I’ll try to be delicate. Among several students admitted to Duke from our high school is one who has everyone scratching their heads. He is far from a top student, stats certainly well below Duke’s middle 50% range, with no special extracurriculars. What he does have, however, is an incredibly rich father. Aside from not having to give aid, do the Duke adcoms consider that wealth in their decisions (i.e. donor potential)? Joke around town is that the arena will now have his name on it.
There was a prominent story of “development admits” in the WSJ back in 2003 that talked about this practice at Duke. Basically, that a particular student wasn’t qualified but was being admitted on the basis of expected future donations/rich family. My understanding is that Duke has curtailed the practice largely, but it still exists for a very limited number of students (~15). Basically, being extremely wealthy or from a prominent family serves as a “hook” much like being an athlete or URM might. The vast majority of students coming from wealthy households are qualified on their own merits. A student who in perhaps on the lower end of the Duke range with regards to academics, but brings an exception musical talent, athletic ability, or the ability to give back to the university may be given a bump. Personally, I’m okay with this practice. If admitting one marginal applicant leads to perhaps 10 more students getting the financial aid they need to attend Duke, then the tradeoff is completely worth it in my mind (coming from somebody who relied on financial aid). Duke tries to admit people who they believe will benefit the Duke community and contribute to a rich diverse environment for current and future students.
Also, Duke domestic admissions are both wholly “need blind” and “100 percent of demonstrated need met,” which means your statement re “not having to give aid” is entirely wrong (i.e., no US applicant is ever denied due to his financial circumstances).
Developmental admits exist as well they should (in my view). Their contributions subsidize the education of hundreds of deserving students.
@bluedog: 15 seems to me too conservative a number. Given a typical freshman class of ~1700, I wouldn’t be surprised if a full 2% (35) are developmental admits.
@MBVLoveless. Very possible. I think the number of individuals in the “development pool” to begin with is definitely >15, but the number of people that ultimately get admitted as “special exceptions” is smaller. I thought I had heard 15 thrown out there, but don’t recall where that came from and it could certainly be off. I can’t find a number from a reliable source anywhere as Duke officials routinely simply say a “very small number of applicants.” I do think it was closer to ~100 back in the late 90s/early 2000s, though.
Everyone above has said what I would say.
Yes, there will never fully be true meritocracy when it comes to college admissions (save for hardcore schools like Caltech).
The one and done students on the basketball team are similar to the development pool. They both bring money to the university, but the basketball team brings in a ton of money compared to the development pool. Well theres the debate that NCAA players should be paid but i don’t want to get into that
@Jwest22 Don’t you think Caltech would accept someone from Gordon Moore’s immediate family without question?
Here is the WSJ article
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Rich_Applicants.htm
@NerdyChica I’m not sure what you’re getting at here or whether or not you agree with me but the point is this: If you don’t have the stats to get into Caltech, you’re just not getting in. At least thats the sense I get after researching Caltech’s admission policy and the type of students who go there.
In fact, why put yourself through such a tough time if you don’t have the academic preparation. There are lots of schools that are less difficult academically but just as prestigious that one can attend (Brown comes to mind).
Duke has been pretty open about its admission process. I can’t speak to CalTech, but I know that HYP admit students for many reasons other than academics alone. The issue is not whether Duke has developmental admits, but how many and how does it compare. I don’t think you should think less of the University simply because it is more open about what it does.