What is the acceptance rate for children of faculty going into Harvard?
Thank you
About 5 times the overall acceptance rate, although the data size is very small.
So 25% of legacy get in?
Legacies are children of Harvard grads, not faculty. That’s a different grouping
Not all faculty members are in equal standing; there are “star” faculty, “super star” faculty, and then there are dispensable ones. I’m sure the faculty standing has a degree of influence in the decision making in relation to the actual qualifications of their children. Likewise with the administrators.
What would be the average GPA for children of faculty to get in. Also, my relation is a professor at Harvard and is the highest faculty on their floor/level. They have a PhD if that is helpful.
In the lawsuit sample, children of faculty had a ~81% admit rate (60/~74). The admit rate was 100% among the 13 (small sample) Asian children of faculty. Children of staff had a ~36% admit rate. The frequently quoted 46.7% figure includes both children of faculty and staff.
The analysis found that while being a child of faculty/staff was a powerful hook, the high admit rate also relates to faculty/staff kids tending to be especially strong and well qualified applicants. Harvard’s expert analysis found that 72% of faculty/staff kid admits would still have been admitted, if Harvard switched to an admission system with no hooks besides low SES. All other strong hook groups saw much larger decreases in admit rate without their hook. For example, the same model estimated than only 7% of recruited athlete admits would still have been admitted if Harvard switched to an admission system without hooks besides low SES.
If you live in one of the 25 places where most faculty live, your HS guidance counselor likely has experience with Harvard admissions and can tell you “worth it” or “no way”. Brookline High, Newton North, all the Cambridge schools (public and private), Needham, Wellesley, Belmont-- there have been faculty children before, and it won’t be too mysterious as to which kids get in and which don’t. 500 SAT’s? Don’t bother. But a realistic Harvard admit? Child of faculty or staff has a good shot.
Harvard does not release that info.
They are usually given an advantage from what i know
When you get to high school your guidance counselor will be able to help you understand admission rates from your school. I think pretty much all tenured professors have PhDs, so I don’t think that’s a tip for college or prep school. What matters most is your record. Do the best you can and when it’s time to apply create a well balanced list. Good luck.
Outside of Fine Arts and Architecture (where a Masters is the terminal degree), pretty much all profs (including adjuncts) are expected to have PhDs. It is passing rare for somebody to be such the expert that that a PhD wouldn’t be *de rigueur/i.
AFAIK, all tenured and tenure-track faculty in these departments hold doctorates. I’m sure someone may come up with the exception, but most instructors without a doctorate will hold the non-tenure-track rank of “lecturer.” And just holding a PhD does not make one tenure-track.
As mentioned upthread, the benefit will depend, in part, on the rank of the parent. It will also, obviously, depend upon the qualifications of the applicant.
From the Arcidiacano report, here are the odds and percentage increase in admissions for being a faculty child (ie facbrat):
Logit 1.822
Odds 6.18
Percent chance: 518%
This means that being a faculty child you have a 6x greater odds of admission as compared to someone without the same status. The log-odds, or percent chance is 518%. This is a whopping number. The only other categories with higher chances are: athlete, race X, Dean’s interest and legacy.
Thanks for your input everyone!
Harvard has other professional schools, including the medical, dental, and law schools, where the terminal degree is a PhD for most faculty members. That said, the biggest hook goes to children of faculty in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, most of whom have PhDs.
Sorry about the typo in post #15. I meant to type: the terminal degree is NOT a PhD for most faculty members in those professional schools