Legacy: an education
My family ties to Chapel Hill run deep. On my mom’s side, the entire family has lived in Orange County since the Mayflower days. On my dad’s side, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (class of ‘77), double-majoring in French and Psychology. My brother attended UNC, as did my cousin, my aunt and grandpa were security officers on Franklin Street, my I-can’t-remember-how-he’s-related-so-I-call-him-my-uncle was the Chapel Hill chief of police. Thus, when it came time for me to apply to colleges, UNC-Chapel Hill was obviously on the list.
My family in front of the student store this past weekend.
Did I gain admission to UNC-CH because of my legacy status? Not entirely. But did it help? Probably. Legacy admission has become somewhat controversial in recent years, and perhaps rightfully so. It’s not that a college admits students with lower standards if they’re a legacy student, but rather that they get a second look that maybe another student wouldn’t get. You still have to have the grades, the academic course rigor, the standardized test scores (if required), and so on, but if you have all those things AND familial ties to the college, you have a leg up in the review.
Is this fair? Again, not entirely. But, colleges rely on their alumni base for a number of things, including fundraising. Therefore, maintaining positive ties with families is crucial for their bottom line. To offset some of this, colleges also prioritize “first-generation” students in the admission review. These are students whose parents haven’t attended any college and, as such, don’t have this same connection to rely on.
So, whether you’re a first-generation student and the first in your family line to pursue a degree, or you’re like me, the second French major in hopefully a long line of French majors, apply to the colleges that make you feel like you’re family.
Postscript: I took a French class from the same professor as my dad 25 years later. My dad still had the book from the class, which I used. Scrawled on the inside cover was my dad’s name and dorm: Hinton James Room 539.
