Anonymous wrote:OP here. The legacy kid is a mediocre student and doesn’t have top stats, but it doesn’t matter, right?

It depends on a few things 1) how much $ the legacy family is giving; 2) how mediocre the student is compared to their typical profile of the admitted student; and 3) how much the school cares about legacy as they aren’t all the same.

Most legacy admits are quite strong students unless there is real $ involved.

Anonymous wrote:DD is applying to a single digit selective college.
In her school there are two boys who are also applying, both from very wealthy families. One is legacy and heavily donates, another donates seven digit donations.

My kid has no chance.

If you can't beat them, join them. Tell DD to seduce one of the boys so she can be a part of that wealthy class one day.

The people who speak with authority about other people's children on here never cease to amaze me. No matter what you think may or may not be true about another kid's qualifications unless you are their college counselor and have access to all of their application information you have no idea what you are talking about and you are speaking entirely out of order (and if you are their college counselor you are speaking out of order for a different reason).

Be a good parent. Help your kid. Be proud and stop bemoaning other perceived advantages.

Anonymous wrote:just wait until you learn about the job market. and life

Yup!

Wait until they get passed over for a promotion by someone whose parents are best friends with the boss (and are not as qualified as you). Life is never fair...you have to learn how to play the game and accept the fact that connections means something.
I once worked in a large company, and my department (of 75+) got a new manager from "outside"---soon all levels of management were from this guys old company. The writing was on the wall, and it was obvious nobody who was originally in the dept was going to advance in the near future. So the smart ones of the group (like myself) started searching and found new positions (both internally and externally). Took me about 6 months to find the best new position and I moved onward and upward from there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand why you don't think it is fair but it is a known part of the system, these are private institutions and as such they can prioritize rewarding legacies and donors, as well as athletes, FGLI students and kids from rural states etc. Since your DD is aware of the competition from her peers she could decide to focus on a different single digit school and apply ED.

What about all the a-holes that tell you everything is “merit based?” Then when legacy-Chad or wealthy-Heather graduates from the single digit school, they turnaround and say “why can’t the poor brown kids work hard like we did?”

Very few admits are from families donating 7 figures. And many of those legacy/major donors are actually smart kids because they grew up with all the resources and families who care about education.
So yes, it is merit based---those kids most likely would still be "highly qualified candidates" without the parental connections.

Anonymous wrote:That's not rigged. They are offering something your family isn't.

Agreed! while it doesn't seem "fair", life is never "fair". Someone always has more than you (unless you are Musk or Bezos or Gates....
Those 7 figure donations are benefiting the university and many students for many years. It's what helps pay for merit and FA for many students (or provides a new building and resources that go along with it).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is applying to a single digit selective college.
In her school there are two boys who are also applying, both from very wealthy families. One is legacy and heavily donates, another donates seven digit donations.

My kid has no chance.

Bookmark this and come back to let us know how it worked out.

Definately!

But in reality, do NOT waste your ED on this school. Because yes, those two are likely gaining admission if they have good stats.

Yup, it is unfair. Now your job as a parent is to make sure your kid talks to her GC, selects schools that are in the running (ie- no big donor/legacy apps to compete with) and moves forward without bitterness. The best thing you can do for your kid is to encourage them to apply to a balanced list of schools, find a safety they'll be happy attending and let them know that you'll be proud of them no matter where they end up. Smart, motivated kids will thrive wherever they are planted and there are more than just a handful of schools out there where your kid will meet friends, have an incredible classroom experience and enjoy being for 4 years. Find options that will suit your child- for example, if your kid loves Brown, have them check out Wesleyan and Vassar, lots of overlap in the type of students who apply to all three. If they apply to schools that are a good fit, they'll be fine.

You could say the same thing (rigged) about a lot of different scenarios-- recruited athletes have an even bigger chance of admission than legacies. A lot of schools (though not generally the tippy top ones) put a thumb on the scale for full pay versus financial aid students. And, as someone above pointed out, for boys (to get a class balance). And people from areas of the country that are different from their base. And in a lot of cases, for less popular majors. And many ivies have a 'pipeline' from a prestigious private school.

That said, if you know that a couple of big donors are applying, I might plan my ED/EA strategy to avoid that school.

I've seen this happen among friends and community every year. They have their kids apply out to the area private schools in 8th grade, and they all accept their spots thinking it will boost their chance of getting into a better college than our local public. They are very open about it. But they soon realize that high school is a different ball game and there are so many other other factors (like social adjustment, mental health, etc) and like OP, other legacy and VIP families. It's very unfortunate and happens every year! Just make decisions best for your child all around whether that's private or public HS or which schools to ED to...

Such is life.

These don’t seem to be accurate. CMU doesn’t have 30% acceptance rate. More like 10

The legacy with meh stats is unlikely to get in unless his family donates a lot or there is some super impressive outside activity you don't know about. But the kid whose family is donating $$$ could easily get in if a reasonable student. Either way I would encourage your DD to find a more realistic top choice school.

Anonymous wrote:DD is applying to a single digit selective college.
In her school there are two boys who are also applying, both from very wealthy families. One is legacy and heavily donates, another donates seven digit donations.

My kid has no chance.

Troll. One is legacy and donates and the other is not legacy and donates a million +?