Being Faculty Child Hurts Chances?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm in a pretty unique situation here. Can anyone offer some insight? Sorry for such a long explanation, there is a quick summary at the bottom.</p>

<p>My father is a professor at a large (40,000 students) public state flagship university in the midwest. Because of this, I live and go to a public school in the city that the university is in. I'm going to be a high school senior, and I've wanted to attend this university for a while. I've done a lot of research and it's a good fit for me. My father doesn't teach any classes that I could possibly take, however, so that's not a factor.</p>

<p>What is a factor is that I am the child of a faculty member at the university I want to attend. Now usually, this might mean I have a slightly higher chance of getting in. But even if my dad didn't work at this university, I would probably have really good chances of getting admitted. I've got an unweighted GPA of 3.7 on a 4.0 scale and 2270 SAT and 35 ACT, and aiming for a school that is only somewhat selective. The 75th ACT percentile for this university is only a 28 and it accepts 60% of all applicants. </p>

<p>But here's the real kicker: I'm Asian. This drives the admissions bar that I have to get over much higher than that 75th percentile I gave before. My OK chances of getting in are suddenly really bad, but what makes it worse is the unique fact of my dad being a professor there.</p>

<p>Because my dad is a faculty member at this public state university, I receive roughly half the price of an in-state tuition, which amounts to roughly $7000 a year for tuition alone. This is really cheap, and the university knows this. The university also knows my father is approaching retirement age. Now what my dad does is conduct lots of research, which makes lots of money for the university. If he were to retire, the university would lose a valuable money-making asset. They want to keep him.</p>

<p>I was informed of this possibility the other day. By accepting me and knowing that I would attend, this university will have to charge me very cheap prices for tuition, saving money for my family. The university also knows that a big issue in my dad's retirement is the amount of money he has. By rejecting me, this university knows that I would be forced to attend a different college, one that charges much more for tuition, some place like Northwestern or U Chicago or an Ivy League school that can charge upwards of $40,000 a year for tuition. Over 4 years, this could be more than $160,000 in extra costs for my family versus only around $28000 in tuition if I attend this specific university. By forcing me to go somewhere else, this university would also force my dad to work much longer for them to cover the costs of a different college. By working longer, the university could make more money from my dad than they would ever get from my tuition.</p>

<p>From a business perspective, this is the perfect plan to suck out as much money as possible from my family, and I fear that the university does function as a business and will do this. The university knows that the chances of me donating money back to them is quite low, and they stand to make more money by rejecting me and making my dad work longer for them.</p>

<p>So, in short, I want to go to the university that my dad is a professor at because it's cheap. The university knows that it's cheap. My dad is nearing retirement age. Even though I am mostly qualified to go, the university could reject me and force me to go to another, very likely more expensive college and by doing this, force my dad to work for them longer to pay the costs of going to a different college, and also make more money for them by virtue of my dad being an accomplished research professor.</p>

<p>Are my fears real or is this totally crazy?</p>

2

<p>This is just my guess, but are you by chance talking about the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Uni High School? If so, then yes, you are crazy because your GPA and scores are great and you would never be rejected from U of I. If it’s any other state flagship in the midwest, you wouldn’t be rejected from there either with those stats. I honestly wouldn’t worry too much about it… Usually, being a child of faculty only helps and gets you a good deal for tuition.</p>

3

<p>And if you think being Asian will keep you out of a near-safety level school, then why are you thinking that you may have to go to a more selective school like Northwestern, Chicago, or an Ivy League school?</p>

<p>However, some majors or divisions at the school may be more selective than the overall average (e.g. at many schools, engineering and CS may be more selective than other majors).</p>

<p>If you really need a low cost 100% sure thing safety, look here: <a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>No. I know from experience that your father’s role at the Univ. will actually aid your admission chances. But don’t rule out those Ivies–they offer tremendous aid packages these days, in some cases even for “upper” middle-class families…</p>

5

<p>You are overthinking this. When the adcom looks at your app, they’ll say - oh, this kid is the son of Prof X. </p>

<p>They are not going to sit there and say - so therefore we have to give him a discount, so therefore we should reject him, so he’ll be forced to go elsewhere and papa will have to continue working for us. You’re overdramatizing the impact of being Asian and you’re overdramatizing how much an adcom is going to focus on your family. </p>

