Hi, I have a daughter in 7th grade and we are considering her options for high school.
Local highly ranked public school
Local highly selective charter school
NYC private school
Boarding school
My question regarding the private and boarding schools are, how important are school donations to getting the attention of the guidance counselors to push for your child in college admissions? I attended a webinar where someone said that private school donations were really important to having the school advocate for your child.
I was a college interviewer for an Ivy school for a while. Unfortunately during this time I saw some less than qualified private school students gain acceptance to our Ivy and many outstanding public school students did not. I have wondered if school donations to the private school were the differing factor in having the private school guidance counselor advocate for the student.
If we were to try for our private school we would be applying for financial aid.
Also, if we were to receive financial aid but made donations would that affect our chance of receiving aid for the next year?
Thanks so much for your advice, just lots of questions as my husband and I are both from public school systems so we don’t know how any of this works.
It may differ from school to school, but at the BS my kid attended (George School in PA), a CC promoting one kid over another for any reason – especially parent donations – would be considered to be egregiously wrong.
I don’t think preference in college counseling is much of a thing anymore - as in, allocating senior/impact counselors based on the influence of a family. It may happen to a small degree. But in terms of admission advocacy for large donor families - I somewhat doubt it is prevalent these days. It may be more likely a college recognizes the applicant family as worthwhile admitting from a $ perspective. I would not worry about this too much.
Here is an article from the Exonian about whether CC’s are preferentially assigned.
Regarding donations from families receiving financial aid - having been on fundraising committees for boarding and prep schools, we often discuss having high participation more than the dollar amount raised. When families receiving FA donate $25 or $50, the schools are thrilled - it’s about having as many families participate as possible. (I don’t know if a large donation may affect FA eligibility - maybe others can answer this.) Not sure if this helps address your question.
A few elite boarding schools (Andover & Exeter) may admit students on a need-blind basis, but often it is more difficult to get admitted when applying for financial aid.
Donating small amounts consistently might be wise for one receiving financial assistance from their current school.
Not certain, but my impression is that at many private high schools–whether boarding or day–donors children do get extra attention in the college application process. However, in light of the recent college admissions scandal, any extra push might be viewed with caution.
Its true that donations can help with college admissions. But the level that you’d have to donate is in the 7-8 figure range before you’d get anyone to notice. These types of benefactors have a designated person assigned to them (Development contact). The development contact will usually help steer the college application. Most development offices and admissions offices operate independently. How much does this help? Hard to say, but depends on how much the college values your donations.
The well heeled counselors at private schools and boarding schools also have the ability to pick up the phone and tilt the scale. But this happens infrequently, and is often based on academic factors.
This probably has a lot more to do with institutional priorities than the academic credentials of the applicants. I used to be an alumni interviewer for Duke and had the same experience. Unfortunately there is low correlation between academic success and admission chances. There are a lot of other factors behind the scene: geography, URM, SE status, major, institutional priorities, athlete, legacy, etc.
@sgopal – i think the OP is asking whether prep school CCs play favorites based on donations to the prep school. Are you saying that your experience at L’ville was that big donors were promoted to colleges in a way others, including those on FA, were not?
If I’m reading your response right, you are answering a different question, which is whether being a major donor to a college can change your admissions odds. I agree with your answer on that. The amount given will vary by institution, but at some point, it becomes a finger (or hand!) on the scale.
As I type this, I am realizing that the person who donates generously to both L’ville and Duke may appear to have been excessively aided by the L’ville CC when in fact, the CC may simply have advised that they use the edge they had at Duke.
OP, at any private school, you are likely to find legacies, some who may be associated with major gifts, in the same applicant pool as your kid.
I am curious how you know this? I do alum interviews for an ivy (have for ages) I don’t have access to most of the key pieces of an application so couldn’t possibly assess if one kid is overall more qualified than another on an individual basis. I don’t even know if they are recruits or legacy (though it occasionally comes up) as that isn’t my role to assess.
Yes, actually the one that stood out to me was one of those who would be disadvantaged if going by institutional priorities. Like no qualifications that would give him a special edge. That’s why I wondered about the donor aspect and if the guidance counselor had an influence in the decision for the college to accept him.
