Do sibling legacies matter at top schools?

[cytochromeshe]

I have an older brother that currently attends a top 5. I've been curious to know how much (if at all) my chances of getting an interview/acceptance to said school are affected by having an alumni sibling. This is assuming that my stats are within the median of said school.

Is having a sibling alumni weighed differently than a parent alumni? I know that medical school acceptances/rejections can seem pretty arbitrary, so I'm assuming that it can only help, correct?

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[WillianIAm]

I doubt sibling legacies would help much pre-interview, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. Most schools won't know if you had a sibling legacy unless on their secondary application it specifically asks for immediate family members that attended the school, however, even those that do ask sometimes explicitly ask for parent legacies.

If you do land an interview, then telling them that you had a sibling that goes there, or graduated from there, would definitely be notable because it increases the likelihood of you matriculating. They pretty much know what they're going to get if your sibling succeeded and/or was a rock star.

In short, it will help, but it depends on how much on how you sell it. Schools want to increase their yield and the chances of a sibling of an alumnus matriculating is high. Also, the chances of the sibling of a successful alumnus succeeding is also high.

 

[DrBowtie]

Depends on how well liked your sibling is by the administration.