The Ivies are among the oldest higher education facilities in the country. Situated on the East Coast, these schools are consistently at the top of college rankings and have the most prestige. It makes sense that their admissions process is highly competitive. Graduates of these schools usually go on to reap benefits in their career. Ivy-league graduates on average earn between 15 and 40 percent more than graduates of non-ivy colleges.
Ivy League schools consider test scores, grade point average, extra curriculars and essays when deciding which applicants to admit. They also consider how rigorous the applicant's high school education was and generally admit students who followed the advance placement curriculum. Most Ivy League schools require an overall SAT score of at least 2050.
Statistics show that an applicant who is a child or grandchild of an Ivy League alum, while in no way guaranteed admission, does stand a better chance at admission than a non-legacy candidate. According to the Wall Street Journal, legacies make up as much as 10 to 15 percent of incoming classes at Ivy League schools. To compare acceptance rates of legacies vs. non-legacies: Harvard accepts 40 percent of legacy applicants, but only 11 percent of the total applicant pool.
According to Peter Schmidt of "The Chronicle of Higher Education," legacy admissions began after WWI to keep out certain immigrant populations. Beyond its inauspicious origins, legacy admission is frowned upon for a variety of other reasons. The legacy admissions process tends to favor children from white affluent families, becoming a sort of "affirmative action" program for the upper class. On the other hand, schools that don't take legacy status into consideration when admitting applicants run the risk of alienating alumni who contribute money to their school.