<p>"...he may have gotten in (with lots of help from dad) - now the question will be - can he stay there..."</p>
<p>It's extraordinarily difficult to flunk out of ivies.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Can you validate that statement? It would seem to me that the Ivy League schools would be particularly difficult considering the caliber of students that attend these schools.</p>
<p>SLIGH - I agree - I personally know of 2 IVY failures - so I also find that statement intrieging</p>
<p>Validate? I'm not sure what you're asking. Do you mean examples like Brown not recording grades below a C on a student's transcript?</p>
<p>Did you mean grade inflation dntw8up?</p>
<p>I'm not surprised at the college, though the donations have to be way in excess of $1 MM to influence admissions decisions. Even the local private schools in my area might not bend over for that amount. A friend of my son's was a good student and had two brothers. The father wanted them all to go to one school for middle/high school and, as the founder/CEO of a successful publicly traded company, offered essentially to build them a new building and a lot more and they turned him down [I think because high class call-girls get their money in more discreet ways than street prostitutes and they didn't like feeling like a street prostitute]. But, all of the celebrity kids we know get in almost everywhere. And big donations can indeed get admission to private school and to college (but at an Ivy, the check size has to be pretty big].</p>
<p>Things are much more meritocratic than they used to be. Read The Chosen by Jerome Karabel. He went through the records of the HYP admissions offices and shows explicit decisions to keep a 15% cap (typically) on admissions to Jews. It turns out that if at the time, they were to only use grades and standardized tests as they had earlier, essentially all of the classes of HYP would have been made up of Jews. Quotas were a bit too obvious and embarrassing, so they switched to a) geographical distribution requirements; b) athletic prowess; c) extra-curricular activities; d) legacy preferences (I suspect); e) name detection, etc. to keep the percentage of Jews to their target. They wanted to make sure that the aristocratic WASP group that was their financial base did not get upset and kept giving money. Academic standards were basically thrown out the window, to the continuing discomfort of much of the faculty who thought their student bodies were a bunch of dullards. While we have retained much of the discriminatory apparatus of elder days, we are using it to provide preferences to legacies, athletes, and URMs as well as a small percentage of development admits, but it is likely remarkably meritocratic beyond these preferred groups.</p>
<p>I am surprised at the high school. I am not surprised to see them respond to money in admissions decisions but am very surprised to hear about it in grading. I have also seen private middle schools in our area who give the annual and graduation day awards as well as leadership positions in plays and school organizations to the progeny of the rich. Nonetheless, I'm pretty surprised that they'd sacrifice basic academic integrity so easily.</p>
<p>I haven't read this whole thread, but I can guess at some of the debates. At one point I worked "on the inside" of this process. To be sure, there are strategic development admits. There was a famous case of some kids of a very wealthy family (two brothers) who wanted their kids to go to Berkeley as they had, but Berkeley at the time had no admits that could fall into this category (and maybe still doesn't) and they were international candidates with not quite enough to get in. You can guess which big-name endowment schools these kids ended up attending -- and where a lot of the family money will go.</p>
<p>But the fact is that most high-fundraising schools worth their salt won't admit a kid unless he/she belongs there basically on his/her own merits. It doesn't help the kid nor development prospects if the kid hates the school and/or fails out. And I can remember receiving several phone calls from big donors or prospective big donors after they learned their kids didn't get admitted.</p>
<p>The story you cited in this post is appalling -- and will very likely backfire for that school. Certainly having a father bail his kids out in the manner this guy has done will, in the long run, be bad for them.</p>
<p>dntw8up: "...Do you mean examples like Brown not recording grades below a C on a student's transcript?"</p>
<p>Nickel Xenon: "Did you mean grade inflation...?"</p>
<p>dntw8up: No. If you earn a D or F in a course, Brown doesn't record the D or F grade on your transcript.</p>
<p>Welcome to the real world</p>
<p>I also read The Chosen, it was outstanding! What an interesting perspective behind the scenes. I agree that while its not a fair world, and often money and/or power can pave the way to pretty much anything, in the end, this boy will be left feeling a void, when daddy is out of the picture and unable to continue bribing and bailing his way out of things........his son will be there having to stand on his own two feet possibly for the first time and will have to work hard to prove himself and stay afloat. That will be the real test. I wish him the best of luck. Next week they will find out after their visit to the school if he is likely to be admitted, and yes their donation was over 1 mil.</p>
<p>
[quote]
when daddy is out of the picture and unable to continue bribing and bailing his way out of things........his son will be there having to stand on his own two feet possibly for the first time and will have to work hard to prove himself and stay afloat.
[/quote]
Nah. Then he'll have the money. Think Paris Hilton ever has to "stand on her own two feet"? Or Nicole Richie? Or any of the other ridiculously rich dilettantes out there? (Sorry, that's my cynic popping up!)</p>
<p>It helps the school and everyone attending for families to make such large donations. Honestly...there are bigger problems to worry about. I'm not talking to the OP as much as the people here in general I guess...just worry about getting in yourself, don't let that discourage you or get you angry. It is what it is.</p>
<p>Who cares about the dad's actions - these people are everywhere: materialistic money grubbers obsessed with conspicuous success.</p>
<p>The son in this case seems to be a huge wuss. He's basically an empty vessel that does whatever his father tells him to do. Where's the part in your rant, ctfmom, where the son literally punches his dad in the face or at least, runs away? We've all been reading your posts venting the skewed morals of the father, but what about the son? Apparently he has no thoughts for himself and will most likely become as pathetically driven as the father.</p>
<p>The victim in this story is the mother, who is truly incapable to change the lives of the men in her family. She has a superficial husband and a dumb-as-rocks son.</p>
<p>So while your anger is understood, just let this go. The father is wrenching happenings into place while the son seems to placidly move along. Has there ever been a incident where complete comfort and cushioning resulted in true human progression? The wife should leave the family with the other children who can still be saved.</p>
<p>Come on. You're really reaching here, adding your own fictional psychological analysis of the family members. You don't know them, don't make assumptinos like that. Why all the anger? You claim, in more words, "It doesn't matter, their lives are terrible anyway." Really? How can you be sure? I doubt that.</p>
<p>As long as the money accepted by these schools translate into better programs or fellowships for the hardworking and smart kids, then it's kinda balanced.</p>
<p>We can say the father bought good karma by sponsoring maybe 3 poor genuises to a quality education and then spent that good karma on getting his average kid inside.</p>
<p>I like to believe in Karma.</p>
<p>lol wow...if i had kids like that i would just give up on them.</p>
<p>i hope i won't =)</p>
<p>I agree that the actions of the HS are truly appalling.</p>
<p>I have a young relative who attends an elite private school in a midwestern city. Apparently some enormous percentage of kids there--like 40% or more-- have been tested and found to have "learning disabilities" that get them extra time on school tests and the like. Basically, any parent with $15K to blow on a compliant tester can buy this advantage if they wish, although it apparently does not apply to standardized tests, where a higher standard of proof applies. Or so I'm told.</p>
<p>The College Board applies a much higher standard, in part to deal with the parents who try to purchase a disability. Public schools also have a higher standard as they are obligated to provide services to those people with disabilities whose disabilities are preventing them from making appropriate educational progress. But, many schools now give extra time on tests to anyone who asks for it, without regard to whether the student has a recognized disability.</p>
<p>On the development candidate issue, development candidates are not taking up spots from hardworking kids. They're creating spots for kids who need scholarship money. Don't be ignorant.</p>