We work with legacy students all the time and the most common question we hear is from parents: “Will my legacy kid get in?” The answer can be slightly more complicated than you might think. At top schools like Penn, not every legacy gets in. Actually, most legacies do not get in. It’s just too competitive. So we wanted to break down all the ins and outs of legacy admission at Penn and answer some of the most common questions we get from alumni parents.
Who is a legacy at Penn?
The first thing we want to point out is that UPenn only talks about legacy in their Early Decision Admission section. It is not mentioned in any other materials. However, in their ED admission materials, they define legacy as “being either a child or grandchild of alumni.” They also say, “Legacies who apply to Penn—like all applicants—receive thorough consideration in the application process.” More on that later.
Most schools really only consider legacy based on parents, so Penn is fairly unique amongst top colleges for also considering grandparents.
How many legacies are at Penn?
For the Class of 2025, 13% were legacy. For the Class of 2024, 13% were legacy. And you guessed it. For the Class of 2023, 13% were legacy. It is probably an understatement that UPenn has kept its legacy numbers consistent in recent years.
13% is pretty standard for the Ivy League. We could have understood if it was even a little higher than it is because they include grandparents in their legacy definition. However, 13% is lower than some other top schools in recent years. You might be asking yourself, wait but how many get in?
How Many Legacies get into Penn?
That’s a tricky question to ask. We talk to admission officers and insiders all the time and across the industry and professionals do not like to talk about legacy-specific admission rates. Very few universities publish this data. Legacy admissions can be a polarizing topic and many schools don’t want to look bad for giving people special treatment.
The most recent numbers on legacy admission to UPenn come from the class of 2022 and its early decision admits. The Daily Pennsylvanian writes, “While they made up only 16 percent of the 7,074 applications received in November, legacy students constituted 25 percent of Penn’s early admit pool. Across the four Ivy League institutions that reported the figure (Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Penn), Penn has the highest percentage of accepted students who are legacies.”
There was a lot of pushback when these numbers came out and we think this probably was pushed down in subsequent years. However, Penn has recently become a little cagey when it comes to announcing class statistics. For example this year, they only announced approximate statistics for the Class of 2026. It was a strange decision and a rep told Forbes, “We know that people are curious about Penn’s enrollment and that potential applicants want data when considering Penn. After the class settles into place in May, we’ll post the details about who is enrolling and some of the academic and demographic characteristics that represent students in our incoming class.” As of now, we haven’t been able to find that data on any UPenn site.
How do I get my kid in?
There is no definite way to get into Penn (other than maybe being named Hunstman, Platt, or Trump, but if that’s off the table…) a good place to start for all students is applying early, especially if you are a legacy.
Penn offers admission to around 50% of their total class during ED. For the Class of 2025, 22% of the admitted students during ED were legacies. However, the total number of legacies on campus after RD was about 13% meaning they let far fewer legacies in during RD. Even if your child isn’t a legacy but just loves UPenn, you should apply early. For the Class of 2025, the overall admissions rate was about 5.8%. The ED rate was around 15% and the RD was around 4.4%. Yes, 15% is still competitive, but it’s far better than 4.4%.
Penn is always going to be competitive, so whenever you apply, your student’s application needs to stand out.
What makes an application stand out?
Everyone who applies to Penn first needs to have great grades and test scores. Not all legacies get in and some have good grades and scores but didn’t stand out. Your student needs to be more than just a legacy, they need to have a great application. Remember Penn says, “Legacies who apply to Penn—like all applicants—receive thorough consideration in the application process.” Being a legacy may help them get in, but they already need to be good candidates.
Trust us, we work with legacies all the time, and legacy applicants often push themselves to have amazing applications. Many of them have been dreaming of Penn since they were kids and now are very invested in creating the best application that they can. Great applications have more than just good grades, they have great extracurriculars and unique essays. Admissions officers read thousands of applications and having engaging essays can make the difference between a good application and a stand-out one.
It’s probably self-serving, but if your student is serious about getting into Penn, we advise working with a counselor (even if it isn’t us -though we do think we are the best at what we do). Counselors eat, sleep, and breathe admissions and can really help students make a bulletproof application. With only a 4-15% acceptance rate, students really need a competitive application.
Penn has not been as forthcoming with numbers as it once was and this can make it hard to predict who will and who won’t get in. This makes it imperative to be organized, apply early, and have the best application possible even if your student has legacy status. If you don’t know where to start, we are always happy to talk!
Need help? Reach out here.