<p>Hhaha-- 2 million is a small donation and 2100 is a low SAT score. Those who believe this are living in a very unreal privileged world.</p>
<p>Oldfort, the fact of the matter is that you are never guaranteed a spot at schools like Harvard even if you give that kind of money. And if you are a strong legacy with a student who has the stats to get into Harvard, giving the money may not have made the difference. He might have gotten in there, or to a like school anyways. Especially if they know you have that kind of money. Once you give it away, it’s gone. No leverage. BUt if you still have it, it remains something that may be gotten. Also colleges are not going to be so gauche as to strike a deal, and if you are fool enough to try to directly buy your kid’s way into such a school, you will be shown the door and your kid will be less likely to be admitted.</p>
<p>A person who can give $2 million directly can often help the school in many other different ways, including getting corporate donations etc. There were questions about the fund raising capabilities of Eleana Kagan, who as Dean of Harvard Law School raised over $300 million from wealthy individuals, law firms etc. So, the parents may give $2 million, the firm, friends, business partners, relatives, family trust etc may give more. </p>
<p>$2 million is a big sum (if someone who does not think it is big and can give me that money, I should be able to retire soon). Never underestimate the power of connections. The $2 million may be worth a lot more than that.</p>
<p>cftofthehouse - Pizzagirl asked how much a guaranteed spot at Harvard on ebay would go for. We were playing the “what if” scenario. No one is stupid enough to think Harvard would give anyone a guaranteed spot, not even someone as naive(stupid) as me.</p>
<p>A donation of 2 million per year is enough to get a less than stellar applicant into Harvard. By the way a 2100 is not less than stellar so lets put it in the proper perspective…if you said a 1500 SAT that would be a different story. If a parent could make a 2 million dollar donation than Harvard knows there is more where that came from. Harvard isn’t stupid. </p>
<p>Why do so many people think there is so much magic involved in these acceptances…it just isn’t the case. If you have what it takes a student will get accepted. The belief that you need to save starving children in third world nations to get accepted just isn’t the truth and too many people on this board perpetuate this notion.</p>
<p>A donation of $2 million “per year” is a lot different than cumulative donations of $2 million, assuming that “per year” means at least “more than once”. </p>
<p>Either way, of course $2 million is lots of money, and very few alumni of any school give that much over their lifetimes. It just isn’t enough to buy a guarantee of admission to Harvard. Based on the experience of friends, I know that for sure (and NOT an unqualified kid). At the same time, many of the legacies who get accepted at Harvard come from families which have not donated anything close to that, and never will. I know that for sure, too.</p>
<p>I think Harvard looks at it like this: A large percentage of its graduates do extremely well in life. The expected future donations from a person accepted solely on the merits is not a lot less than the expected future donations from a person whose family has been donating for a generation or more. Harvard accepts some of both.</p>
<p>Oldfort, I have been surprised at what consipiracy theories some otherwise perfectly rational normal folks have expressed when it comes to who bought their ways into colleges.</p>
<p>What’s the % of the kids at Harvard is categorized in development cases?</p>
<p>By the way when I say less than stellar, it is in Ivy language, meaning a student with a high GPA, high board scores, and good ECs. With a 2 million dollar donation I am sure if one of those areas were lacking a bit they would look the other way.
The OP seems to think that a 2100 is not sufficient to gain entrance into Harvard. It is sufficient especially if the student has the other necessary credentials. The OP sounds like this kid does not deserve entrance which is just being green eyed regarding their ability to come up with 2 million.</p>
<p>There was not a person in my town that knew the accomplishments of my children or their GPAs, board scores, or impressive ECs. I have no doubt that many wondered how my kids made it to MIT and Cornell but it was really not any ones business. We tend to keep our kids accomplishments on the low side because people just don’t want to hear about the greatness of others when they are trying to get through with an average kid. Humility is the greatest asset that a bright talented kid could have because it makes them easy to work with in the real world.</p>
<p>Let’s face it. Harvard turns away many qualified candidates. If they happen to choose a legacy student from a generously-contributing family over an equally qualified student who needs financial aid… .who could blame them?</p>
<p>2 Million can help support like 10 full-ride kids for 4 years, I would have no problem to let the kids in if I am the admission officer.</p>
<p>It’s only been recent decades that private colleges took on the challenge of adding kids who have financial need. It sure wasn’t happening often even during my college years. If you parents could write the check and you were a great student you pretty much could pick and choose where you wanted to go. It is more recently that young people and some parents have decided that the key to getting into these selective private colleges is based on quantitative data such as GPAs, test scores and resumes of extra curricular activities. For the friend of the OP there is nothing, absolutely nothing in what is being claimed that woud lead me to believe that they would not consider this kid. As several have pointed out the kids has the “goods” and legacy parents and legacy parents that contribute a hefty sum. Probably no need on top of everything else positive. Whether he gets in or not no one can speculate but that he would get a strong look…of course.</p>
<p>I’m not jealous at all. It’s just the fact this guy acts annoys me a lot, imagine someone goes around and tell everyone that he has a “good chance” to get into Harvard because of his above average ECs(at ivy level) and his parents’ generous donation. 2 millions takes most Harvard grads maybe more than 10 years to earn; it’s defintely a huge sum of money.</p>
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<p>Would you care to support this statement with some data?</p>
<p>bestswimmer – I can’t give you exact figures, but I doubt that at any of the HYPS schools “development” cases amount to anywhere near as much as 1% of students. 2-5 kids per year. That’s the buy-your-way-in or billionaire-dad category.</p>
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<p>Well, it’s pretty evident that the average Harvard grad doesn’t start out at a $200,000 job at which he’d make $2 million after 10 years. And, despite what gets pitched on CC, not every single Harvard grad goes onto Wall Street and makes millions within 5 years. They go into every field under the sun, just like graduates of any other college.</p>
<p>I would just note that if a school rejects a legacy kid, that may very well cut off all future donations from that family (especially if it’s the only or last kid in the family). They may choose to support the school that accepts their kid instead. For large donors, this could cost the school a lot of money, and they probably take that into account.</p>
<p>It’s more of a ripple effect than just cutting off future donations from the one family. Many legacies are getting nervous about hearing that alums who have been faithfully donating some nice sums of money are getting their kids rejected, and decide that they will not be in that category. No way they can contribute huge amounts, and they can certainly use what they are spending in donations. Maybe they should wait until they see if their kids will get into their school before supporting it. Friends of ours cut off their donations to BC after hearing of so many BC legacies not accepted. They are double legacies and do not have the kind of money that they can just donate without feeling it. They have to feel they are getting something for it, and that something they want as their kids approach college age, is an “in” for them.</p>
<p>Well if your friends’ only reason for donating to their alma mater was so that their kid could get in, then geez. DH and I donate to our alma mater because we feel strongly that it’s a great school and that kids with financial need should be able to attend. We give to “pay back” for when we attended. </p>
<p>Our S is a student at our alma mater now, not sure how I’d feel if they had turned him down. But I certainly wouldn’t have stopped giving before he applied, just because I didn’t think I could give enough to get him in.</p>
<p>“2 millions takes most Harvard grads maybe more than 10 years to earn.” </p>
<p>“Would you care to support this statement with some data?”</p>
<p>I don’t have any data handy, but I am confident that whatever data is out there would show that “most” harvard grads make less than $200,000 per year, especially for the first ten years out of college (remember, many go to grad school).</p>
<p>Ergo: It would take more than ten years for “most” of anybody’s grads to make $2 million.</p>
<p>That is not to say there there are not some who can bank all that, but “most” will not.</p>