<p>My son has been accepted at my husband's alma mater, so this is now an academic question for us. Through the years, as we realized our son might have a shot at that college, we increased my husband's annual contribution -- not majorly, but slightly. This year, while my son's application was pending, the nice alumni relations people called and suggested a contribution amount for us to make during 2007. It was a bit steep for us -- and two and a half times the previous year's contribution -- but my husband and I thought that if we didn't contribute that amount (or, at least, pledge that amount) and our son wasn't accepted, we would always wonder if it had mattered.</p>
<p>Well, we pledged a big amount (for us -- I mean, they're not going to name a building after us --) but have only paid one fourth of it to date. Do you think if we don't pay the rest they'll rescind my kid's acceptance??</p>
<p>Unless you are famous or are contributing enough for an endowed chair or a building, I would call your "pledge solicitation" a coincidence. Let's face it, many alums at those schools contribute annually, and not all of their kids get accepted.</p>
<p>Well, obviously I don't think they'll rescind the acceptance. :)</p>
<p>But doesn't anyone want to address this seriously: Do contributions from alumni (again, not at the name-a-building-after-me level) influence AdComms?</p>
<p>Well..think of it this way..most of those solicitations for donations are made by students (my daughter had such a job). The log it all into a computer with the credit card number. To be honest, I seriously doubt that the adcoms see this information.</p>
<p>Well, let's put it this way: the amount of money I donate to my billion-dollar alma mater is MUCH less than the amount they spend soliciting it every year. I think they probably accepted my kid IN SPITE of her legacy status, and then she turned around and turned 'em down. </p>
<p>Well...the only thing I can add is - first semester of D's freshman year, maybe six weeks into school, I was looking over the bills, especially everything spent to furnish the dorm room, her new laptop, oh and LOL the total for her books - for physics, chem, bio, calculus and german, and then the mandatory fees, etc., anyway I'm sitting there with the pile of receipts and the calculator in that too-empty, silent house, and the phone rings, and I see the area code and prefix for the university on caller ID. </p>
<p>Guess who it was? It was the alumni relations department (or whatever it's called), calling to ask me for a contribution. </p>
<p>I was so astonished, but I finally managed to recover and say something like "um, how about if we wait until I get her through undergrad first - how about if you call back, say, in about four years or so". LOL. They haven't called since...</p>
<p>Our family gets calls from no fewer than a dozen schools, about half of them colleges. Any time we had contributed to a school, a likely question is if we would increase the amount this year to meet some goal. I also get the same pitch from a number of charitable organizations (this year the police and fire fighters get the award for the most calls). I cannot believe you have not gotten such calls before. You may have just schloffed them off without having them register, because this is so routine for me. I have a few times been talked into making these calls for organizations and the script does include a gracious thank you for the contributions made and an appeal for an increase, sometimes with a suggested number. I don't believe for a moment that this was synchronized with your son's application.</p>
<p>Different schools have different ways they consider legacy/alums. There are the plain old alums who may or may not sporadically contribute small amount and occaisionally come to a reunion. There are those who are regulars, but again not in significant amounts. There are alums who are active with the school as alumni interviewers, admissions hosts for open houses or info, etc. There are alums who keep in touch with the school and get to know a lot of the admissions staff and administration. There are the development and celebrity alums. All of these categories may get different consideration depending on the selectivity of the school and its emphasis on alumni. Most schools give alumni kids some tip. All schools give the development and celebrity alums alot of consideration; where borderline or kids to be rejected by admissions have to be discussed with development and senior administration, possibly right up to the president. You don't lightly reject a kid with very heavy and lucrative connections. </p>
<p>Unless your contributions have attracted the attention of admissions, it is not going to make much of a dfference in the treatment of your son's app beyond what a legacy gets. Clearly if you know the adcoms, it becomes a bit more difficult to reject your kid if he is admissable but just not standing out, and I am sure some kids get in that way. But how many of those are in any given admissions pool? Not a lot. FOr highly selective schools, that is not going even give enough of a boost if the kid is below the line.</p>
<p>latetoschool:
I'm with you. Shortly after my D started college (UCSD) we started getting the calls to donate. The same thing is happening now with my younger D (UCLA). Personally, I feel like I'm already contributing plenty with having two in at the same time. Knowing it was really a student on the other end I simply politely declined but they do call back every year.</p>
<p>This brings up another question - why donate to an alma mater? What's the point? I don't donate to my doctor or my mechanic or other places that provide me a service. I've already paid for the service the college provided so why would I want to continue to donate to them? </p>
<p>Okay, I'll admit that I have donated to Children's hospitals that one could argue are in a similar category (charge steeply for services yet is a non-profit seeking donations).</p>
<p>But anyway, why does anyone feel compelled to donate to their alma mater? I don't.</p>
<p>I had the same question as OP, so I just plain asked if donating money would help my kids' chances. In my case, the alumni office at my public university alma mater said, "no." However, I also asked one of the trustees, whom I met at a fundraising cocktail party, and he told me that my contributions can help with my kids' "needs" once they are accepted. The benefit example he gave was getting a particular dorm assignment.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, the way I look at it, in calling me they had the wrong number in any case: I'm not a graduate of ANY college. They needed to wait a few years and call the newly minted college graduate - the legitimate alumna. It struck me as kind of funny that - there I was, a high school drop out by strict definition, gambling the assets to see a child through college, and the college wants a donation while the boxes are still being unpacked in the dorm room. But of course, like with your call, the student on the other end of the phone was surely just given a list of names and numbers, and a script so I didn't bother with explaining...poor caller was probably suffering through a work study assignment, counting the minutes until s/he could escape and get back to more interesting activities...still, you would think they'd at least wait until they had a bona fide college graduate in the house before adding us to the prospecting list!</p>