<p>@fireandrain - “the fact that kid A’s father owns a hugely successful hedge fund might come up.” Of course it comes up; plus the names are known names anyway re seen on the CA profile and dad’s occupation. Those big endowments of the Ivies, which allows them to have tons of FA, do not come from doctors and lawyers. Sorry, they do not make enough comparatively. </p>
<p>You don’t seriously believe that Adcom’s know how to use Google or Linkedin? They don’t need a guidance counselor telling them who owns what- they have computers, a last name, and a mailing address. Within 5 seconds they can have everything they need about a kids socio-economic status on their screen. And for HS kids who post photos of their winter vacation in Jamaica and February break in Aspen and April in Cancun-- you don’t need to be Nancy Drew to be an admissions officer and figure out which kids at the prep school are living the high life at age 17.</p>
<p>It was a big deal when my alma mater went from need aware to need blind. I think colleges in general take their responsibility to society (however they define it- but for sure trying to extend the advantages of higher education to kids whose parents did not go to college or grew up in disadvantaged circumstances) very seriously. Not enough money to admit every kid in America with need, that’s reality.</p>
<p>What is surprising is how so many seem to think that colleges have a pot of money somewhere that they can go to whenever. Economically, they have limits just like every other household. </p>
<p>Family wealth can come up, sure. Whether it means the kid automatically passes muster is disputable. Why am I arguing this? Holistic. Does it always work perfectly at every school? Doubt it. Does the GW tale tell us much about need-blind, in general? Doubt that, too. Are some schools with middling endowments probably looking for hints the kid won’t cost them much? Probably. Maybe a great applicant to one of these does get a teeny glow. But “great” is more than Mom and/or Dad’s financial status.</p>
<p>F&R, my question would be: was your friend’s kid a high achiever in that sort of pool that cultivates and highly promotes their “top performers?” </p>
<p>Blossom, yeah, but 10-20 min per review doesn’t allow much time for googling. </p>
<p>lookingforward: Depends on your definition of “high achiever.” But I don’t want to thrash out her admission story here. The point is that mom noticed a trend – the wealthy kids were accepted at a higher rate than the not-so-wealthy. </p>
<p>Now, just to clarify, this doesn’t mean that these wealthy kids weren’t “qualified.” They had high SATs, high GPAs, good ECs. My friend believed that when admissions officers looked at her kid and the silver-spoon kid, all other things being equal, the wealthy one got in. She has no proof of this. And this was one year at one high school, and a mom who was bitterly disappointed by her kid’s results. </p>
<p>I also don’t think admissions spends that much time googling. All they need is one phone call to the GC at Exeter/Andover/Dalton/pick-your-prep-school, and they learn which kids come from extreme wealth. Much faster than googling every name. Not to mention the development office probably sends memos to admissions, too. Now, not all these kids get in – the only guarantee of admissions is if you have written a check big enough for a building to be named after you.</p>
<p>
Those are only anecdotal reports from CC, but to the extent that you are drawing conclusions, that difference could easily be accounted for by the different quality of high schools attended. Given today’s college costs, most families who do not need financial aid can also afford to send their kids to private high schools, or to live in neighborhoods with high quality schools. A higher proportion of the students who need financial aid probably attend public schools, including many public schools with weaker academics overall – so it may be that they need better individual qualifications to overcome the handicap of attending Nowheretown High, instead of Ritzy Prep. </p>
<p>Just not enough info on CC to know.</p>
<p>FWIW, my kids applied for financial aid and were accepted to almost all schools where they applied – and that includes my daughter, who was accepted to several schools where her test scores were below median for the school (in some cases, in the bottom quartile). She was waitlisted at a need-aware schools that was less selective than some of the need-blind schools that accepted her – so of course that could have been a factor. </p>