Posing a situation here:
Say that my parents both work for the Weill Cornell Medical College, and therefore are technically a part of the University staff. My parents have regularly donated to the university for the past 5+ years with each donation in the comfortable 6 figure range (300-600k) totaling about 3.5 million dollars. Additionally, I have a letter of recommendation from a board of trustee member for the specific college under Cornell I’m ED-ing into. What are the true impacts of these connections and donations? Will they increase my chances? and if so by how much? I would say that in terms of extracurriculars, I surpass that of an average student due to opportunities in research and leadership, but in terms of grades, I fall into the about average range for an applicant.
This is a hook. If your grades and test score are in range, you have a good chance of being accepted.
Just an additional fact: I go to a small competitive school that seems to have good relations with selective colleges. Compared to the general population, my GPA is on the lower side, but based on the stats of my school Cornell seems to mostly take people with around my GPA. Just clarifying!
If your high school has privileged connections to the colleges of interest, the counselors there should be able to give you a much better idea than people on these forums about how your credentials fit in the context of what those colleges are looking for.
If your parents were the sort of donors who have any pull, it would be a lot more than the $3 mm range. And they’d have a donor rep and you’d already be on the school’s radar. Not even sure if Weill counts.
Why would they give 300-600k annually and if they are thaaat wealthy, do you have a private counselor? Because someting seems detached here.
By on their radar, I mean a sort of pre-vetting. Any concerns abou the GPA would have come up.
What are the gpa and scores?
And just how young are you?
@lookingforward I’m in my senior year I have already applied. I have a private counselor in school and also a college counselor from a service out of school and both of them gave me the green light to ED. With every ultra-selective school, applications come with a risk of denial but its a risk I’m willing to take because I really love the school. I’m not actually sure about the particular reason why my parents donated (I actually wasn’t aware that they did until after I applied), but I know that the donations were recognized by the Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and will be mentioned briefly by the trustee member in my letter of recommendation. I also worked under a professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell Undergrad as an intern for 2 summers.
@lookingforward sorry! I forgot to address your second to last question. I have 2 750+ SAT Subject Tests and an ACT with a score of 34. As for grades, I’d say pretty drastic upward trend, from B (History, I hate history), B+, and A- in 9/10th grade to A/A- in 11/12th grade. Most of my classes are weighted/honors in 11th and 12th grade too.
Side note: My school does not offer A+'s
I’m definitely not counting on donations to pull me through, I’m just curious as to the impact of donations in general and want to be educated on the system of operation when it comes to things like that.
@ucbalumnus I know I’m just here mostly out of curiosity. I won’t hold too much weight to the stuff I see on this website but I think it’s interesting to just hear what other people have to say.
My guess is that you would have needed to give them a reason not to accept you (which you haven’t done) and that you’re fine.
@gardenstategal Thank you so much for your insight! (I would hope they aren’t looking for reasons to reject people in the first place but it really be like that sometimes lol)
This hangs on your app/supp, competition for your major, geo diversity, and more. We don’t know if you nailed any Why Us or have the right ECs. All that matters.
If you claim to be a legacy, the school will check if your parents alumni donations are in good standing.