Harvard's record-breaking $9.62 billion capital campaign

[1NJParent]

@jzducol
Without MIT disclosing its admission data like Harvard did we just don’t know if there are development cases at MIT. We know that Netenyahu and Koch family went there.

Here’s @MITChris stated on MIT Admissions blog a few years ago:

We do have a separate field asking students to elaborate upon other affiliations they may have with MIT, but this isn’t used in order to identity and admit “development cases”, legacy or otherwise. In fact, quite the opposite. For example, one reason we ask students for this sort of information is so that we can give our development office a heads up so we don’t go and solicit folks for large gifts immediately after denying someone they supported for admission, because that’s just kind of putting salt in the wound.

Here’s another quote from a WSJ piece:

Top schools ranging from Stanford University to Emory University say they occasionally consider parental wealth in admission decisions. Other elite schools, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, say parental means don’t influence them. “I understand why universities leverage parent contacts to enrich themselves,” says Marilee Jones, dean of admissions at MIT. “If somebody’s offering them a check, why not take it? But I honestly think it’s out of control.”

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Rich_Applicants.htm

It’s pretty clear to me MIT doesn’t do development cases. Besides, there’s no easy path to graduation at places like MIT or Caltech, so what’s the point?

[jzducol]

“I understand why universities leverage parent contacts to enrich themselves,” says Marilee Jones, dean of admissions at MIT. “If somebody’s offering them a check, why not take it? But I honestly think it’s out of control.”

Keep in mind that what the AOs said vs what the AOs did can be very different things; sometimes what AO said in the media were just downright lies. Jones was the MIT dean who always told the applicants to be themselves and truthful yet she herself turned out to have forged all her degrees and had to resign. How can you trust she was telling the truth about MIT? That’s why I would like to see real admission data from MIT, like in Harvard’s case.

It’s pretty clear to me MIT doesn’t do development cases. Besides, there’s no easy path to graduation at places like MIT or Caltech, so what’s the point?

Are you suggesting that there would be no takers of MIT/Caltech seats for millions? I am not sure I agree with that.

As far as Stanford and Emory are concerned I know that they are as aggressive as, if not more so than Harvard in their capital campaigns, and their college seats play some part too. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stanford comes out with a bigger haul than Harvard’s next time.

[1NJParent]

You can choose to believe what or who you want to believe, but MIT has been far more transparent than Harvard ever was. Just take a look at the amount and the type of data released by each school on its website. The recent Harvard’s admission data only came out because of the lawsuit.