My family is very good friends with someone who has donated $1mm+ to Yale (won highest alumni honor, has facility named after him, etc.), who has said that “he can probably get me in”. He has known me since I was born and is very close to us.
Yale is my absolute top choice, and I’m already a pretty qualified applicant. I have 4.3 GPA, 34 ACT, very rigorous course load, and good EC’s (Pres of School’s investment club, started two businesses, one with 20 employees at my school, and more).
My question is, how much will a meaningful letter from a family friend like this help my admissions chances in SCEA?
@yaleplzzz, my only point of reference is someone with a larger contribution at a school with a smaller endowment (i.e., it was more financially significant to the school), and it did not help there. I don’t know their academic details, so maybe it’s not a good comparison.
1M/Yale endowment = 0.00004
Out of curiosity, how would you feel if it did make a difference? Why do you think he framed it as “probably get [you] in?”
@IxnayBob If I received admission at Yale with this, I would feel no different than without. That’s because I feel I am a relatively qualified applicant already, and have worked very hard all throughout high school. Thus, if I did in fact get in I would feel that these contributions only helped me, but was not what truly “got me in”. I would know that it only helped push my application over the top. I would still feel proud of myself for my achievement, if thats what you were asking.
The answer depends on how much this family friend is willing to put himself out for you. The way to approach this would not be for him to write a letter-that’s too impersonal. If he really wants to help you he should get in touch with his contact in the development office and have a conversation. That will (if development decides this admissions decision could affect future donations) get your file flagged for admissions.
Not that much. As an example, I know a multiple generation legacy (including a named building) who had super grades, NHS, solid ECs, etc: deferred early and ultimately rejected. @Sue22 is right: personal contact > letter, but neither will seal the deal.
I did notice the OP in another post identified himself/herself as a HS sophomore. Scoring a 34 ACT by sophomore year is a pretty amazing achievement. But I will take OP at his/her word.
The highest recognition level is $100mm+, although that is a subset of a recognition group of $1mm+, so let’s assume the family friend is somewhere in the larger set. I personally don’t know, but I have heard of legacies in this group that were denied, but maybe they did not have 34 ACT’s, 4.0+ GPA’s and great EC’s. I do know people in the AO and Development Office and they are very sensitive to any insinuation that a place in the class can be bought. Real world, we know Development can support certain candidates. If the family friend knows you well and can write a compelling supplemental LoR that demonstrates personal knowledge of something you both are involved in, that could help (no different than if the famous Senator from your state that you interned for or Nobel Laureate who’s lab you worked in, wrote you a great LoR). If it is a generic letter and the friend leans on the fact that he is large donor with the AO and Development, I suspect at best what will happen is what @lookingforward suggests. In fact, here I might differ with @Sue22 and if your friend tries to push you through Development, it may have the opposite effect. They may want to make it a point that a place cannot be bought, and it could raise questions of the morality/suitability of a candidate that is trying in some sense to buy his/her way in.
“As for the moral ones, could you live with yourself? It’s a pretty scummy thing to do if you ask me.”
“raise questions of the morality/suitability of the candidate that is trying in some sense to buy their way in”
Oh, please. This is the way the world works and how it ticks. Jobs are often given based on connections. College is not different. You think the likes of the Trump family and Jared Kushner got in purely on their own accord (along with scads of others)? The OP has stellar credentials regardless of whether or not this family friend puts in a good word or not. I see no problem going with it at all. The OP didn’t invent the rules by which the world is played. Students get into colleges for all kinds of reasons that have little to do with academic record - the recruited athlete, the child of alumni, assorted and sundry hooks that aren’t transcript related.
I, personally, see no harm in going that route. I doubt it will make or break your application - you won’t be accepted due to the connection - but it WILL get your application looked at a little more closely. Given the shear number of applications received, that isn’t a bad thing.
If the direct offspring of Yale’s Sterling donor’s are rejected more often than accepted, I would think there’s a good chance that a friend-of-a-friend of a Sterling Donor has much less of a chance.
“If the direct offspring of Yale’s Sterling donor’s are rejected more often than accepted would think there’s a good chance that a friend-of-a-friend of a Sterling Donor has less of a chance.”
All Brenzel is stating is that less than 50% of the offspring of Sterling donors was accepted that year. I bet it was way higher than the overall acceptance rate however.
^^ No one is arguing that the acceptance rate for Sterling donors isn’t HIGHER than the average acceptance rate. My point: Even if your family gives millions to Yale, it’s not an automatic slam dunk for an offspring to gain acceptance. A friend-of-a-friend (Bill and Hillary’s neighbors in Chappaqua, for example) will have even less of chance.
Of course it isn’t a slam dunk. My guess is the OP knows that. It will, however, get the application a closer look which is likely to increase one’s chances over the overall 6.3% acceptance rate of last year. Still long odds but it won’t hurt, IMO.
^^ My guess is that a letter from an important donor, senator, congressman or president of some country often backfires, seemingly making the kid come across as entitled just because of who they know.
I have a differing opinion. If an applicant had border-line credentials or if it was just a cursory connection, than I would agree with you, @gibby, although it would be a moot point anyway. If it is a close relationship where the letter writer can speak knowingly and meaningfully about his connection to the applicant and the applicant’s character, I don’t think the admissions office would look askance.
My guess is that the OP does not know that and is simply grasping at straws. He would, IMO, be better served looking for ways to make himself as effective a candidate as possible. Keep in mind that he’s also a sophomore, and would also be well advised to look at colleges other than Yale.
Hi OP: The suggestion of the other person that the donor should speak with the Development office is a good one. They have donated a million. That means they plan to probably up the donation sooner or later.
Development at Yale is well aware of this. Big donations come in via installments. If the donation is $1M then maybe not all installments are yet in.
Basically the donor would need to like you enough to go in and talk to Development, offer to up his or her donation over the next four years or so and let them know that he/she is supporting your application. Development and donor at this level probably have a relationship already as Development wants to up this prospect’s donation in the future to the $20M mark for a new building. Development has prob done research about what this person earns and his/her net worth. They have an officer prob assigned to this person as part of the Development officer’s portfolio.
$1M is not huge for Yale. But they recognize this person as a prospect for larger donations.
I’d say, you should talk to the donor and see how willing he/she would be to start this process.
