Is a $500,000 donation enough to secure a spot at Harvard Med?

[Sikorsky]

<p>

Inevitably, some families will ask about buying their way off the waiting list. At Ms. Inzer’s former employer, Babson College, in Wellesley, Mass., she said one parent went so far as to open a checkbook and ask, “What’s it going to take?”</p>

<p>According to [Michael] Motto [a former assistant dean of admissions at Yale], at a time when top academic institutions now receive nine-figure donations, there is little point in even asking those questions.</p>

<p>“All parents say they know someone who’s made a contribution” that has turned a spot on the waiting list into a spot in the freshman class, he said. “Has it happened in some instances? I’m sure it has,” but, he added, “I think a lot of it is rumor.”</p>

<p>(emphasis added)

</p>

<p>New York Times, 05/11/2013
<a href=“On the Waiting List, Some College Applicants Try a Little Dazzle - The New York Times”>On the Waiting List, Some College Applicants Try a Little Dazzle - The New York Times;