<p>^frank
This is entire not true. I read somewhere that Yale rejected the son of their biggest donor in history many years ago. Plenty of the alumni will give more than 2 million, and most of these powerful figures’ kids are well-rounded, so you are saying that they will all get accepted into the institution?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most of the endowment is retricted; if you compare only the unrestricted portion, you should see that $2 million is not trivial.</p>
<p>Still HYPS have like 3 billion+ nonrestrited endowment, which are like 1500 times than 2 million.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>They report on the ones who (for some reason or other) didn’t get in. Do they report the ones who get in? How do you know their kids are well-rounded smart students with ECs instead of ne’er-do-well brats anyway? Did the son of Yale’s biggest donor blow off the application? You have to got to at least submit the application on time. Too many circumstances and facts we don’t know and my guess is as good as yours.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Might seem a lot one way - but think about how long it took those universities to actually build up the endowments to that level.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, do you really think many alumni have 17/18-yo kids <em>this</em> year? <em>Most</em> Harvard alums don’t make <em>that</em> much money. One of my good friends that went to Harvard is making 80K a year in LA and he’s 45 yo. His next door neighbor, also a Harvard alum around his age, is making nothing right now (living off inheritance).</p>
<p>[Millionaire</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millionaire]Millionaire”>Millionaire - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>50*10^3 VHNW households
10^-2 SAT over 2100
1/70 18 year olds</p>
<p>500/70 = 7 such applicants a year.
And remember, this is before taking into account competition from other schools, alumni status, and student athlete. So OP’s original assumption that this kind of applicant would swamp the system if allowed to exist is not a strong argument.</p>
<p>How about the argument that Harvard’s endowment is large enough to not care about 2M ? Even if we somehow forget the recent recession, and uncertain near economic future, a conservative use of the endowment is 3% annualy, or 12000 * 3*10^-2 = 360 million a year.
Read this article: [Wage</a>, Budget Freezes Possible as Harvard Looks to Spend Less - The Tech](<a href=“http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N56/harvard.html]Wage”>http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N56/harvard.html).
The 30% drop in endowment equaled 120M less income. Harvard’s annual budget is somewhere around 4B, meaning the endowment covers about 10%. Rest assured that if their budget is in the red and departments are being slashed, a 2M present is not sneezed at. It covered about 2% of the endowment shortfall for this year. with one dignitary visit to campus of family and student.</p>
<p>I’m sure your calculation is way off, there are way too many factors will affect your probabilities…Again if harvard cares about 2M then the entire class will be filled up with qualified kids whose parents are able to donate millions.</p>
<p>Princeton wouldn’t mention the following if $2 million is so trivial.
[Princeton</a> - Weekly Bulletin 2006/06/19 -](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/06/0619/13a.shtml]Princeton”>Princeton - Weekly Bulletin 2006/06/19 -)</p>
<p>^So if you are so insistent about this and have already made up your mind, why were you posting a “question”? Yes, your friend is lying. Time to get him out of your life. Seriously.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Show us your calculations that there are at least 1,700 families with 17/18-year old kids that has SAT scores > 2100 and the ability to cough up 2 million in cash.</p>
<p>
Is it that belief in your head talking to you again ?</p>
<p>I doubt reasoning gets too much in the way of your opinions and beliefs OP, but let me ask a question: does it surprise you that Harvard charges tuition ?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, 2100 is a perfectly reasonable score for a Harvard applicant.</p>
<p>You have totally bought into the CC score myth, which is fueled by naive students who think that if they retake the SATs several times and manage to boost their score up to 2350+ it will make a dime’s worth of difference. </p>
<p>You also wrote that the kid has “is very popular at school and he has many leadership positions + impressive ECs”. Being “popular” with other kids won’t mean anything, but “popular” with teachers may translate into excellent LOR’s, and the leadership and impressive EC’s are additional tip factors.</p>
<p>So now we know:
2100 SAT
varsity athlete
leadership position
impressive EC’s.</p>
<p>We don’t know the GPA – you said less than 4.0 but you didn’t say whether you meant weighted or unweighted, and you didn’t say how much less. For the sake of argument, let’s assume a 3.8 UW.</p>
<p>Does any person meeting the above description have a “good chance” of getting into Harvard? Definitely.</p>
<p>Now you ADD the fact that the kid is a double legacy with big donor parents – and I would say that I’m surprised that the head of admissions didn’t personally promise to admit the kid. I mean – I’d think with all of those factors the kid would be told something better than “good chance”. Sounds to me like they were being rather discrete. “Good chance” is what they tell any kid who walks through the door with the basic stats.</p>
<p>Your friend might be telling a story about his parents’ money or the family being flown out to Boston – I don’t know – but the one part of the tale that seems pretty obvious is that a kid with the description you gave clearly has a “good chance” of getting into Harvard.</p>
<p>Actually – I do think that someone is lying. I think you just made up the whole story to see what people’s reaction would be. But that’s just my opinion based on your scanty posting history.</p>