The Exonian article was very illuminating. Thanks for sharing it. There is a definite bias when you look at the statistics. However, on the flip side I wonder how they could randomize 300 grads among 9 counselors and get homogenous numbers for race, Student leadership, GPA, Trustees and donors to school, HYPS Legacies etc. It would be nice if the Dean of Counselors explained how they assign students.
re-reading, are you worried that the college counselor at the prep school will not support students on FA or who don’t donate a lot to either the prep school or the college?
I don’t think that is an issue at all. The college counselors at independent schools have small case loads and will support all students…they will get to know your kid and write a lovely letter of rec. Note, I think for equity sake a lot of private colleges are limiting the amount of 1:1 advocacy between private HS and college admissions offices that used to be the norm…(not saying it doesn’t happen, but less encouraged…
In public schools guidance counselors, typically, don’t do a lot of advocacy or handholding and often write very generic recs and that is it. I think one of the big advantages to prep school in college admissions is that you will get a good counselor letter, and while AOs try not to be biased when LPS applicants don’t have amazing ones, it is hard not to take into consideration!
I think that some wealthy people like to throw their weight around and they believe their donations to a prep school should buy their child special treatment. It is the job of the school administration to make clear that behavior won’t be tolerated and to protect their faculty and staff from such pressure —not to mention protecting children from parental pressure. If you get any hint that a school is promising its donors will get special treatment or that rich parents get away with bullying then I don’t think that is a school that has its students’ best social, emotional, and academic interests at heart. I would not send my child to such a prep school.
Building level donations are the only thing that might get a second look at my husband’s Ivy.
That being said, the ability to generate those buildings outfitted with MRI machines and laser-ma-scopes are very important which is why the very top universities really don’t want to let go any rights to control their incoming class for any reason. Maybe 10% of legacy applicants have been accepted among his friends and all these kids have been wildly qualified. The school did reach out to one big donor/widely rich/URM/interview that had been on a full ride many moons ago about their child. And the parent was upfront about it not being the right school.
I would say that unless you are flush with cash, it may be better to be modest in your donation to the BS and get a good third party college consultant instead (assuming college placement is your primary motivation for donating). In my opinion, I estimate a consultant may be less expensive than the donation amount needed to move the needle. This is just my opinion and food for thought.
Big donors at the boarding school level do not necessarily have an easier time in college admissions. In my son’s class at Lawrenceville there were a couple of kids who were building level donors. But neither of them ended up at top colleges. Not sure the reason. The college counselors at Lawrenceville expend extra effort on a candidate that they feel deserve it (usually academic reasons), not because their families donate more.
If I’m reading your question correctly, you seem to be asking if donations to your kid’s current school will help with admission to BS. If that’s the question, I think it’s more of a talking point between your current head of school and the admissions office of the school your kiddo is applying to.
For example: Does the family ‘support’ their current school? If so, how? In person? Bake sales? In the classroom? with a check? are they helping solicit donations from other families/sources? Are they hands-off? Are they a PITA? Are they demanding? Is the family more trouble than they are worth?
We have been told these are the kinds of conversations that are happening between schools. My DS did go to a private school in SoCal, so we are used to the conversations and plan accordingly. This may not be the case at public or other schools… I can only tell you what happened in our particular situation. And NO, schools don’t say every family is great, are involved, and is generous… why? Because if that is not the case and a BS gets a bum family they will not trust the Jr. High for giving them bad intel and a crap family/student. So it’s in everyone’s best interest to be as honest as possible (without being slanderous, of course).
A family at our school with a VERY smart kid (AIME qualifier at 10 yo) did not get in ANYWHERE (only one day school and that was it… kid applied to 5+). Why? b/c mom was ‘difficult’, and it came across not only in the application process but in the rec from the school.
So does it matter how much $$ you give? I think it’s less about the actual dollars and more about how a family (student and parents) contributes to the institution as a whole. Just my 2¢.
I think the original question was about being college admissions being influenced by donations to a prep school. I don’t think the OP was talking about admission to high school.
You know…your kid has to have strengths not just have parents who donated to the prep school. Please put aside colleges and donations to the prep school….and spend time encouraging your kid to do their best.