"Of course, my kid will go to Columbia, he's a legacy!" We hear this from parents probably every week. We work with a lot of Ivy League legacies. We hate to break it to you, but just being a legacy isn't the boost that many parents believe it is. Legacy admissions are cloaked in secrecy on purpose, so today we want to demystify legacy admissions at Columbia and what your legacy student needs to get in.
What is Columbia's Legacy Acceptance Rate?
The short answer is no one knows. Columbia has never published a legacy acceptance rate. We have seen online that people claim it's around 7%. We think that sounds a little bit low. Columbia didn't confirm this number, so while it might be wrong, it actually can be a useful placeholder when thinking about legacy admissions. What do we mean by that? Well, for the class of 2026, the admissions rate was only about 3.73% from a staggering 60,000 applications. That means if legacies are being admitted at 7%, they are almost twice as likely to get in. Intuitively that sounds about right.
The legacy acceptance rate might be 7%, or it might not be, but the important takeaway here is that most legacies do not get in. We want to make this super clear: at top schools, the majority of legacies don't get in. If you want to support your legacy student, you need to make sure they are not only a competitive candidate but a competitive legacy.
Who is a competitive legacy?
This isn't actually how it works, but let's do a little thought experiment. Legacy status gives a student a bump but not all legacies get in. So let's say your student is just being judged against other legacies. What does their direct competition look like? There is a stereotype that legacies are spoiled rich kids who aren't the brightest so they are coasting on a name and money. If you have seen a hacky 80s romcom you have probably seen this archetype. However, this is not true of the vast majority of legacies. Especially the legacy students we work with.
Yes, legacies routinely come from privileged backgrounds, but that also means they come from families that invest in their education. Legacies routinely go to top high schools, work with the best tutors, and get help from top college counselors (us, hi!). This makes them highly competitive candidates with great resumes. Your student needs to be like them if they want to be a legacy that gets accepted.
So how will your student be a competitive legacy?
Consider Applying Early
This is a tip really for any student dreaming of Columbia. Remember that 3.7% acceptance rate? Well, it's actually made of two acceptance rates. The early decision acceptance rate of 10.31% and the regular decision acceptance rate of 2.96%. While all the decision rates are competitive the ED is much higher. It's doubly important for legacies to consider ED-ing. Across the industry, legacy status is considered more seriously in the ED round. In fact, many top schools only consider legacy as a plus in the ED round. Overall this is where it will carry the most weight and that's an important advantage for legacies to take.
Get Good Grades
Legacy status can't make up for subpar grades. In actuality, legacies should shoot for higher grades than the average student. Legacies come from families that have access to top tutors. This means usually legacy parents get help the minute their students' grades start to slip. It's not unusual to see legacies with 4.0s or even higher. Columbia is looking for students with high GPAs. For the class of 2025, 95.7% of admitted students were in the top 10% of their high school's graduating class. That is including legacies. So your legacy should be pushing themselves to take hard classes and do well at them to ensure they are top of their class. Without that, they will not get in.
Ace the SAT/ACT
Great grades are the first thing Columbia looks at; the next thing is great standardized test scores. The middle 50% of applicants who submitted scores for the Class of 2025 either earned between 1490 to 1560 on the SAT or 34-35 on the ACT. This is the middle 50, meaning 25% of students earned between 1560-1600 or 35-36. Most legacies will be part of that upper 25%. Legacy parents often pay thousands of dollars for top SAT/ACT tutors to ensure their students get near-perfect or perfect scores on their tests. Your legacy should Be shooting for perfection
Go the EXTRA mile
Sometimes parents think that a great application and good extracurriculars can make up for subpar grades and scores. That isn't how it works. Without great grades and scores your student won't get in. However, with only a 3%ish acceptance rate, not every student with good grades will get in. There are simply not enough spaces. Your child has to get great grades and scores and then do more. They need a great application and a great resume.
We help a lot of legacies hoping to get into top schools. We often start with students during the late spring of their junior year to help them write killer essays and best package themselves. However, many legacies start even earlier. These students often start their sophomore or junior year and want help building a stand-out resume with detailed capstone projects.
Whether you chose to work with a counselor or not, your legacy needs to craft a great resume during their time in high school. They need to figure out a niche that they are passionate about and pursue that passion very intensely.
And then there is You
Legacy admissions exist because they want to keep alumni involved. Legacy alone doesn’t move the needle. You need to have more interaction with the school than donating $100 a year, doing some alumni interviews, and deleting alumni association emails.
Your student has to shine (even and especially) as a legacy. Columbia is hard to get into and no one coasts in. If your student isn't a competitive candidate, they won't get in. While legacy status can help, it won't make up for a subpar applicant. If your student is serious about Columbia, you will need to push them to be the best candidate they can be. If this all seems scary, we can help.
Trust us, reach out here.