Why do they ask about family?

[BoilerWolverine]

On many applications, they ask if you have family that went to their school. Do some schools have a legacy interview system or what? Anyone know?

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[mongrel]

Yah I'm curious about this too... what's the deal?

 

[doinmybest5840]

Well maybe they figure if someone else in your family went to their school and paid, then you'll be good for the money, too. Or... more family = more alumni donations. Or just plain old legacy. Who knows.

 

[mirakate]

Some might, unofficially or otherwise. I think it's more a ug thing, though.

Could be a way to tell if you're a total flake... "Ooh, BoilerWolverine, I remember when his dad/cousin/aunt/stepsister/dog was here... Reject!"

 

[Jpc984]

Some might, unofficially or otherwise. I think it's more a ug thing, though.

Could be a way to tell if you're a total flake... "Ooh, BoilerWolverine, I remember when his dad/cousin/aunt/stepsister/dog was here... Reject!"

I think their logic is: If you have a relative at the school, you are more likely to attend if accepted.

 

[146233]

Maybe they recognize your last name and want to see if your dad is the guy that stole their girlfriend from them in college.

 

[Law2Doc]

Well maybe they figure if someone else in your family went to their school and paid, then you'll be good for the money, too. Or... more family = more alumni donations. Or just plain old legacy. Who knows.

It's totally the donation thing. Historically families with multiple generation alumni give more than double the average. It won't make a huge difference in admission, but if you are on the fence, it might tip you the right direction.

 

[LizzyM]

Here's how it works (informally) at one school... If you had a familiy member who graduated from one of the other schools within the University you get treated like everyone else. If you had a family member who graduated (or currently attends) the medical school you might a little bit of consideration for interview and the adcom hopes that you will attend if offered admission.

If you had five members of your family attend the medical school and one is a current member of the faculty, you might be almost guaranteed an interview but you won't be admitted on that basis alone. (You also need to be at least minimally qualified.) Schools hate to not give a courtesy interview to triple legacies and the like (we had one who would have been the fourth generation of the family to matriculate at that med school) but we don't know if it isn't pointed out to us. Putting it on the application tells us what we need to know.

Only a small fraction of the interviews go to applicants on the basis of a legacy.

 

[inaminute]

they want to be sure they don't admit people whose parents or siblings were jackasses that they already know about. that's all.