Usually a legacy is defined as someone whose sister, mother, or grandmother was initiated into any chapter of that sorority. Aunts or cousins would not count with many sororities. Step-relatives may or may not count.
If you are a true legacy, and the sorority has a chapter at the school you'll be rushing at, have your sister, mom, or grandma send in a legacy form for you if the sorority has those, even if you have indicated on your registration forms that you are a legacy. If you don't tell them you're a legacy, they won't know, and it won't help you!
If your sister is a recent alum and you're attending the same school, the girls from her chapter will definitely pay close attention to you. You are almost the most desirable sort of legacy.
If a more distant relative is a sister, but you don't qualify as a legacy because of her, still have her send in a recommendation form. Recs are key at a lot of southern schools, and they can only help anywhere you are. Give your recommender a few headshot photos of you to submit with her rec form. This helps the chapter get familiar with you before rush starts.
With many of the NPC sororities, being a legacy does not guarantee that you'll get a bid. With my group, if you are a legacy but we don't like you, we have to cut you pretty early on. If you make it to the later rounds, you're in, since we don't want to string legacies along if we know they'll be cut eventually... it makes alums mad.
The only people who should care that you are a legacy is the chapter that you are a legacy to. The other chapters may be aware that you are a legacy somewhere else, but this won't make them lose interest in you. I know we especially delight in stealing legacies from the houses that we directly compete with during rush. It may make the others want you even more.
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