Which Colleges Consider Legacy Status?

In the college admissions process, “legacy” applicants are students with some kind of familial tie to a university. An applicant normally has legacy status at a college if a member of the applicant’s immediate family attends or attended the college, but at certain schools it might also mean a grandparent, aunt or uncle, and cousin. Some institutions restrict their consideration to “primary” legacy, meaning children (or grandchildren) of alumni; others are happy to extend it in any direction, and include both undergraduate and graduate alumni.

Why is legacy status important? The short answer is that being a legacy is very likely to increase your chances of being admitted to an individual college or university, particularly a very elite one. As of last year, the estimated admission rate for Harvard legacies was more than five times that of non-legacies! In the Ivy League, it’s estimated that anywhere from 25-35% of admitted students hold legacy status. That’s a big deal for colleges that admit less than 10% of applicants!

That might sound unfair to you, and indeed, legacy admissions have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as people both inside and outside of universities have called for the most elite schools to abandon legacy admissions. Nevertheless, with very few exceptions, the vast majority of colleges and universities in the United States still consider legacy status.

So what should you know about legacy status? First, be aware that it can strongly affect the higher early decision admission rate at many schools; because most universities primarily consider legacy status in the early round, a disproportionate number of legacies are admitted early, which can drive up that early decision or early action percentage.

Second, if you are a legacy at your dream school, check what kinds of resources exist for you through the admissions office. Many elite schools, such as Brown and Vanderbilt, offer a variety of resources for potential legacy applicants, including personal advising, tours, even application reviews. While not available everywhere, it’s worth checking!

Below is a list of the top 100 universities and the top 75 liberal arts colleges, as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, and whether they consider legacy status. Although most either do or do not consider it, a handful do report that legacy is “important” to their process, meaning that applicants with an alumni relation may receive particular consideration when their application is reviewed.

Part I: Top-100 Universities

University Name	Status
Princeton University	Legacy Considered
Harvard University	Legacy Considered
Columbia University	Legacy Considered
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Legacy Not Considered
Yale University	Legacy Considered
Stanford University	Legacy Considered
University of Chicago	Legacy Considered
University of Pennsylvania	Legacy Considered
California Institute of Technology	Legacy Not Considered
Johns Hopkins University	Legacy Not Considered
Northwestern University	Legacy Considered
Duke University	Legacy Considered
Dartmouth College	Legacy Considered
Brown University	Legacy Considered
Vanderbilt University	Legacy Considered
Rice University	Legacy Considered
Washington University in St. Louis	Legacy Considered
Cornell University	Legacy Considered
University of Notre Dame	Legacy Important
University of California-Los Angeles	Legacy Not Considered
Emory University	Legacy Considered
University of California-Berkeley	Legacy Not Considered
Georgetown University	Legacy Considered
University of Southern California	Legacy Considered
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	Legacy Considered
Carnegie Mellon University	Legacy Important
University of Virginia	Legacy Considered
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill	Legacy Considered
Wake Forest University	Legacy Considered
Tufts University	Legacy Considered
New York University	Legacy Considered
University of Florida	Legacy Considered
University of California-Santa Barbara	Legacy Not Considered
University of Rochester	Legacy Considered
Georgia Institute of Technology	Legacy Considered
Boston College	Legacy Important
University of California-Irvine	Legacy Not Considered
University of California-San Diego	Legacy Not Considered
William and Mary	Legacy Considered
University of California-Davis	Legacy Not Considered
Tulane University	Legacy Considered
Boston University	Legacy Important
Case Western Reserve University	Legacy Considered
Brandeis University	Legacy Considered
University of Texas-Austin	Not Legacy Considered
University of Wisconsin-Madison	Legacy Considered
University of Georgia	Legacy Not Considered
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign	Legacy Not Considered
Northeastern University	Legacy Not Considered
University of Miami	Legacy Considered
Pepperdine University	Legacy Considered
Lehigh University	Legacy Considered
Villanova University	Legacy Considered
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Legacy Considered
Santa Clara University	Legacy Important
Ohio State University-Columbus	Legacy Not Considered
Purdue University-West Lafayette	Legacy Considered
Florida State University	Legacy Not Considered
University of Maryland-College Park	Legacy Considered
Syracuse University	Legacy Considered
University of Washington	Legacy Not Considered
University of Pittsburgh	Legacy Considered
University of Connecticut	Legacy Considered
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	Legacy Not Considered
George Washington University	Legacy Considered
Loyola Marymount University	Legacy Considered
Fordham University	Legacy Considered
Southern Methodist University	Legacy Considered
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Legacy Considered
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	Legacy Considered
Texas A&M University-College Station	Legacy Not Considered
University of Massachusetts-Amherst	Legacy Considered
Clemson University	Legacy Considered
Virginia Tech	Legacy Considered
American University	Legacy Considered
Baylor University	Legacy Considered
Yeshiva University	Legacy Not Considered
Indiana University-Bloomington	Legacy Considered
Howard University	Legacy Considered
Stevens Institute of Technology	Legacy Considered
North Carolina State University-Raleigh	Legacy Considered
Texas Christian University	Legacy Important
University of Denver	Legacy Considered
Gonzaga University	Legacy Considered
Brigham Young University-Provo	Legacy Not Considered
Michigan State University	Legacy Not Considered
Binghamton University-SUNY	Legacy Considered
Stony Brook University-SUNY	Legacy Considered
University of San Diego	Legacy Important
Colorado School of Mines	Legacy Considered
University of California-Riverside	Legacy Not Considered
University at Buffalo-SUNY	Legacy Not Considered
Elon University	Legacy Important
University of Iowa	Legacy Not Considered
Marquette University	Legacy Considered
University of California-Santa Cruz	Legacy Not Considered
University of Delaware	Legacy Considered
University of Utah	Legacy Considered
University of California-Merced	Legacy Not Considered
Auburn University	Legacy Important
University of Arizona	Legacy Not Considered

