“Hurrah, Hurrah! He’s going to be a quaker just like his mother!” is something we hear from parents all the time. It always gives us pause. Mainly because most alumni parents don’t really understand legacy admissions at top schools like Penn. They assume their kids will automatically get in, or that it’ll be significantly easier, which just isn’t the case. So if you are a legacy parent (or a student thinking of applying to your dear old parent’s alma mater), let’s break down legacy admissions at Penn.
What percentage of Legacies get into Penn?
The short answer is it is impossible to know. Penn is super tight-lipped about legacy admissions numbers. However, across the Ivy League, the highest legacy rate we have ever seen is 30%. That was Harvard several years ago, and we would be shocked if Penn’s was even close to that in recent years. We bring up this slightly unrelated statistic as a marker. Since we have never seen an Ivy League school accept more than 30% of legacies, that means at these top schools the majority of legacies don’t get in. That’s the important takeaway: most legacies don’t get in at top schools. So if your student is serious about following in your footsteps, they need a little bit of strategy and a whole lot of drive.
What are legacies really like?
We work with legacies constantly (specifically Penn legacies!) and they are some of the most motivated and organized candidates out there. There is this stereotype about legacies being less smart or motivated than their peers. We blame *~the media~*. We love Legally Blonde but wouldn’t suggest using it as a primary source. Indeed, legacy candidates often come from privileged backgrounds, but that also means they come from families that invest in education. Legacy students routinely go to top high schools and use the resources at their disposal to become great candidates (more on that later). However, the takeaway is that not all legacies get in and legacies are routinely great candidates. So if you want your legacy to get in, they have to be competitive not only against the average student but also the average legacy.
You might be asking yourself, how will my student be competitive?
ED-it
If your student is serious about UPenn, they should really consider applying early decision. The first schools students hear about are their parent’s alma maters. If your child is a legacy and doesn’t apply ED, Penn will know they are not truly serious. Penn also only talks about legacy admission and preference on their website in their Early Decision Admission section—they are officially tying legacy preference to ED and that should tell you something. ED is a super important tool to help your student get into Penn.
Penn offers admission to about 50% of their class during ED. For the Class of 2025, 22% of the admitted students during ED were legacies. The total number of legacies on campus after RD was about 13% meaning they let far fewer legacies in during RD. For the Class of 2025, the ED admissions rate was around 15% and the RD was around 4.4%. Bottom line: applying ED is what will give your legacy the best shot at UPenn.
Get Serious about Grades
So if you are searching around the internet, you may see that UPenn’s average accepted GPA is 3.9. This number is from 2019, and they haven’t published an average accepted GPA in a few years. So while it’s not a perfect metric, it’s still a good estimate. Sometimes parents think that legacy status or a great essay can make up for not-so-great grades. That’s not how this works. Grades are the first thing a school considers and your student needs to clear that bar. Especially if they are a legacy. Almost every legacy student we have worked with has also worked with an academic tutor or three. This is part of coming from a more privileged background and having parents that invest in education. These families get their kids extra support the minute they see their student's grades slipping. This means legacy students routinely have great GPAs.
We also highly recommend your student push themselves by taking the most challenging classes. Penn wants candidates that push themselves academically. Legacies often come from top high schools which means they come from schools with AP and IB programs. Your student’s transcript needs to compete with them on this level.
Score Score Score
For the Class of 2026, the middle 50% of accepted applicants received 34-36 on the ACT or 1510-1560 on the SAT. What does this mean? Well, it means your student needs to have great test scores. Think of it this way, over 25% of the accepted students who took the ACT got a perfect score. Sometimes when we talk to alumni parents they assume the kids who got a perfect score are not legacies. That they are wunderkinds who are just secret geniuses. But in reality, students from privileged backgrounds spend thousands of dollars working with top tutors to get these types of scores. We work with a lot of these students and most receive perfect scores. You want your legacy to be competitive amongst them and thus, you should be pushing your kid to get perfect or near-perfect test scores.
Everything Else
Penn says:
“Legacies who apply to Penn—like all applicants—receive thorough consideration in the application process.”
The most important markers in the application process are scores and grades. The rest of the application can’t make up for subpar grades and scores. However good grades and scores are not enough on their own. They are the floor.
A lot of qualified applicants apply to UPenn, but most of them won’t get in. Your student needs to sparkle. This is where their legacy status will help, but it's not everything, especially since legacy students usually push themselves outside of the classroom too. Students should plan to have great essays and extracurriculars. Most legacies use college counselors (yes, that is us) for at least essays (usually starting at the end of Junior year) but we work with many legacy candidates as early as freshman or sophomore year to make sure they are building the right resume to get into schools like Penn.
Legacy candidates have great connections/opportunities and they should be using them to help build their resumes because Penn is looking. Penn actually released data on what admitted students for the class of 2026’s resumes looked like. About ⅓ did academic research and many even co-authored papers in their intended study. Almost 40% of students worked during their time in high school. 80% did community service. Your legacy should be doing the same.
And then there’s you
Ok, this is where it gets a little uncomfortable. Penn has 290,000 living graduates. That is a lot of potential legacies. Just like your student should stand out, it wouldn’t hurt for you to stand out as well. If you aren’t involved, get involved. You don’t have to be president or be named Huntsman. That would help, but you should look at your giving, get involved in the alumni association, or help students get internships in your field. Keeping your name around Penn will probably help here, even if it isn’t Platt or Lippincott.
So what does this all mean?
Being a legacy will help an excellent candidate get into Penn, however, if your student isn’t competitive, it won’t get them in. We know we just threw a lot of info at you, but we are always happy to help. Trust us, our CEO is a former Quaker, just like you. We’ll have your back.
Reach out here to learn more!