Has anyone found friendship with a Director of admissions to be an advantage?

[Anonymous]

One of my spouse's best friends (college roommate for 3 years) is the Director of Admissions at an elite college.
Assuming my kid (applying to college in 2 yrs) is a qualified candidate can this help him/her?
Anyone have someone in admissions advocate for your kid?

[Anonymous]

She is not to your friend. Don't put her in an uncomfortable position.

[Anonymous]

That person will likely recuse themselves from any discussion of consideration of your kid.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we met a friend of friend who was director of admissions. DS had already applied, but not yet accepted. He was accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we met a friend of friend who was director of admissions. DS had already applied, but not yet accepted. He was accepted.

Which college?

[Anonymous]

Of course it will help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course it will help!

It depends on the school. My dad knows Bill Fitzsimmons (Harvard) and has been told not to pass any names on to him or he will have to recuse himself. Of course, Harvard is in the spotlight all the time. We also are in no position to donate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we met a friend of friend who was director of admissions. DS had already applied, but not yet accepted. He was accepted.

Which college?

Are you serious? Only one director per school. I doubt pp will out him/her, do you?

[Anonymous]

I had a friend in HS who had a relative on the admissions committee of an elite university. I'm not sure the relative was Director of Admissions, but they were high up. Friend was accepted, and everyone knew it was not on merit as she was a B/C student at best. She crashed and burned midway through first year. She ended up going to community college for two years and then finished her degree at a mid-level state school. This was 20 years ago and I would hope the relative would face a lot more scrutiny for something like this today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we met a friend of friend who was director of admissions. DS had already applied, but not yet accepted. He was accepted.

Which college?

Are you serious? Only one director per school. I doubt pp will out him/her, do you?

Stop discouraging pp from answering. Please shut up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That person will likely recuse themselves from any discussion of consideration of your kid.

How do you know that? There are many things going behind the scene that you just do not know.

I teach golf at a high end country club in the DMV and one of my students is a CFO of a fortune 100 company. During one of the lessons, he asked about my family and I told him that my DD is applying to one of Ivies and I think she has zero chance of getting accepted. It just happened the CFO also attended that Ivy school and he made a few calls to the admission office and the school president. Next thing I know, my DD got accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That person will likely recuse themselves from any discussion of consideration of your kid.

How do you know that? There are many things going behind the scene that you just do not know.

I teach golf at a high end country club in the DMV and one of my students is a CFO of a fortune 100 company. During one of the lessons, he asked about my family and I told him that my DD is applying to one of Ivies and I think she has zero chance of getting accepted. It just happened the CFO also attended that Ivy school and he made a few calls to the admission office and the school president. Next thing I know, my DD got accepted.

She must be so proud to have gotten accepted on her own merit.

[Anonymous]

This is a creepy discussion.

Your child should to to school where they earn acceptance.

And you should befriend people that you like, because they have merit as human beings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That person will likely recuse themselves from any discussion of consideration of your kid.

How do you know that? There are many things going behind the scene that you just do not know.

I teach golf at a high end country club in the DMV and one of my students is a CFO of a fortune 100 company. During one of the lessons, he asked about my family and I told him that my DD is applying to one of Ivies and I think she has zero chance of getting accepted. It just happened the CFO also attended that Ivy school and he made a few calls to the admission office and the school president. Next thing I know, my DD got accepted.

She must be so proud to have gotten accepted on her own merit.

Who cares. That's how how it's done. My kid could have gotten into his elite school on his own merits, but these days you never know. It's better to use all the resources you have to make it a slam dunk. So we called a friend who is a big donor alum who met with DS and made calls and wrote letters on his behalf. We also have a friend who is on the leadership team (not admissions) of the school. We didn't ask for her help, but she was well aware of his application because we met her during a visit to the school. Who knows if he got in on his own or because of the help....I don't care frankly.

[Anonymous]

So glad to see the US pains itself to make a level playing field for all its young people.