<p>You’re a facbrat at a school you want to attend, you’re qualified to attend, and you get a tuition break. These are good things. Your imagination is working overtime. </p>

6

<p>And the obvious piece that you’re missing is that if they want to keep your father on the faculty, they WON’T reject the son. </p>

7

<p>Way too much intrigue in your scenario. Bottom line: faculty dependents get a boost regardless of race or projected retirement date.</p>

8

<p>Yup, you are seeing a conspiracy theory when there isn’t one. Heck, most parents would STAY (at least I would) for the chance to be on the same campus as my kid for 4 years. Pretty sure your father isn’t motivated by the money at this point (I am guessing he is also compensated somewhat for what he is doing for the University). You are just wasting brain cycles thinking about this, put it out of your mind and concentrate on finalizing your list and getting your applications done. Put your best foot forward in your application to this college, you still have to do a good job on it, of course. Good luck!</p>

9

<p>Faculty family here – agreeing, you are way too deep into this. As a faculty kid, you may get a slight bump on the admissions scale, and that is the end of it. No one is scheming about how to maximize the chances of keeping your research-productive parent at the University. And even if they were, rejecting their qualified kid would not be how to do it. </p>

10

<p>What also makes no sense is – if they were just “running it as a business,” they wouldn’t GIVE a tuition discount to the faculty families, they’d make them be full pay like everyone else. The fact that they give you both a boost and a tuition discount is BECAUSE they value faculty families. Relax and take advantage of it. </p>

11

<p>I have to say that if they ever made Collegeconfidential: The Movie, this could be a pretty cool plot line though.</p>

12

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<p>Employers offer benefits to employees in order to attract and retain them, which is part of running the business. Discounts for faculty at universities fall into the same category as employee discounts for products and services at other employers (e.g. work at a car company, get discounted prices on that company’s cars).</p>

13

<p>I think you’ve constructed a whole non-existent scenario out of thin air. Honestly it sounds to me like you have an advantage as a faculty child and are just looking for a reason to walk around with a chip on your shoulder.</p>

<p>And what is your basis for saying that being Asian drives the admissions bar way higher than 75%?</p>

14

<p>Also, if for some highly unlikely reason you are rejected from said school, why would you assume you’ll just get into NU, UChicago, or an Ivy? Being Asian makes your odds even worse there. Take advantage of your situation.</p>

15

<p>I’ll answer your original question very simply: totally crazy</p>

16

<p>Why don’t you find a college that will give you a merit scholarship and allow you to attend for even less money? This would enable you to thwart their insidious plan!</p>

17

<p>Indeed. Also, this is a public university, which are, as a general rule, still very much not run like a business (for better and worse).
Also aren’t, as a general rule, much concerned about whether any one race is overrepresented (they may worry about whether they are opening opportunities to URM, but not so much the other end).
If this is UIUC, you might have noticed that Engineering undergrad is about half Asian now (over half-Asian if you count the grad students as well). For that matter, U of I Engineering traditionally hasn’t cared about a lot of things in admissions (like social skills, well-roundedness, etc.). Still an impressive number of high-achieving grads from there, however.</p>

18

<p>Agree, this thinking is too convoluted, especially for a high performing kid. And forget the anti-Asian conspiracy theories.</p>

<p>Being a faculty kid is likely a tip. Not a guarantee. Certainly not a hindrance. We talk all the time about this. And you claim to have the stats. Separate from admissions, they offer a tuition discount. Some colleges also offer a $ amount (or formula or program) when the kid goes to another college. You just have to look this stuff up and think clearly. Plus, the tuition bennie sometimes continues for faculty who retire, depends on how the college has it structured. </p>

19

<p>The theoretical “Asian quota” exists only for a small number of elite private schools in the Northeast who use the word “Ivy” in their athletic league and maybe a few others. No state flagship has such a quota, and in fact, almost all of them are “formula schools” - they plug the numbers in and decide if you get admitted - rejects may be looked at to boost certain categories and faculty kids who wind up in the reject pile almost certainly get a second favorable look. Your scenario is not going to happen.</p>

<p>FWIW, faculty kids at WashU with really low stats still get in because they’d rather educate them for free at WashU than send half-tuition (real money!) to some other school.</p>

20

<p>You’ve got a weird vendetta against WashU, which doesn’t even have anything to do with this thread. </p>

<p>And if it’s UIUC, it’s not a “formula school.” </p>