Letters from Board members

[Anonymous]

It sometimes helps.
Not always though and kids can and do get nixxed even if it’s a prominent board member.

Worth shooting the shot if it’s a #1 choice

[Anonymous]

Extremely common practice at Vanderbilt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never heard of anyone doing this and my kid is at a private. Correlation is not causation.

I hate this phrase. Especially when it's 100% used incorrectly. in this face, correlation IS causation. in your case, where you know no one (who is telling you) about board connections and thus it doesn't happen. THat's a better example of correlation not being causation.

Agree. Commonly used by a mod on another college website. Very irritating. Seems to be used by those who want to appear to be smart, but it doesn't work.

OP: Letters of recommendation from school board members should have an effect on admissions chances. Not only do board members donate time & money to that school, often they hire graduates of that school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You know a lot of important people.[/quote

That’s exactly what I was thinking!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hearing of multiple situations where applicants got board /influential donors’ (named buildings) letters to submit in “support of their application”.
Both public and private colleges & universities.

In the cases of OOS flagships, it’s worked at Mich/Wisc/UT/UVA this year - all OOS and all applicants I personally know (or my kid knows).

Also, know of kids who got similar board “letters of support” at Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale and Barnard this year. All ED/EA/REA kids - all admitted.
Yes, we are at a private school. Small classes = Kids talk.

Is this practice really that common? Does everyone mine their network to get this done? Does this happen every year or only this one bc it’s so unpredictable ?? Does it work for RD too or only EA/ED etc…

Counselors please weigh in as well.

what school are you at OP?
We're at a DC private and i haven't heard of this happening and historical results don't back this up (i.e. some of kids of the most influential families go to much lower ranked schools).

Also, in terms of "mining your network", wouldn't you already know if you have these connections or not? I mean, you would know if your Princeton roommate or friend is on the board and honestly isn't this the only level of relationship that most people would ask?

I can't imagine calling up some guy who was in my year at Princeton that I know works in my industry and maybe I've had drinks with twice or who I sat next to in Biology class or met at a few frat parties.
And I can't imagine him giving my kid a rec. Otherwise, isn't this person just going to spend their life recommending kids to admissions?

We have one person I could see (maybe...a BIG maybe) asking for a boost and this is a former roommate and very close friend (member of my wedding party) who is now the director of financial aid at a top school.
But even then I'd feel odd.

[Anonymous]

Way more common than everyone thinks. And no one is going to talk about it.
It’s the magic of holistic admissions….

[Anonymous]

My DH did this with one of our kids despite my reservations. Kid was well within stats for a particular private and DH reached out to a board member he knew from said school. My issue was that this school was not DC's #1 choice and imo you should only consider doing something like this if it is their #1 choice. Kid wouldn't ED (this school relies heavily on ED to fill their class) and was WL. I think if DC had applied ED it might have moved the needle, but I'm still embarrassed DH asked and am glad DC didn't get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. You know a lot of important people.

+1 I would hope that the recommendation of a board member would indeed carry some weight.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH did this with one of our kids despite my reservations. Kid was well within stats for a particular private and DH reached out to a board member he knew from said school. My issue was that this school was not DC's #1 choice and imo you should only consider doing something like this if it is their #1 choice. Kid wouldn't ED (this school relies heavily on ED to fill their class) and was WL. I think if DC had applied ED it might have moved the needle, but I'm still embarrassed DH asked and am glad DC didn't get in.

Private or public high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never heard of anyone doing this and my kid is at a private. Correlation is not causation.

I hate this phrase. Especially when it's 100% used incorrectly. in this face, correlation IS causation. in your case, where you know no one (who is telling you) about board connections and thus it doesn't happen. THat's a better example of correlation not being causation.

Agree. Commonly used by a mod on another college website. Very irritating. Seems to be used by those who want to appear to be smart, but it doesn't work.

OP: Letters of recommendation from school board members should have an effect on admissions chances. Not only do board members donate time & money to that school, often they hire graduates of that school.

Agree. It’s a sophomoric term

[Anonymous]

Is it too late to do this for this cycle?

My husband mentioned to a longtime business contact in a business meeting earlier this month that our kid applied to a certain school (T20) where he is a board member (husband didn’t know he was a board member - it came up in casual convo about kids, application season, how things are going) ….the business acquaintance asked about the application/area of study/offered to talk to kid about school (which we took up last week). It was a great meeting I think. He’s now offered to write a letter to the admissions office in support of our kid.

I think it’s too late.
My husband doesn’t this so.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it too late to do this for this cycle?

My husband mentioned to a longtime business contact in a business meeting earlier this month that our kid applied to a certain school (T20) where he is a board member (husband didn’t know he was a board member - it came up in casual convo about kids, application season, how things are going) ….the business acquaintance asked about the application/area of study/offered to talk to kid about school (which we took up last week). It was a great meeting I think. He’s now offered to write a letter to the admissions office in support of our kid.

I think it’s too late.
My husband doesn’t this so.

Thoughts?

I’d do it if it was offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it too late to do this for this cycle?

My husband mentioned to a longtime business contact in a business meeting earlier this month that our kid applied to a certain school (T20) where he is a board member (husband didn’t know he was a board member - it came up in casual convo about kids, application season, how things are going) ….the business acquaintance asked about the application/area of study/offered to talk to kid about school (which we took up last week). It was a great meeting I think. He’s now offered to write a letter to the admissions office in support of our kid.

I think it’s too late.
My husband doesn’t this so.

Thoughts?

I think it looks desperate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it too late to do this for this cycle?

My husband mentioned to a longtime business contact in a business meeting earlier this month that our kid applied to a certain school (T20) where he is a board member (husband didn’t know he was a board member - it came up in casual convo about kids, application season, how things are going) ….the business acquaintance asked about the application/area of study/offered to talk to kid about school (which we took up last week). It was a great meeting I think. He’s now offered to write a letter to the admissions office in support of our kid.

I think it’s too late.
My husband doesn’t this so.

Thoughts?

I think it looks desperate

Who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid needs a competitive application to begin with…after that, these things absolutely make a difference.

Yeah but there are others with even more competitive applications minus "letter" - this blows.