Have your wealthy relative call their contact in the development office.
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Adcoms don’t like “back channels”. Doesn’t matter whether it’s from the university president, the football coach or the development office. They have protocols in place to deal with each of those particular situations and the OP’s doesn’t fit any of them.
I imagine that an alum who has been dealing with the development office on an ongoing basis would have thought of that first, but for reasons we’ve already discussed (like, maybe he’s not tying the rec to another gift to the university) they’ve only volunteered to write a LOR. IMO, this gives the adcom the option of following it up with the development office or not without it feeling pressured to do so.
One thing I think we’re all doing - including the OP - is conflating this with a “hook”. It’s not. It’s just an interesting factoid. Adcoms love interesting factoids about applicants.
Thank you! I think we will just be doing a letter of rec- no pressure on the AO from any other sources as that would be very unethical. I think an opinion from an alumni about my character, even if this person is a family member, is the main reason I would want this LOR
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I agree. I wouldn’t go near. And I don’t see how the letter adds value but OP, of course, is free to do as they want.
I don’t think it can help but it could hurt because someone could see it as arm twisting and not added value.
Unless the application gets routed through the development office, it is quite likely that the connection isn’t made between the donor and the applicant even if they write a LOR (unless they say the gave $$$$ in the LOR). Most people, even on campus, don’t know who the building is named after unless they are extremely famous. AO don’t have to start researching every family member or LOR writer.
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If they donated enough to get names on buildings, paying your college costs (at the specific college or another college) would be pocket change to them… that means that the implication is that you are not among those whom they will deploy their money to assist with respect to college. If the college considers development relation in admission, that could look odd to an admission reader.
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Maybe we are overthinking this.
Influential people write letters and make calls for people all the time. I think it rarely helps, but the fact that you are lower income or whether this qualifies as legacy does not change things.
Let them do it. It would only hurt if they do not know how to position it. My gut is they do.
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Neither is a good option.
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Sometimes the development office can help the donor know what to do in terms of helping. In some cases, a well known donor can actually help make sure an application is read with care. Perhaps that might help…
But name dropping on your application, or having someone you don’t really know all that well write you a letter won’t help.
If this is true, all you need to do is have your relative make their development office contact know of your relationship and that you are applying (and it is your 1st choice?). If your relative is big enough a development officer will be in the room when your decision is made.
Answer all applications questions truthfully. No need for LOR.
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I think the thread has migrated a little bit from the original question which was, “Will putting their name on my application help or hurt my application?” to - and I’m paraphrasing “How does the OP get maximum leverage out of this relationship?”
The answer to the first question was simplified by the added fact that the OP would only be filling in a blank space on the admissions form that seems to be eliciting institutional data. It would be silly not to provide the information asked for.
Taking it to “the next level” and making sure the adcom knows that this relative is also a rich donor seems to be what’s making the answers more confusing than they need to be. To be clear, this was an element that was introduced by the adults on this thread, not the OP.
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I don’t see it is as simple as one answer fits all. Some factors to consider:
How strong is your application? Being low SES is likely a boost. You may put that boost in jeopardy if you too closely associate yourself with a wealthy donor relative. On the other hand, if your application is marginal, you might decide to throw everything on the wall.
How selective and wealthy is the school? IMO if you are talking HYPS-like schools, unless your relative is willing to put up big $$, the LoR will more likely hurt than help.
How do things work between Development and AO? Your relative should talk to their development officer. At this level, they will have a personal officer who can best advise the best course of action on a confidential basis without breaching the wall with the AO and possibly pre-prejudicing the application.
OP originally asked about putting the name on the app but then expanded later to getting an LOR.
OP got a lot of different perspectives, etc. so hopefully they can move forward one way or another.
I don’t think they lose any of the “benefit” of being lower SES. If anything, the admission office gets to check two boxes. But if they want the donor advantage, they need to work with the development office directly. This isn’t a time to be coy. Will it help? I don’t know. It depends on who actually gave the money. I am not sure if it was the LOR writer or their parents or grandparents. Also, how close are the two? I am assuming that they are Aunt/Uncle by marriage. Anything further and the benefit is going to zero quickly.
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