I grew going to school with a very wealthy family who got several kids into Harvard through being a big donor and a legacy. However, all of the kids were smart--Harvard was definitely a reach, but it wasn't like they were C students with horrible test scores. At our school, typically people who got into Harvard/Yale/Stanford/Princeton/MIT/Caltech were in the top 2% of their class. The kids in that family who got into Harvard were in the top 10%--all AP and honors coursework, varsity sports, decent extracurriculars, etc. Without the big donations, they probably would have gone places like Penn, Northwestern, Amherst, etc. One sibling was not that smart, and went to a pretty middling school.

I think this sort of situation is more common--those smart, could totally do the work and succeed at Harvard sort of people, but don't get in because they haven't cured cancer at age 18 and maybe have a B+ or two on their transcripts get a bump from Dad's check.

The short answer is that if you have to ask the question you can't afford the answer.

Of course! You need at least 5 million to endow, and it helps if you're influential yourself (otherwise if you're a nobody the price goes up).

Read "The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges--and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates" by Daniel Golden. He interviewed and researched on many legacies, development cases and athletic scholars.

Eye-opening. Also interesting side bit about the senselessness of the US News Rankings and how they artificially keep HYP at the top.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown was never considered academically on par with other Ivies, so it started to differentiate itself by admitting the children of the wealthy and socially connected. If you think of getting a good seat at a NYC restaurant by slipping the maitre d' some large bills, and then apply that approach to a university, you end up with Brown.

Were you rejected from Brown? It's really bothering you.

Not that PP, but she's basically just paraphrasing The Price of Admission. I'm the first poster who wrote about that book (re Brown and Duke), and this poster is just recounting what I read.

Also in PoA: some Brown administrator actually stopped by George Harrison's house in England (this was obviously a while ago) to have dinner and discuss bringing his kid to Brown. Also, Brown got rid of distribution requirements/core curriculum as another way to appeal to the kids of the wealthy.

Other schools may do this, but we're talking about degrees. From reading PoA, you get the sense, fairly or unfairly, that Brown is in a league of its own.

Anonymous wrote:Brown was never considered academically on par with other Ivies, so it started to differentiate itself by admitting the children of the wealthy and socially connected. If you think of getting a good seat at a NYC restaurant by slipping the maitre d' some large bills, and then apply that approach to a university, you end up with Brown.

Were you rejected from Brown? It's really bothering you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown was never considered academically on par with other Ivies, so it started to differentiate itself by admitting the children of the wealthy and socially connected. If you think of getting a good seat at a NYC restaurant by slipping the maitre d' some large bills, and then apply that approach to a university, you end up with Brown.

Academically on par or not, ALL of them were getting their palms greased at the same time.

Not really.

Anonymous wrote:Brown was never considered academically on par with other Ivies, so it started to differentiate itself by admitting the children of the wealthy and socially connected. If you think of getting a good seat at a NYC restaurant by slipping the maitre d' some large bills, and then apply that approach to a university, you end up with Brown.

Academically on par or not, ALL of them were getting their palms greased at the same time.

Brown was never considered academically on par with other Ivies, so it started to differentiate itself by admitting the children of the wealthy and socially connected. If you think of getting a good seat at a NYC restaurant by slipping the maitre d' some large bills, and then apply that approach to a university, you end up with Brown.

The Price of Admission talked about people buying their ways into Brown and Duke (not an Ivy, before someone jumps on me, but still selective). It seemed like a few particularly egregious cases, but who knows, maybe this goes on more extensively and even if Dad isn't a Beatle or a novelist.

Not if the student is totally unqualified, but it does help:

From
Donor Admissions: How It Works Now at
http://www.dartblog.com/data/2014/09/011686.php

The fact that special attention is given to the children of large donors is nothing new: undergrads can confirm that proposition just by looking at the last names of many of their classmates which appear on buildings and among the members of the Board of Trustees. However, it seems that as with many other areas of the College, this arguably necessary corruption has been extended significantly in the past few years. From a tiny share of each class — say about 1% — a decade or two ago, it now appears that 4%- 5% of incoming freshman are given special admissions consideration due to large gifts to Dartmouth by their parents. In fact, longtime head of Development Carrie Pelzel used to joke aloud that her job was much easier when alumni had kids coming into the college application phase of their lives

Anonymous wrote:Theoretical question. I'm not rich enough, just curious.

Probably considered most likely at Brown. It never hurts to have parents who are alumni and have made generous donations.

You need to fork over enough in advance to make it worth their while. Perhaps The Donald wasn't interested in making a 7-8 figure donation just then.

Anonymous wrote:Theoretical question. I'm not rich enough, just curious.

Yes, developmental cases.

No. I went to Penn in late 90s/early 2000s. Ivanka Trump applied for admission while I was a student. She got rejected b/c her grades/test scores were not good enough. Ended up going to Georgetown for her freshman year and transferring to Penn her sophomore year once she was able to establish a good academic track record at Georgetown. If she couldn't buy admission, I assume others can't also.

Theoretical question. I'm not rich enough, just curious.