<p>My dad worked with a college program and one of the benefits he got was free tuition for us there. And, yes, Mathmom, that school was NOT, absolutely NOT on my list even though I needed money for school. </p>
<p>We got auto admit at the satellite campus or commuting campus but had to apply for the main campus and make the standards there. </p>
<p>Odfort, my close friend’s DH is a professor at Cornell. Yes, his kids would get free tuition if they should get accepted. Their oldest was not accepted there though she got into Colgate, Lafayette and a number of other such schools. Cornell also gives, I believe it was $8000 towards tuition to other schools, may have increased or decreased by now.</p>
<p>Pitt professors and certain employees get free tuition at Pitt, but there is some schedule of benefits in terms of getting any payments towards any other colleges.</p>
<p>I understand from a faculty member that UPenn charges 1/3rd tuition for faculty (staff?) kids after a faculty member has served three years. No word on preferential treatment or automatic admission though.</p>
<p>My friend’s H said it was in his father’s contract (didn’t see the contract, so I wouldn’t know). My friend from work implied unless he was a complete idiot (he said he was B-low A student), he was going to be admitted. </p>
<p>Princeton high also has a large number of students being admitted to Princeton, and that’s where most of Princeton professors’ kids go to school. I am sure those professor kids are very bright…</p>
<p>Stanford faculty children get 1/2 tuition for whatever accredited undergraduate school they attend. It’s a benefit offered to all faculty.</p>
<p>From the 2011 Stanford Faculty Benefits summary: </p>
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</p>
<p>And the more updated info. from a Q & A:</p>
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</p>
<p>Not sure if they only give 1/2 if the kid goes to Stanford.</p>
<p>This type of benefit is common at top universities…where many of the faculty children will not have the credentials to be admitted. Some universities offer a smaller amount, or are part of a group of schools where faculty children can attend one of the schools at a lower tuition fee.</p>
<p>Having an auto admit as part of a faculty member’s contract sounds extremely unusual…and I would doubt it would happen at any school with very high admissions standards.</p>
<p>I also concur that having an auto admit as part of a faculty member’s contract sounds very unusual. I told my H, who’s on the math dept faculty at USC and knows faculty at some of the top schools (including the likes of those mentioned on this thread) and he hasn’t heard of it. At USC, children of faculty can attend tuition free but the student has to meet admission standards. There have been some turned away. </p>
<p>Children of USC math dept faculty have been admitted, but most have chosen to attend other schools. Sadly, USC does not offer college tuition costs at any other university, but just to those on a list of schools, none of which (except for a few women’s colleges) are of the same caliber or greater than USC.</p>
<p>I don’t think any college (or private secondary school) would put it in their benefit packet that a professor’s kid would be an auto admit, but could it be in a contract of a highly sought after professor they want to recruit? Again, I have never seen anyone’s contract. Maybe some of those professors were just bragging? But why do so many of their children get into those highly sought after colleges where they teach?</p>
Isn’t that obvious? On average they will be bright, living in houses full of books, with parents that discuss their (academic) work at the dinner table. My older kid also benefited from faculty contacts when some interesting computer projects were thrown his way starting with putting together the department website when he was in middle school. (They’ve since hired professionals, but back then the standards weren’t too high!) I’m always surprised that kids would want to go to the colleges where their parents teach - I’d think most kids would want to get a bit further away and spread their wings.</p>
<p>As to Princeton High School, I can’t speak for them, but Harvard admits a greater percentage of local students as a way of smoothing over town and gown relationships. It’s not that the students aren’t qualified, but there is a certain amount of affirmative action there.</p>
<p>Cost could be a big driver. I remember a while back when a student was having a hard time about NOT going to Columbia because his father was a professor there and it would have been the cheapest option for him.</p>
<p>We had a friend who dad was a prof at Columbia and they got a significant break on her Penn tuition. This was back in the 80s, so I don’t know what is in place currently.</p>
<p>I think the Op said no legacies besides Stanford.
I sincerely doubt this.
If s/he is a student at Gunn or PALY (I forget which one was finally specified), then how would s/he know this for certain? I am a local and I do not believe “all” info would be accurately available to a student like the OP. Yes, I know there now is a computer system (Naviance, I believe) that purports to track stats, but I suspect certain attributes are held private. Why? I remember being told by a parent that the “final” statements listing where students would be attending was NOT accurate. I admit I was surprised.
As to why many locals flock to apply to Stanford, there is a herd mentality, it is heavily promoted locally, it is such a wealthy university.</p>
<p>lateparty - I had the same feeling. I think only the past published source has that kind of private and detailed info. For class of 2015, it’s too early.</p>
<p>Having been through this district (that contains Gunn and Paly), I recall a certain amount of competitive secrecy. It IS high achieving here, but a lot of that is due to high socio-economic status as well as Tiger Mothers. I am always more impressed with the college applicant - from anywhere - who has managed his/her life, but those are now in a minority here. There has been a rise around here in those with high opinions of themselves, that is for certain.</p>
<p>Interesting! To the naked eye, it appears that behind every academic success story there must be a Tiger Mom. It also seems that those poor Tiger Dads can’t get any respect for their dedicated efforts. How discriminatory!</p>
<p>Princeton might accept so many locals to promote town gown relations. I suspect that the kids of profs don’t attend Princeton HS, but rather Lawrence, Princeton Day, Hun, Pingry or some other exclusive Prep school.</p>