<p>Knowing someone who doesn’t work in admissions is highly unlikely to have any influence on an applicant’s eventual admissions decision. (I didn’t get into T26E4’s alma mater, even though I had an uncle who was a professor there.)</p>
<p>Knowing someone who does work in admissions shouldn’t mean much either. I am sure that admissions officers are expected to recuse themselves when they know an applicant.</p>