<p>Your friend has a lot going for him.</p>
<p>He is what’s called a “developmental” applicant – that’s someone who’s not just a legacy but whose family is a significant donor.</p>
<p>He plays a varsity sport – and he may very well be good enough to make the team because in many sports, the Ivy teams aren’t top notch.</p>
<p>He seems to have good credentials except for a slightly low SAT score. But 2100 is not low enough to be an indicator that he can’t do the work at the Ivy. If his credentials were such that the admissions people thought he would not be able to do the work, they probably wouldn’t admit him. (No point in admitting the child of a big donor – and yes, 2 million is big – and having the kid flunk out.) But in this case, that does not seem to be a problem. You don’t have to have a 4.0 and a 2400 to succeed at Harvard or its peer schools. </p>
<p>Moreover, 2100 is not such a low SAT score that it would automatically exclude a student from consideration for admission at the kind of school you’re talking about. True, it is lower than most kids’ scores, but some people do get in with scores in this range if they have something else that the admissions office wants. It may be URM status, or a special skill, or the ability to play a sport at the college varsity level, or, as in this case, the family’s special relationship with the school. 2100 is not a dealbreaker. </p>
<p>Your friend may be telling the truth. However, if he’s smart, he will also apply to some other schools, including a good safety or two. He doesn’t have a binding commitment from that Ivy admissions office, so he can’t be sure that he’s going to get in.</p>
<p>Your friends story sounds all too similar to the story of Jared Kushner, son of billionaire real estate mogul Charles Kushner and husband of Ivanka Trump.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Source: [Harvard’s</a> admissions of gilt - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/09/04/harvards_admissions_of_gilt/]Harvard’s”>http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2006/09/04/harvards_admissions_of_gilt/)</p>
<p>It certainly is viable to think your friend with a 2100 and decent/good GPA(?) has a very high percentage of gaining admissions granted that he is telling the truth about the $2 million donation.</p>
<p>Harvard merely told your friend that he has a chance, not a guaranteed admittance. Many schools give special treatment to their important alums, especially someone who has donated 2 mil. </p>
<p>I am more familiar with Cornell because my daughter is there and my brother is an alum. He is very involved with Cornell, not just on the donating part (not even close to 2 mill). My nephew is applying this year to Cornell. When he came to visit the school, they scheduled a private tour for my brother’s family. They set up 1:1 interviews with adcom and department heads for my nephew. They also told my brother that my nephew has a good chance and will be looked at with special eye this fall. </p>
<p>My brother isn’t stupid to think his son would be a shoo-in just because they got special treatment. He will be admitted if his stats meet the standard. It’s nothing off Cornell’s back to make their top alums feel special as a pay back for many years of involvement. </p>
<p>My daughter’s good friend from HS was also given special treatment when applying to Cornell because of his father. Again, he didn’t donate close to 2 mill, but was consistently involved with the school. He was deferred at ED, with a big wink for acceptance during RD. His stats was lower than D1, but a competitive candidate. He ended up not going because he thought Cornell would be too hard. </p>
<p>No, I don’t think OP’s friend is lying. But I don’t think Harvard is saying he is definitely in either. I think OP is mighty jealous of his friend.</p>
<p>I am sure the 2 million is a huge deal to the 40 or so need based students that would attended Harvard with this equally qualified student.</p>
<p>Calmom…thank you for your post. You have placed my head back in reality. I was starting to doubt of my D’s stats (33 ACT, 4.0 UW GPA, 18 AP’s at end of school year with 4’s & 5’s) because of all the perfection that seems to infuse these boards.</p>
<p>OP - your friend is likely to get in, so try not to let it eat you up. It’s both logical and injust at the same time, like much of life. </p>
<p>Your friend may be really happy with the outcome, while someone else would doubt their legitimacy at Harvard because of the influence of Mommy and Daddy’s money. </p>
<p>Have you read “The Price of Admission”? The preface talks about the sons of Al Gore and Bill Frist getting into Princeton and Harvard… and later getting arrested. Not as bad as your friend but fruit from the same tree.</p>
<p>How much did Ralph Lauren donate to Duke to get his kids in? I don’t even think it was at the $2 million level and obviously he’s a very wealthy man.</p>
<p>op-- your resentment is palpable. I suggest focusing on your own self and not worrying about your friend. He has more money than you and legacy connections. Oh well. Such is life. There is always someone smarter, richer, better connected, prettier. Nothing you can do about it.</p>
<p>“But the senario is different, the administration people invited my friend’s entire family to campus and told him that he has a good chance. I don’t think colleges will invite regular kids with a 2100 SAT and good GPA to campus and deliver a reassurance talk…”</p>
<p>He’s not average. He’s a double legacy whose wealthy parents are pledging to donate $2 million to Harvard. </p>
<p>He has the stats for Harvard. I believe what he told you. </p>
<p>He sounds like an excellent student for Harvard to recruit. And if the parents can give $2 million in this economy, they probably will be able to give much more later.</p>
<p>Recruiting students like that allows Harvard to be able to offer the best need-based financial aid in the country. I’m an alum who got need-based financial aid from Harvard, and I have no problems with what Harvard is doing.</p>