<p>^^Soon. Before April 1st. But I think you are worrying too much about the increase in class size. They are talking about adding 50 to 100 new slots, which Dr. Kim says can be accommodated in the current dorms. That many kids is not going to turn it into UCLA. You won’t notice the difference. Dartmouth will still be the smallest Ivy. It will still be a small college in a very small town,</p>
<p>In any case, this experiment has already been done. Due to an unexpectedly high yield, one recent class (2007 maybe?) was accidentally bigger - the largest in history. And none of those students reported being able to tell any difference between their college experience and that of the other classes.</p>
<p>I have to disagree here. I know of several far less wealthy folks who have bought their kid’s way into ivies (not HYP) with a million bucks. Now they do have relative wealth and will continue to build it so of course the colleges are betting they get more later. But these are not people with hundreds of millions. </p>
<p>The book ‘The Price of Admission’ also details that development people often push wealthy kids whose parents have not yet actually donated a thing. Duke took Ralph Lauren’s kid and then only got a half million. The director of development, however, got a seat on his company’s board!</p>
<p>^^Even if Dartmouth will sell itself for as low as a million bucks, there still aren’t that many people around with incomes high enough to sit down and write out checks that big. What percentage of your annual income can you afford to spend all at once on some new extra expense? 10% maybe? How many high school seniors in any given year have parents with annual incomes (not paper increases in portfolio value but actual cash incomes) of 10 million or greater? Now multiply that times the percentage interested in attending Dartmouth and you are stil going to end up with no more than a small handful.</p>
<p>Coureur, on Wall Street alone, there are hundreds of Dartmouth alum, probably thousands, who can (and have been) write that check. Then there are those who have family wealth who have multi generational ties, Silicon Valley wealth, Hollywood wealth, international wealth…the 80s and 90s made many, many Americans multi millionaires. Sure, most took a hit, but many people have plenty left to write a million dollar check. We’re not talking about folks who will pay it out of current income.</p>
<p>Development is working overtime. Look at the number of recently endowed chairs alone–about a dozen I believe. And they are working current parents in addition to alum–anyone with a high profile job has been getting more calls and emails than ever. Many of these folks have a marginal student they are ready to play let’s make a deal over. </p>
<p>This is presently the case at all private colleges and probably many public.</p>
<p>^^Well, if there are hundreds and perhaps thousands of “marginal” rich people going to buy their way into Dartmouth, then I guess post #57 is correct: the quality of student body will be the first to go. It’s a shame really.</p>
<p>Having had kids who went to high schools with a lot of development cases, It’s my opinion that the student body won’t suffer a bit. At the top prep and public schools, many top students can’t get into an ivy because there are so many legacies and top athletes. 2350s with top scores are routinely rejected because the top colleges have chosen to limit kids from these schools to accommodate their new initiatives. </p>
<p>They do not have to let in a bunch of dummies to bring in the cash. And we’re probably talking 30 or so kids in a class of 1100.</p>
<p>Legacies and top athletes are no better than development kids. Some of them have subpar academic standing and don’t deserve to be admitted if not for their hooks. Already Darthmouth has a reputation of boozing and druging on campus and the party scenes are very much like the toga party you see in the movie Animal House. Kim need to clean house and restructure admission to bring in serious student with learning in mind.</p>
<p>Wait a minute. Not a bunch of dummies? Back in post #64 it was “Many of these folks have a marginal student they are ready to play let’s make a deal over.” Which is it? Are these kids smart and Dartmouth material or not?</p>
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<p>That was my point. Not very many of them. But back in post #64 it was hundreds and maybe thousands of these marginals buying their way into Dartmouth. Which is it?</p>
<p>Marginal as in they were probably not going to get in because of the pools they were competing in. These kids go to elite prep schools where 30% get into ivies but most of the remaining 70% are qualified too. But with all of the legacies, top URMs and athletes they compete with, they get left outside the gate. These kids would have gotten into a top college had they attended a typical public school. They end up at Carleton, Bowdoin, CMU, Bates–good schools, but not what they and their parents were shooting for. </p>
<p>There are of course a few dummies that get in. Anyone interested in the topic should read The Price Of Admission. The WSJ reporter who won a Pulitzer for this work goes into great detail you have to wonder how he got. He describes development officers visiting the homes of wealthy/famous candidates and how it all works. Great read.</p>
<p>And in post #64 I explained that there were many who would have no problem writing the check, not who were actively doing it. In another recent thread I told the story of 2 colleagues who asked my opinion about whether they should buy their kids’ way in. In the end, one did, the other did not. Both kids, legacies, got in. The family that didn’t write the check made a major gift their child’s freshmen year. That was probably not unusual and gave me some insight into how development thinks and works.</p>
<p>So my guess is 30 or so get in with the school having check in hand and a larger group gets in with development having a thick file with a good guess of the family’s net worth and liklihood of giving.</p>
<p>since dartmouth took 60 more kids early, if they are deciding to increase class size, they would just take the same amount they usually do regular right? And if they decide to keep class size the same, they would take 60 less kids regular?</p>
<p>As yield is 50%, they would have to take 120 less RD to keep the class size the same. Little chance that will happen IMO. Though a strategy that could be a financial win is taking fewer RD and then going to the WL. Development offices love waitlists…so close yet so far makes families especially generous.</p>