I’m going to be blunt about this. My family is close friends with a board of regents member and they happen to be working for a college that I really want to go to. I want to know what they have control over and how much they can help someone get in. And yes, I know, I should be trying my best to get in by myself. I am, trust me. But in reality it’s all about connections and I want to know what my connection can do for me. Thanks
The pull this person has is proportional to the lack of ethics that the admissions office will have. Without a doubt, orgs within an institution will politely acknowledge each others’ favor requests. But if you’re way off the mark of the typically admitted student, then you need to hope for massive dearth of integrity.
If you’re in the range, then this regent might not feel bad about making a call. However, if you’re clearly off, then the regent might politely say YES to your family and never act on it because to do so, would mean a serious compromise in his/her stature – to ask for a favor for a clearly unqualified applicant.
Tons of “ifs”
If you’re not qualified, I hope you fail in your venture.
It is more about qualifications than connections. If the family friend can write a meaningful, personal letter to admissions it will likely tip the scale in your favor if you are being compared to a pool of similar candidate without such a letter. But in and of itself, the letter won’t get you in.
By asking this friend to write a letter he/she will be using up goodwill of people they have ongoing relationships with and within the school in general. I would caution you to only ask for a letter if that school is your absolute, positive top choice. If he/she writes the letter and your are admitted and don’t go I can almost guarantee that there will be hard feelings.
If you really want to go to that college, a regent recommendation - if you have stats in the admitted student range- is going to help a lot. If he/she knows you well that is even better. Everyone who works at a university answers to them. It only becomes a problem (see UT-Austin) when large numbers of sub-standard students are admitted on a regular basis.
There are always going to be a number of admits for athletes, children of donors, of other FotU’s (friends of the university). If you are close to/above the admittance median you won’t get more than token resistance from the admissions office, who at most schools is fairly independent. If your stats are way below the 25th percentile your regent friend is going to burn some political capital. Run it by your parents.