<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I was just wondering--in the admissions process, what kinds of connections can help and what kinds of connections mean nothing at all. I understand legacy etc. is a hook, but what about more passive things like knowing an administrator at school--or having a good word put in by a professor. Can things like this help, can they hurt, or do they not matter at all? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>A professor can help, but only if he knows you through your work, not as a family friend. </p>
<p>But, really, it depends on the school. My son goes to Caltech, and is a legacy, but they give absolutely no legacy credit. Lucky, he did not need it.</p>
<p>At one of my daughter’s top schools, she has participated in a high school academic competitions sponsored by the school. One of the professors has said she will go talk to them at admissions.</p>
<p>I think it probably depends too much on the school, the specific relationship between the applicant and the school, and between the school and the faculty member, how much of a ‘push’ we are talking about, and what the school’s specific needs are at that time, to give a definitive answer about whether you can get a boost or not. Yes, you hear stories about a faculty member going to bat for an applicant, but who knows how much weight this actually had on the decision? I know too many stories of Deans of Admission calling friends or colleagues, as a courtesy, to personally give them the bad news that their kid wasn’t being admitted.</p>
<p>Best not to pin any hopes to this.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that a generic letter from a politician means nothing.</p>
<p>One admissions officer said “The more important the person who wrote the recommendation, the less they seem to know about the student.”</p>