<p>Recently we had a discussion with John who was debating between Columbia (where both his parents are professors) and Dartmouth (where he wants to attend. Issues were raised regarding his admission because his parents worked for the university.</p>
<p>Excerpt:</p>
<p>Children of faculty and staff get an edge at most institutions, even the most selective. ''If all else were equal in terms of excellence, we would certainly tip, we would certainly give the advantage to the faculty child,'' says Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of admissions at Harvard College. ''It's like what we do with alumni. It might even be a bigger tip.'' She estimates that Harvard College admits 8 to 16 children of professors out of freshmen classes of 1,650, although it offers no break on costs. </p>
<p>At Yale, a connection also counts. ''Affiliation with Yale is among many factors, such as geographic location and race, that may be considered in the application process,'' says a spokesman, Thomas Conroy, who declines to provide the number of students who are faculty and staff offspring. </p>
<p>Such preferential treatment is not limited to private institutions. John A. Blackburn, dean of admissions at the University of Virginia, estimates that 20 to 25 children of faculty and staff enroll each year, about 1 percent of the class, even though the university does not waive tuition. ''We don't admit them carte blanche, but I think all of us try to give special consideration to faculty children,'' Mr. Blackburn says. ''It's probably even better than legacy consideration. These are parents who are on our admissions committee. They are teaching the students we admit, and they are such a part of the institution.'' </p>
<p>Yes, it is an advantage, as is being a child of a staff member. Believe me a janitor's child who has the stats to get in will get a boost. And I don't begrudge it a moment, especially given the numbers. H and I have a number of faculty/staff friends since he was in academia for so many years. And though, yes, they may get an edge in admissions, I just don't see it as a "hook" such as athletics, URM or even legacy, perhaps because the pool of such kids is so much smaller. But because many schools do offer some sort of a tuition remission, it often pays for faculty children to go where their parent works. I saw this a lot at Pitt, but every one of those kids that I knew were easily admits even without the faculty connection. For CMU, it may have been a different story, but I also knew kids who did not get in with the parent as faculty. My friend who is a prof at Fordham did not get his borderline son into the school. Another who is a prof at Cornell did not get his daughter who was well within the accept paramenter in the school.</p>
<p>Being a faculty child helps. By the time faculty kids are applying, their parents are usually tenured. If they are tenured at an ivy, they are faculty that the U wants to keep - and keep happy. They are of the caliber that other schools would often hop at the chance to get them. If a faculty kid is turned down, a huge wrinkle may arise in the relationship between the faculty member and the U. </p>
<p>We have a friend whose son was admitted ED to the ivy where his dad teaches. Said dad - a scientist - routinely gets other offers, and if he left, he would take lots of grant money with him. The faculty kid was indeed qualified - but probably no more so than many other BWRKs who applied too. We were not surprised that he got in. But no one assumed he was a shoe-in. We realized it could go either way, though we knew the odds were in his favor. His best friend - another faculty kid who was not the child of a scientist - got in too.</p>
<p>I know a huge number of Harvard faculty whose kids did not get into H, even though they got into other top schools. If a tip exists around here, it is well hidden.</p>
<p>Staff? forget it. Maybe years ago, but not now, at least not at the elites.</p>
<p>If I may quote a Stanford adcom on the definition of tip: " a tip will get you over the fence if you're on it; it won't get you closer to the fence if you're far from it."</p>
<p>I believe that there is a faculty tip at Harvard; it's a tip, not a hook, and it's one of many (being from Cambridge is another tip, for example). It will help an applicant whose application is excellent in every other ways, but it won't help one whose application is subpar. I've never heard of tenured faculty leaving if their kids did not get admitted to a top school. However, when my H was a grad student, his department tried to recruit a prof who had 10 kids and taught at a university where faculty kids were given a free ride. The prof would not budge from his university.</p>
<p>I think the Stanford adcomm is telling it just like it is. And I agree that staff kids generally don't get any benefit in terms of admissions.</p>
<p>When we were at that ivy, it was explained to us that being a legacy, faculty kid, big donor, etc. got you an extra look - your app went through but if you didn't get in, your app was set aside and then it also went through on a special "round" for your category. Not sure if they still do it that way but that's how we were told they did it in the 80s.</p>
<p>Some colleges are members of consortia wherein their faculty kids can get tuition breaks at a number of different schools, allowing the faculty kids to venture out from their backyards and still have free or reduced tuition. I have several friend who work at such a college; it is a major draw for employment because it is a huge benefit for parents of a couple of kids.</p>