<p>Not in a URM/first generation college student/my parents make 500 dollars a year way. Basically, will someone whose parents make 750k+ a year be more likely to get in than someone whose parents make 75k a year? You know, because rich families are more likely to donate?</p>
<p>No. The only donations that affect admissions have to come up front - they don’t give you points for “potential”. And depending on the school, the amount of money a family earning $750K a year could give is likely to get this reaction:</p>
<p><a href=“snooty, snotty - YouTube”>snooty, snotty - YouTube;
<p>Being wealthy usually hurts you more than helps you seeing that most admissions counselors come from humble backgrounds. When they see large income or addresses in wealthy neighborhoods, they automatically increase the bar for you. So if you get a 2100 on the SAT, they will wonder why you didn’t get a 2300 because you clearly had access to prep. It also applies to GPA and ECs. Unless you are donating a large sum of money, it hurts your chance at admissions. And when it comes to donating, I don’t mean like $25,000. At an exclusive college, it can take at least $50,000 with some assurance that future donations will be even greater. At top-25 universities, a minimum of $100,000 is required; for the top 10, at least $250,000 and often, 7 figures. So your parents make a lot, but not nearly enough to buy you into a top teir school.</p>
<p>You should get a lot of money for college. I think it will help you. Apply widely.</p>
<p>It would help you with “need aware” schools that fill a percentage of their class with “full-pay” students. However, there are lots of fantastic full-pay students as well as lots of fantastic students in need worth a college funding. I wouldn’t count on money getting you into school. I’d just be happy if you don’t have restrictions on where you want to apply due to cost.</p>
<p>@Anniebeats: It just astounds me where you get your information from. </p>
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My sister-in law works at an HYP Developmental Office, so I can tell you that while HYP would be delighted to have your donation of $50k, $100k or $250k, if you’re trying to buy your way in, it’s going to take about 100 times more than that to make it happen. For example, look at these recent donations to Harvard: <a href=“http://alumni.harvard.edu/stories/harvards-recent-major-gifts”>http://alumni.harvard.edu/stories/harvards-recent-major-gifts</a>. If your parents make a donation like that, you can get in.
That’s not true. Every college needs full fare paying students to help offset their financial aid budget. At colleges that are “need aware” like Wesleyan, it can actually help your chances to come from a family with wealth, provided you are a competitive applicant for that school. See:<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/01/wesleyan-shifts-away-need-blind-policy-citing-financial-and-ethical-concerns#sthash.myADLxNv.dpbs”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/06/01/wesleyan-shifts-away-need-blind-policy-citing-financial-and-ethical-concerns#sthash.myADLxNv.dpbs</a></p>
<p>I was going to say, they don’t raise the bar just because you come from money. The idea that test prep raises your score significantly is largely a myth - anecdotes and outliers do not make it true. It can get you small gains, sometimes, but the idea you can prep anyone to a 2300 is largely untrue.</p>
<p>The going price to outright buy your way in to Harvard is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 million. That was what it cost someone in a notorious case from a few years ago. </p>
<p>^^ $2.2 million was actually paid to a college consultant who claimed he could get a student into Harvard, but failed to do so, which resulted in a lawsuit: <a href=“Chinese Parents Sue Consultant After Sons Are Rejected by Harvard - The New York Times”>http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/chinese-parents-sue-after-2-2-million-consultant-fails-to-get-sons-into-harvard/</a></p>
<p>According to this article from 2012: <a href=“For Third-raters Who Want to Get Into Harvard, It Helps To Have Parents With $10 million to Grease the Skids”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2012/11/30/do-the-ivy-league-universities-discriminate-against-asian-americans/</a>
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<p>@gibby Here is where I got my info <a href=“http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB1047409881995483800?mobile=y”>http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB1047409881995483800?mobile=y</a></p>
<p>@MrMom62 Have you read Michele Hernandez’s books? Specifically ‘How to Ace the College Application’? She actually explicitly said that to be true. The standards and expectations are higher for wealthy students.</p>
<p>@Anniebeats: That article is from 11 years ago; prices have gone up since then!</p>
<p>@gibby Hmm… Didn’t look at the date lol. Either way, the OP doesn’t make enough to make a substantial impact on his admissions decision. Besides, I was saying that those figures are a bare minimum. I know that paying your way into a top school demands much more than that. </p>
<p>OP, you will get what you work for.</p>
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<p>This is VERY true. Especially for those last available spots. If it comes down to two students with great grades, test scores, essays, etc, but one needs financial aid, and the other does not, the spot will likely always go to the student who can pay. </p>
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<p>how do you live…eat…pay rent…use the internet/computer??</p>
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<p>2290 single sitting, 4.0 unweighted UC gpa (~4.27 weighted) with 3 aps/1 honors. 790 math sat 2, expecting around ~750 bio sat 2 in like 2 weeks (will probably retake).</p>
<p>Taking only AP classes next year - English, Psych, Econ, Macro, Micro, Physics c (mechanics and electrosomething)</p>
<p>My school is very highly ranked and we send around 25 kids to berkeley every year. About 30-40% of kids go to top 20 schools.
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<p>did you mean $500 thousand per year/??? two Berkeley grads should be able to earn a LOT more than 500 dollars.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I wasn’t talking about myself, I just meant that I wasn’t asking about how some colleges may take kids from the very bottom of the income bracket as a way of giving opportunities to the poor. My parents make a good deal more than $500 dollars a year :)</p>
<p>Your post is misleading. I was not about to question you but I was wondering that as well.</p>