<p>I had heard this before- people saying that they paid to get their child into Georgetown, but today, in the grocery store , a woman told that her son, a top student in my d's class, was denied admission but told that Georgetown would admit him it he was willing to pay more than the current tuition.</p>
<p>Are you serious??</p>
<p>Actually, my best friend in high school told her interviewer her parents would be willing to make a generous donation to the school (around 25k) if they considered her application <em>more carefully</em>. </p>
<p>She ended up getting in…while getting waitlisted by American and rejected by GW. </p>
<p>PS: I think this isn’t that uncommon for colleges though.</p>
<p>No way she’s telling the truth
A need-blind school’s admission’s office doesn’t even KNOW the kid’s financial situation.</p>
<p>(If there’s a large gift, that’s a different story. A uni wouldn’t solicit it outright, but the Development Office or whatever would definitely handle it)</p>
<p>Every university does it…I know you are guaranteed admission in Brown if you pony up $5 million. That’s right, FIVE MILLION. And to be honest, I don’t really mind these people paying to get into Georgetown. Lord knows it’s not one of the most well-funded universities!</p>
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<p>$25,000 is about half the cost of attendance for one year. That’s not “a generous donation,” that’s chump change. Maybe she left off a zero or maybe she was just making stuff up, but if it were that easy and cheap, way more people would be doing it.</p>
<p>Who was the interviewer? Most of the interviews are done by locally by alumni volunteers and they do in no way are influenced by anything like this-if anything it would probably ding the applicant.</p>
<p>25k for reading your application more closely is not chump change IMO. In no way did they guarantee her a spot, she just happened to be admitted after the check was written. You can choose to believe it or not, it really doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>D will be devastated to hear this news. If true, her chances for admission to Georgetown will be even more difficult! I have heard the stories about Brown before: that super-rich and/or well-connected movie stars and other BIG personality types have paid a hefty sum of money to Brown so that their “developmental admit” is invited to attend. I just never heard that Georgetown played that way.</p>
<p>Indeed, I agree that most top schools have spots for a number of “special” students: legacies, athletes, URMs and developmental admits are the latest to benefit to the exclusion of 'un-connected" students…</p>
<p>I would be interested to hear TokenAdult’s opinion on this topic and what data he has not only about Georgetown, but other universities?</p>
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<p>That’s not really how it works, no one is going to plunk down $25,000 for nothing more than a mere promise of “reading an application more closely.” Whenever that phrase is used its a euphemism for “you’re going to get in” and it would cost way more than $25k at a place like Georgetown. People from my school get into Ivies and other elite places this way all the time and the sums involved are waaay more than that.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard that before about Georgetown. I honestly don’t think 25K is enough to make Gtown consider someone more carefully (even if that option existed, which I’ve never heard of). That is just chump change.</p>
<p>I mean I understand if you donated $5M to get in, but 25K…</p>
<p>I certainly hope that is what is happening in all top schools. I need a buffer in class rank to support me at the top 
I think that’s the attitude most non-donors should take.</p>