 

Part II: Top-75 Liberal Arts Colleges

Williams College	Legacy Important
Amherst College	Legacy Considered
Swarthmore College	Legacy Considered
Pomona College	Legacy Considered
Wellesley College	Legacy Considered
United States Naval Academy	Legacy Considered
Bowdoin College	Legacy Considered
Claremont McKenna College	Legacy Considered
Hamilton College	Legacy Considered
Washington and Lee University	Legacy Considered
Carleton College	Legacy Important
Middlebury College	Legacy Considered
Grinnell College	Legacy Considered
Vassar College	Legacy Considered
Colby College	Legacy Considered
United States Military Academy	Legacy Not Considered
Haverford College	Legacy Considered
Davidson College	Legacy Considered
Smith College	Legacy Considered
Wesleyan University	Legacy Considered
Colgate University	Legacy Considered
Barnard College	Legacy Considered
Bates College	Legacy Considered
University of Richmond	Legacy Considered
Harvey Mudd College	Legacy Considered
Colorado College	Legacy Considered
Macalester College	Legacy Considered
United States Air Force Academy	Legacy Considered
Scripps College	Legacy Considered
Bryn Mawr College	Legacy Considered
Kenyon College	Legacy Considered
Berea College	Legacy Not Considered
Bucknell University	Legacy Considered
Mount Holyoke College	Legacy Considered
Pitzer College	Legacy Considered
Skidmore College	Legacy Considered
College of the Holy Cross	Legacy Considered
Oberlin College	Legacy Considered
Lafayette College	Legacy Considered
Occidental College	Legacy Considered
Thomas Aquinas College	Legacy Not Considered
Franklin and Marshall College	Legacy Considered
Trinity College	Legacy Considered
Denison University	Legacy Considered
Union College	Legacy Considered
Dickinson College	Legacy Important
Whitman College	Legacy Considered
DePauw University	Legacy Considered
The University of the South	Legacy Considered
Connecticut College	Legacy Considered
Furman University	Legacy Considered
Centre College	Legacy Considered
St. Lawrence University	Legacy Considered
Spelman College	Legacy Considered
Rhodes College	Legacy Important
Gettysburg College	Legacy Considered
Wabash College	Legacy Considered
Bard College	Legacy Considered
Agnes Scott College	Legacy Considered
Wheaton College	Legacy Important
Reed College	Legacy Considered
Sarah Lawrence College	Legacy Considered
St. John’s College	Legacy Considered
Lawrence University	Legacy Considered
St. Olaf College	Legacy Considered
Kalamazoo College	Legacy Considered
College of Wooster	Legacy Considered
Wofford College	Legacy Considered
Hobart and William Smith Colleges	Legacy Considered
Muhlenberg College	Legacy Considered
Knox College	Legacy Considered