<p>My alma mater routinely rejects “extremely well qualified” applicants, including legacies. I know because I’ve been doing alumni volunteer admissions work for them since graduation 20 years ago. My oldest DD loves my alma mater and appears to be a top academic performer (she’s only in 7th grade however). If come time she’s applying, still wants to apply to my HYP college and gets rejected, I know it won’t be unusual.</p>
<p>I’ll still continue to contribute both money and volunteer hours because I love what my college represents and its quality. I’m acclimated to the fact that practically anyone’s odds are very minute, my kids’ odds not being different.</p>
<p>I think I’m a special case since I went to an academy. Since the selection process is so rigorous I would not be surprised if DS doesn’t make it (that’s many years in the future). Both DDs were uninterested in considering it at all. I do still contribute to my alumni fund and now contribute to DD’s schools (though not much with tuition, room and board).</p>
<p>Neighbor’s qualified DD was rejected by his alma mater. To this day, 10+ years now, whenever he gets an alumni fund solicitation he copies the rejection letter and highlights the line, “Due to the overwhelming number of extremely well qualified candidates we are unable to offer you admission”. He then scratches out “admission”, writes in “cash” and initials the change.</p>
<p>DS1 was deferred then rejected from H’s school. I can say that when I get those solicitations for donations in the mail I do not always separate them from the ‘junk’ mail like I once did. H was not a ‘big’ donor but did give something every year since graduation. Did not give this year…</p>
<p>W/re jonri’s post #18 – I was reporting our feelings and behaviors, not claiming that they were objectively justified. As to whether my college, or any of its peers, gives a tip to legacies, you couldn’t prove it by what I have observed, in my family or in those of my friends, notwithstanding a higher admission rate. A high percentage of the legacies accepted OR rejected are accepted at colleges with similarly low admission rates where there is no legacy connection. (E.g., Harvard legacy accepted at all of HYPS, three-generation Princeton legacy rejected at Princeton – ED, too, in its last year there – and accepted at Harvard.)</p>
<p>I have reported many times, and now report again, the claim of a Harvard admissions officer three years ago that Harvard’s admission rate for Yale and Princeton legacies is virtually the same as its admission rate for Harvard legacies. And I have not noticed any big difference in the admission rates for legacies at any of those colleges. I think a big component of the legacy boost is genes, wealth, educational focus in the family producing good candidates, not any actual weighting in the admission process beyond “Oh, that’s nice. She’s a legacy.”</p>
<p>In any event, of the many kids I have seen accepted at HYPS in the past few years, not a single one – legacy or not – was a “USAMO, Academy-award winning actor, Intel top 40, etc.” Most of them were white kids from affluent families in the Northeast. Some were from California, some were Asian, some were even African-American. Only one was a recruited athlete. I’m sure qualities like that are a big help in college admission, but the kids with those qualities who apply to any particular college do not make much of a dent even in the few (ha-ha) slots available for affluent white or Asian kids.</p>
<p>My undergrad alma mater - I’d be shocked, since any of my kids should easily get in there. Same with H’s undergrad. Our law school alma maters are a different issue. For them, I’d be disappointed, but not angry. Frankly, I doubt that my Ds will get into either of them. I do think the kids’ rejections would have an adverse impact on future contributions, though.</p>
<p>Lots of big state Us have gotten much harder to get into and plenty of parents are finding that their children can’t get in, even if they have much better stats than the parents ever did.</p>
<p>Texas with its top 10 percent rule, FL with its bright futures (? name) program and UGA with the HOPE all are much more difficult to get into than they were 20-30 years ago.</p>
<p>I find among my friends whose kids can’t get in these schools a real sense of sadness as my friends loved their time there and very often their kids would like to attend.</p>
<p>It isn’t just the Ivies where this is an issue.</p>
<p>Our kids are double legacies at a T-20 that prides itself on it’s legacy family reputation. S1 was waitlisted, but declined and never actually wanted to attend, just see if he could get in (he was pretty well-qualified). S2 is also applying for next year; better stats, better fit, etc. and he actually would attend if accepted.</p>
