can agree is bad and so there aren't really too many people defending it.

 

[gyngyn]

I don't think alumni interviews/acceptances are as common as everyone thinks. n=1 here, but I know I have received multiple top 10 school interviews and yet was semi-rejected by UMichigan where my parent is an undergrad/medschool/residency alumni and donor. 3.99/41 stat wise. I think legacy admits are the one thing that everyone can agree is bad and so there aren't really too many people defending it.

I wish this were true.

 

[trepon]

IMO it doesn't have bearing on acceptance. And it's not all that common either.

Not true everywhere. Some places it makes a huge difference being related to or knowing the right people and can be relatively common.

Legacy helps but just knowing people on admissions committee helps more. If your parents are faculty or good friends with a higher up, it makes a huge difference. They can vouch for you and know you personally, gives you a leg up from some random student they may know little about.

Before you waste your energy on this, focus on your app. There is nothing you can do about this "injustice" and really there are more worthy causes to rally against. Just keep how annoyed you are right now in mind when you are on an admissions committee or harder yet, went to med school with an addmissions committee member and your children are applying. These are the people who hold the power to change this.

 

[NickNaylor]

At my institution, people are given interviews as "favors" of sorts for legacies or other "important" people. However, if they aren't otherwise qualified there is zero chance that they will get an acceptance. In some cases these people are interviewing with no real chance of actually getting an acceptance regardless of how they might do in the interview.

 

[baxt1412]

At my institution, people are given interviews as "favors" of sorts for legacies or other "important" people. However, if they aren't otherwise qualified there is zero chance that they will get an acceptance. In some cases these people are interviewing with no real chance of actually getting an acceptance regardless of how they might do in the interview.

could definitely be something like this.

if someone donates 5 million dollars and their son applies, you can almost guarantee they will get an interview so the adcom can say that they gave them a shot.

but beyond that, I feel like in the majority of cases, they will be treated as any other applicant. (well, at least that'd be the most ethical thing to do in an auto-interview offer)

 

[Heplayer92]

IIRC, legacy applicants have a significantly higher chance of an interview, and results in interviews that would have never really happened stats-wise.

Not to be bitter (and I'm not applying this cycle), but this isn't undergrad, where a class at a university has thousands and thousands of places... interviews themselves are limited, so wouldn't other more qualified candidates be shut out? :/ Does it have bearing on acceptances?

Another story n=1. Co-worker has two sons who both went to the same medical school that their father was faculty at. One was accepted MD/PhD, the other got a full ride. Either they're both really really smart or being a legacy had at least somewhat of an impact. It definitely varies place to place though!