My kid is applying to a T25 school, with about 25% armor rate. SATs and gpa probably at around 25th percentile of admitted students, and from an “average” suburban public school (I’m sure most of the kids who get in with these scores/grades from a school like mine have a “hook”). But academically you could say my kid falls “in the middle 50%”. ECs nothing special, captain of a team and some volunteer stuff. Soooo, no way on earth he would apply to this school under normal circumstances, as 25th percentile just wouldn’t cut it. But I have a client who offered to make a call - and this client is a MAJOR donor to the college. He doesn’t even know my kid, but we have a strong professional relationship and I provide a highly valued service - and he’s a genuinely good guy who would enjoy helping me imo. Is it as simple as him making a call to his contact at the college, and they take a look just to confirm my kid isn’t a total bozo, and kid gets in? I really would imagine it’s that easy given his position as one of the largest living donors. Any thoughts from admissions folks would be appreciated…
Typo admission rate 
not armor rate
The major donor situation (developmental admit) may not work in this situation since your client may not personally know your son. Unless we’re talking about someone who has donated a building to the school. And in that case it’s likely only immediate relatives would have that benefit.
Yes, buildings are named after him. And you are right, he doesn’t know him, but he did offer to “make a call” on my kid’s behalf. Just playing the situation out, he makes a quick call to the president or whoever he interacts with at the client, says whatever he’s going to say to boost my kid’s chances - probably not much as he doesn’t know him - but STILL, he’s voicing a level (however minimal) of support for my kid. Fast forward three months and my kid doesn’t get in - does he president really want to have to field a phone call from the donor about this? That’s why i almost see this as the most sure fire path to acceptance as possible - provided grades / tests fall within that acceptable range. Who knows, I could be way of base here…
If it’s a major donor, it would probably give your kid’s application a second and more thorough review. I would agree though that it isn’t the same as if it were the donor’s family members.
He will likely get at least a courtesy waitlist response.
So I guess the real question boils down to - at a top university, can a building-named-after-you type of donor get a non-family member acquaintance’s kid admitted with sub 50% academic stats and no other hook. I think any request by this guy is taken extremely seriously, and considered against potential implications of denying request. And my impression is the donor does not do this often - he’s not throwing a list at admissions every year. But again, he’s not calling and saying this kid has to get in, probably telling prez or dean please take a hard look at this kid
No. It may, depending on the college, mean that the application gets a second look from the admissions director. And the college may give a soft rejection (deferral/waitlist) in advance of a hard rejection. Other than that, the kid’s application needs to stand on its own merits.
A donor of this magnitude will likely carry significant weight with the development office, and in turn, admissions.
However, you and your S/D have to think hard whether this school is the right academic fit, given an SAT and GPA around the 25% mark. You want to make sure you are setting your S/D up for success, not an academic struggle.
We don’t know the stats, or high school rigor, so will leave that to you and your S/D to consider. Other considerations-What does your kid want to major in? What are kid’s future goals…job after 4 years? Med/law school? etc…
My impression is that a general guideline for most athletic hooks at this and comparable schools is for the kid to be in at least the 25th percentile tests/gpa etc to clear the path to admissions - big generalization but you guys get my point - the donor phone call is at least comparable to a top athletic recruit hook
I’d agree for the donor’s kids. But I don’t think the goodwill will spread much beyond that. Particularly when the donor does not know the kid and/or presents a list of a dozen names every cycle. The 8 figure donation does not come with a batphone to the Director of Admissions.
The college will also consider the impact of an admissions decision. Will your client be so angry if your child is not admitted that he threatens to stop making his large donations? If not, the college will most likely make a courtesy waitlist/soft reject.
Good insight from all and much appreciated. Guess I’m biased from my business where it seems everything is quid pro quo. This guy has given significant money, and I’m sure the college is expecting donations to continue and eventually the endowment will be gifted substantially by his estate. To that end, if I was running the college, I would make any request by this guy a top priority. Tell him no on something and potentially piss him off? No thanks! And that’s generally how business works, and these schools are a business. Why jeopardize the gravy train and the reciprocal good will? I get the whole integrity of process yadda yadda but see any request by this guy treated extremely seriously, no matter the context. So I’m surprised by the uniform response to this thread, and grudgingly thinking I may have misread situation…
My brother was very active at his school (not a major donor). When D2 was applying he wrote to the alumni office and her application was put in a “special folder,” and we also got a personal tour of the school. D2’s stats were within range if not better. She was admitted during ED.
I think a contact from an important alum gets an applicant a special look, and sometimes that’s what it takes, but wouldn’t get someone admitted without the right stats. On the other hand, if it is a family member then I think the Adcom will stretch it a bit. D2’s good friend father was a major contributor at the Cornell Hotel School. He got all of his kids to the Hotel school, but not to other colleges.
OP - if your client is willing to contact the school on your kid’s behalf, I would have him meet your kid so he could write a more personal recommendation for your kid.
Do you have a personal friendship with this client or purely business? if strictly business you may be putting him on the spot in an attempt to pull strings for your student. Also, if he is admitted either on his own merits or through this client will he be able to handle the academic load and the pressure of a competitive school given is stats being at the 25th percentile.
Yowza. Your poor kid.
I get trying to help your kid, but looking for somebody else to effectively buy your/his way in over more qualified kids is an interesting lesson to teach your kid.
Top-tier schools can be more transactional than they like to admit, but the quid pro quo doesn’t extend to ‘major donor says jump / adcomm says how high?’.
Is that really how you do business? you ask a friend of a friend for a personal favor and if they say ‘no’ you get pissed off enough to stop doing business with them?
@collegemom3717 - you are making a lot of assumptions there.
Let’s not get started on how people use hooks to get into schools, not sure how that’s fair or right either.
Yeah agreed, collegemom is brutal - I wasn’t even going to respond to her delusional rant. But one important error in her tirade - the donor offered (on an unsolicited basis) to make the phone call, which was clearly stated in my initial post. Guess that small fact didn’t fit her narrative.
"To that end, if I was running the college, I would make any request by this guy a top priority. Tell him no on something and potentially piss him off? "
This donor doesn’t even know your son, though, so why would he be pissed off if your son isn’t admitted? I own my own business and prior to that was involved in management in large corporations, so understand the idea of quid pro quo, but I’m failing to see the strength of the connection here. Unless there’s more to the story, you have a client who is doing something “nice” for you by putting in a word, but he has no personal stake here. Your son’s app is likely to get an extra read and if your son consents, the courtesy of the AO keeping the donor in the loop on the decision. But if the decision is, “we gave this application special consideration; unfortunately at this point in time we are unable to offer admission” it’s really of no impact to the donor at all. Donor did his part - put in a word - but has no personal interest in a positive outcome and no reason to be upset if your son’s app isn’t strong enough to make it in. Surely the donor is proud of the strength of this college’s student body and will understand if a random kid he never met just doesn’t have the required stats. Do you really think the donor would be so angry he’d change his will over something like this? Unless you’re a defense attorney that has literally saved this donor from a death penalty conviction, I think you are waaaaaay overestimating how much he cares about whether your son is actually admitted. Fifty years ago, this sort of thing probably carried more weight, but now… I think you’re overestimating both the level of influence and the investment the donor would have.
From what I understand, the Dean submits a list of kids to Admissions that he or she wants (for example, children of potential big donors), and if it comes down to a tie between two qualified kids, the one on the list gets in.