<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am curious about how children of faculty are considered in the admissions process. I am applying to college this year, and one of my parents works as a professor at an Ivy League (HYP) school. Would it be ethical to apply/ attend should I be accepted? I don't want to go to a school that I don't believe I deserve to go to. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>SAT: 2300 first sitting
SATII: 780 Bio M, Math level II 800
GPA: 4.1 (maybe 3.9 unweighted? I got a B+ and three A-s freshman through junior year)
Rank: school doesn't rank but probably in the top 10 out of ~270
AP: 5s on three tests
ECs: captain of a sports team, I play said sport year round quite intensely, I also started a hip hop and breakdancing club, high up position on school newspaper, math team, tutoring
Summer: I did research and got a rec letter, sports camps (to try to get recruited)
Awards: nothing, won some school awards, national merit commended
School type: pretty competitive public, suburban
Essay: I wrote my essay about a specific experience I had studying abroad for a semester</p>
<p>Children of faculty members are given significant preference, even possibly more than legacy children.
That being said, you having family members in faculty member may be enough to cover for relatively weak weighted GPA, fewer AP courses and somewhat lacking ECs.
Let me give you an example; I knew a kid whom everyone thought was fine but not-at-all impressive. Several kids who did same ECs-mock trial-said that he was very average in what he did. However, he had family members all over the Ivy league schools. And he got in 5 of Ivy leagues he applied. Now you may see that how much influential having family members can be in admission office.</p>
<p>HOWEVER I AM NOT SAYING YOU ARE UNIMPRESSIVE!</p>
<p>You DO seem like a person who can do intense works in top tiers, judging from your SAT score and good UW Gpa while also managing dancing clubs…unlike the kid whom I doubt that he will manage Ivy school workloads. </p>
<p>Best wish for you! </p>
<p>your stats are nowhere close to being “accepted” as an Ivy League HYP candidate. That being said, if one of your parents is a professor, apply, and thank them for that lucky opportunity that millions of people would cut off one of their arms for. If not, then try going to somewhere like UCLA or Berkeley, Northwestern, etc.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t it be ethical? Your parent isn’t isn’t admitting you, admissions would be reviewing you. Faculty kids are not a shoo-in. Your app matters. You should realize the competition will include many without one B each semester (or even, each year.) You have roughly four weeks until deadlines. Honestly, it seems rather late to be asking this, especially when you have a connection to the school. Is there some other purpose behind this?</p>
<p>@lookingforward To clarify, 1) I had one B+ in my high school career, not per semester. 2) 4 weeks is enough to complete the application. 3) I am wondering how much special consideration I would get should I apply 4) I may not be happy at a school that I do not feel qualified to be at</p>
<p>I hope this answers your question</p>
<p>@paul2752 Thank you very much for your feedback. I agree that without a hook, HYP schools would be a stretch for me. I would like to point out that weighted GPAs vary immensely by school. I took the hardest courseload possible and Naviance reports the average accepted GPA for my school at Harvard as 4.07, Yale at 4.05 and Princeton as 4.15</p>
<p>How does your school weigh gpa?</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you ask the person who will know–the faculty member? You should get a tip factor but they won’t admit you if they don’t want to or if you are outside acceptable range of students. You should be grateful for small advantages, imo. But if you prefer to pretend that admissions is completely unaffected by tip factors and think colleges admission must be deserved and that faculty should all send their children elsewhere and not get any perks of employment, then go ahead and decline. No one else will care except you and your family.</p>
<p>@paul2752 Paul - The reason these may seem low is that there are required classes freshman and sophomore year that are weighted lower (for example, an A in spanish, cooking or PE registers as a 3.7). In general though, an A in AP or honors is a 4.2, while an A+ is 4.5. The “valedictorian” (we don’t have an official one) is typically in the 4.2 range and gets in to HYP.</p>
<p>@paul2752 My grades were 1 A+, 10x A, 3x A- , 1x B+</p>
<p>@BrownParent My parent has no idea. My opinion is that special consideration in admissions for one’s children should not be a perk of employment.</p>
<p>If you’re not interested or aren’t confident, you don’t have to apply. But you said HYP and you won’t be the first faculty kid to try. They consider you in the pool. There is no special hook. BP said it: “You should get a tip factor but they won’t admit you if they don’t want to or if you are outside acceptable range of students.” A tip refers to their interest, not some auto admit. At HYP, it isn’t “special” consideration. You don’t go straight to finalist. It’s hard to even call it a perk, though you may get a tuition benefit.</p>
<p>@lookingforward Thank you for your insight. </p>
<p>Look, with all tip students, whether legacy or faculty, or whatever, there is a minimum threshold admissions will accept. They don’t want to take a student who will fail to thrive at their school.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that many people here are saying that you are unimpressive. Your SAT score puts you in the upper tier and if your B+ is your lowest grade, you seem to be doing very well academically. Keep in mind that different schools have different weighting systems, so evaluating yourself in the context of your own school will be more important than that of a different school.</p>
<p>There is almost no harm in applying. It’s hard to believe that you would be unqualified with those academic chops. Like HYP and other tippy top schools say, if they switched out the students from the top 10% that apply with those from the next 10%, there would be virtually no academic performance difference because there are so many qualified students that apply. So have confidence in yourself.</p>
<p>You should evaluate whether the school is a good fit, but seeing as your family member works there, you can likely hear all about the school through them and definitely be there for a visit. Considering your Naviance accepted GPAs are within where you say they are, you are definitely within range.</p>
<p>So if you feel like it is a school worth consideration, apply. </p>
<p>OP, without legacy your app looks a bit generic due to the number of AP courses you took and ECs, but I wonder
if you can pull out interesting essays about dancing?? Hmm.</p>
<p>The weight of being a faculty child is dependent on the school’s policy for children of faculty - does the school cover part of their tuition? I go to Cornell, where depending on the tier of the faculty, part of their child’s tuition is covered whether he/she attends Cornell or not. Therefore, it’s very beneficial for Cornell to accept what are known as “faculty brats” to avoid paying for them to attend another college. </p>
<p>Aside from that, your credentials are good, so don’t feel guilty if you get into the college. It’s the admission committee’s decision, and if they decide to admit you, then that’s great and you deserve it just as much as anyone else.</p>
<p>@Ranza123 Thanks for your answer. The school does not cover any of the tuition for faculty members.</p>