Stanford University Rumor?

[Blairt1]

I know that Stanford is a very prominent school that is challenging to get accepted to, but I have heard that even if you have great grades, recommendations, etc. you still may not get in because they look for applicants who have had past relatives that attended college at the University. Is that true?

 

[neniaf]

No. They don't look for that. What you are talking about is the concept of a "legacy" student, which is common at all private universities, but never more than a few percent (2-5%) of the total number of students. These are applicants whose parents or siblings attended the same university (not other relatives). The deal is that if it comes down to two candidates with identical records, and only one can be accepted, the legacy will get preference. It does not mean that the unqualified children of alumni will get preference over qualified applicants whose parents did not go there. Don't worry about it. It affects so few people that it is unlikely to have any impact on you.

 

[Cameron]

That's true for almost all colleges....They feel that their parents will give more money But honestly, it's not like there the ones beating you out.....they still need to have prettty good grades, reccomendations, etc..

 

[Eri]

All colleges will give a little bit of preference to kids of alumni. But the amount of weight they're putting on that has gone down recently. So it won't make a big difference unless the kid you're up against had a parent who donated a building or won a Nobel Prize.