Son is HS Senior and this was our first time through the application process. Needless to say this year has been an eye opening experience. Without going into too many specifics I noticed a few of my son’s classmates were able to get into colleges that for them would have been a big reach. I don’t feel it is appropriate to discuss their grades or scores, but would say that they were definitely below the mid 50% range for these schools and more qualified students from our school were rejected. The colleges were all either Ivy or West Coast Ivy equivalents. From talking with fellow parents at our son’s school it was explained that these student’s parents made a significant donation to the universities in order to get their kids in.
I was wondering what is considered a significant contribution and how is this done? Does one just call the fundraising department and say “I’d like to donate a million dollars for my son to get accepted.” ? I certainly don’t have the money to do this but was interested in how it works.
Thanks
Welcome to CC! I worked in university fund raising for a long time, and what you described really doesn’t happen. Parents who are alumni, long time annual donors and perhaps major capital campaign donors do get preferential admission treatment, no doubt. But a measly million from an unaffiliated family won’t get a kid into a top 10 school as you are suggesting.
I would be skeptical that these parents know the degree to which their donations made a difference. Do you really think a school is going to make the cause-effect relationship that clear?
@TrentBoyett Okay - I see that. But even $10 million would probably not work. Seriously, if you could buy a place for your child at a top university for $10 million, schools would be full of tech exec and Chinese millionaire kids. Just look at the silicon valley housing market, which is filled with those 2 groups. Universities would lose credibility if word got out that you could buy a spot. You are suggesting that more than 2 people from one high school used this admission strategy, and I’m doubtful. Where do you live?
My rule of thumb would be that you have to donate enough to have a building named after you to have it give you a boost.
But here is what I really think. No one had any idea what actually went into a given student’s application.
You don't know if the kid is a legacy (could be a grandparent, you wouldn't know -- one of my kids had a great grandparent who was a legacy at one of her schools, and she mentioned it in her essay -- we have one of his old yearbooks, and she had fun looking through it after her campus visit to try to ID photos of the same spots on campus -- it gave her a connection and interest in the college. I bet it helped in her admission.).
You really don't know what those kids did outside of schools and in the summers. My kids had activities their friends had no idea about. One of my kids spent a summer in Finland. Her friends didn't all know that she had studied Finnish for 8 years (we are not Finns -- long story) and had won a prestigious scholarship for that summer trip. My other kid used to attend a summer program that requires a high talent search SAT score to get into (higher than CTY or TIP) -- she didn't tell her friends what she was doing, she just didn't think it was their business. She also was asked to moderate a philosophy forum on a national invitation-only gifted online forum. I am sure her local friends never knew. She also participated in a sport outside of school, and medalled at the state competition senior year in a pretty large field -- but because she didn't finish first, she thought it was no big deal and I am sure didn't tell anyone. She also self studied for the Biology Olympiad and had her bio teacher help her register for and take the test -- again, I doubt she told her friends.
You don't know if that kid was a URM. One of my kid's friends had a very good URM hook (grandparent). I don't think even my kids knew, but I did because I was friends with his parents outside of school.
You didn't see their essays or recommendations -- They might have been really stellar. Maybe the kids who didn't get in didn't do so well in that area. (HS kids are notorious for thinking their essays are great, when they are in fact NOT great -- sometimes their parents are no judge, either).
We see sour grapes out here every year because someone "less qualified’ got into a school. And I say that you don’t know the whole package.
@intparent - No sour grapes here. I was just trying to understand what the number was, as it seems like from your response along with the prior responses it is somewhere north of $10M and enough to have a building named after you.
Sure, but I bet this is done a few times a year in the whole country, if that often. My guess is that it isn’t what happened in the cases you are looking at. Sure, you would love to think they “bought” admission – and people DO buy admission – but I think the way they do it is paying for test prep, living in an expensive neighborhood so their kids have better schools (or paying for private schools), paying for tutoring, making sure their kids have summer experiences that look good to colleges (and often cost money), and paying private college counselors. Those are much more common ways to “buy” admissions.
@TrentBoyett You misinterpreted my comment. If you could buy a spot at a top 10 university for any amount of money it would be all over CC. Many of those schools have nearly billion dollar endowments - they would NOT risk their reputations to admit unaffiliated students for a few million. I don’t believe it happens - and certainly not multiple times in the same private east coast high school in the same graduation year.
Or maybe certain private east coast schools are big hunting grounds for the Ivies? I know that Exeter sends more kids to Harvard each year than the entire region of the US where I live.
From talking with fellow parents at our son's school it was explained that these student's parents made a significant donation to the universities in order to get their kids in.
[/QUOTE]
Unless I’m misunderstanding you, you’re not even getting the info from the parents of th admitted students, but from other parents. What makes you think they know?
They use a college counselor or other intermediary to broach the subject of potential MAJOR donation. Don’t even bother if it’s not at least 8-figures.
It happens. Rich internationals. Old robber baron/captain of industry families. Sometimes a donation is made up front. Often, nothing up front but because the families have been identified as “development cases”.
You might also see instances where these students are accepted for the following academic year instead of the current one and junior takes a gap year = the Z list.
Completely happens. Friend works at a prep school, maybe 5 years ago he said the price was about 10M. It has probably gone up significantly since then. Since he never showed me the actual checks I have no idea whether he was blowing smoke. Also what @katliamom said. It has to be more than a coincidence.
However, I do not think it is as many people as you think. The way I look at it, if you can afford to pay $10M or more just for college, why bother?! Set your kid up in a business when he gets out of 3rd rate college instead with the money.
“if you can afford to pay $10M or more just for college, why bother?!”
Bragging rights, saving face amongst their peer group, because they can afford the $10M with plenty left over to set their kid up in a business, because in their eyes their precious offspring should only be hobnobbing with certain types of people, so they can join all those secret societies. It’s a rarified world and I don’t think I can relate to their motivations.
The stakes obviously get higher the more prestigious the school is.
Think 100 million+ for HPYSM
Or 50 million for all other ivies + elite LACs+ Ivy equivalents (Hopkins,Duke,Vandy,Northwestern,Chicago)
Or 20 million for the schools just below ivy equivalents (Rice, Notre Dame, Michigan, Wustl)
If I had to bet, that’s probably the ballpark number where your admissions odds start to significantly go up in relation to other qualified candidates. Of course candidates can never be 100% assured entry, but i’m willing to bet that a 100 million dollar donation to Harvard will at the very least double your chances of admission.
^ I honestly do not think it is that high. In order to donate 100 million you would need at least a billion in assets. There are only about 1800 billionaires in the world as of March 2016 according to Forbes. Most of them do not have college age kids.
I think maybe 20M for a HYPS. Much less for everything else. Just guessing here.
I think in a lot of cases the donations are for legacies done over a period of years.