<p>how do people pay their way in to colleges?</p>
<p>Like…pay to enroll in college? Or “bribing” the colleges into admitting them?</p>
<p>“bribing” just curious</p>
<p>Lol legacy I guess. Your parents are alumni, donate a few million dollars, tells the school their child wants to go to that school, and bam, youre in.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>
<p>Oh, then yeah it’s basically just legacy. Ivy League and other expensive, “top-notch” private schools have a bad reputation among a lot of middle-class, non-Ivy students because they take into consideration alumni relations and stuff.</p>
<p>OP, bribing someone to get your kid into college is very rare in the U.S. I assume you are a foreigner, because something like this wouldn’t even occur to most American kids.</p>
<p>@katliamom, “bribing” in this context means consistent donations from an applicant’s family. Usually with the intent of making the applicant look better to the adcoms.</p>
<p>Have to give a huge amount of money. Huge. And, it has to be over time. There are only a few slots for these preferential donor admits. Not worth worrying about. Unless you are hoping to be the briber. </p>
<p>As for legacy, it’s not as powerful as “middle-class, non-Ivy students” think it is. It’s a bump when the applicant is already a strong contender.</p>
<p>thats silly</p>
<p>There are three “nepotistic” sorts of boosts, two of which are official. </p>
<p>The first is the legacy boost for those whose parents(and sometimes grandparents) attended the university. This boost applies to anyone with the legacy connection. It doesn’t matter if your dad is a kindergarten teacher who never donated a penny to Dartmouth. This is only a slight boost, especially since legacy applicants are more informed/qualified to begin with. </p>
<p>The second is a “developmental admit.” This applies to those students whose families have made significant and continuous donations to the school. A developmental admit may not be 100% qualified but is a necessary evil because he/she will allow the institution to grow and improve in a significant way. This is pretty rare. </p>
<p>There are also powerful people, who are connected with a university’s board of trustees(or on the board), who can flex their muscles and get their kid accepted without having to make a donation. This is more common than developmental admission, and it should be more of a concern to us lesser mortals because it doesn’t have a net benefit for the other students. For example, if the daughter of Goldman Sachs’ CEO applies to Columbia, she’s going to get in, with or without a donation. There are some enemies you can’t afford to make, and allies you can’t afford to not pull into your corner.</p>