<p>Yeah, we were annoyed after the first non-acceptance. And we’ll be pretty close to angry if it happens again. Probably wouldn’t continue to contribute. But H will likely continue to travel to our alma mater with his alumnus father for football games.</p>
<p>From what my D (the former fundraising caller) tells me–the policy at her college was to keep people on the calling/mailing list, unless a person asks to have his/her name removed. In fact, D says one of the most difficult calling lists that one can draw is the one with alums who have never contributed–that’s worse than alums whose kids were rejected. She said lots of the folks they called graduated 40 or 50 years ago and never gave a penny. Seems pointless, but I guess the idea is that you have to just keep on trying and calling and you never know when folks may decide to give.</p>
<p>If my DS or DD has Colby stats and get rejected, then I’ll have postpartum depression.<br>
If my DS or DD has Caltech stats and get rejected, then I’ll buy the school a building and bulldoze it over.<br>
Of course, it will also depend on how much I love my DS or DD.</p>
<p>Our donations are given for need based scholarships only and those students still need help whether or not my kid gets in, so we would keep giving.</p>
<p>My kids are all double legacies to a very selective university. Middle S applied RD this past application season and was waitlisted, then offered a “GT” or Guaranteed Transfer (or Guaranteed Tuition for the university, we figure) spot for Fall 2010. </p>
<p>I was the area coordinator for the alumni group that does applicant meetings for our alma mater. Dh also met applicants. Between the two of us, we met with over half of the applicants in our area each year for the four years we did it. We also represented the university at the local college fair. Last year we didn’t participate in either activity, per university guidelines to prevent a perceived conflict of interest.</p>
<p>We are insulted that S wasn’t accepted to our alma mater. We see what is accepted from our area, and, quite frankly, he should have been accepted. We will not participate further in meeting applicants to future freshman classes…just how good of a job would we do as university ambassadors when our own S wasn’t deemed worthy to be part of a freshman class? We also won’t participate in college fairs.</p>
<p>I had to laugh at the latest fundraising spam, too. I’m supposed to contribute for someone ELSE’s kid’s scholarship? I don’t think so. I love the idea of sending back letters with rejection letter wording inserted and initialed. </p>
<p>S didn’t really care, of course. He is attending a Top 20 LAC on a full ride merit scholarship. He was also accepted to other fabulous places (just couldn’t swing them financially, though). His LAC will be getting the “love” from us from now on, since they showed it to him.</p>
<p>This is a good point I did not consider. Living in Texas, I have seen this unfold and “sadness” is really the key word. I completely understand wanting your child to share in what has been a great experience.</p>
<p>Having said that, I have yet to meet the Aggie or Longhorn who stopped supporting their school based on a child not getting in. It’s still part of their identity and a point of pride.</p>
<p>My position has always been that college experience depends much more on student than school, including this situation. D. did not get into her #1, neither she, nor anybody in a family even blink an eye, just went to her #2 and is very happy junior there. Actually visitted her original #1 college last summer to see her HS friend and said that she is very sure that she is in a better place for what she was looking in her college experience. No reason to fall apart beforehand, obviously.</p>
<p>Our D was rejected by H’s private top-30 ranked alma mater (which he has vehemently supported for 30 years), but was accepted at a top Ivy. We were very angry, because D was well-qualified, and we felt her Ivy acceptance was evidence of that. Some of her non-legacy classmates (also White) with similar stats were accepted at H’s alma mater, which made us even more bitter. H wrote a scathing letter to the President, who wrote back with an opening paragraph with something like “Well, I don’t know anything about your daughter, but we had so many qualified applicants, blah blah blah.” We thought he at least owed H the courtesy of looking up D’s file before he responded. We lost a lot of respect for that school.</p>