Occasionally one reads that one of the “hooks” is being the child of faculty that the university wants to keep around. How exactly does one activate that? I’m faculty and my child is applying to my institution. On the surface they have reason to want to keep me around (national awards, etc.) although anyone with actual knowledge of higher ed knows there is nowhere for me to go (no one is hiring ancient Greek professors).
My kid doesn’t have the same last name as me and my admissions office has no idea who I am. Am I supposed to call them up? Ask the dean/provost/president to put in a good word? See how it goes but whine if he’s waitlisted? Thanks!
Have you or your child looked at the Common App form for your school yet? If not, may be worth it for your child to create an account now and take a look at your school’s application to understand the specifics.
I recall when my kids were applying, there were Common App sections for each application to indicate legacy or sibling attendance, as well as sections to complete when either or both parents were employed by the school. The questions were pretty detailed, and one would assume those fields would alert Admissions to the hook and facilitate whatever special handling applies.
It doesn’t matter if admissions doesn’t know who you are. You’re in the school database, and your name will be on the common app (as well as your job). That should do it, but a lot of schools also ask applicants if they have relatives who attended or work at the university in question. My husband and I are faculty at different universities (and I don’t have the same last name as my kids), but both of our kids were admitted at the tuition rate for children of employees at both of our schools, even though one of those schools didn’t have a question about legacies or employee relatives on their app. Those schools were safeties/likelies for my kids anyway, so admission wasn’t really in doubt, but the fact that they got the employee tuition rates suggests that the admissions committees have ways of finding that information out, even if it’s not obvious on the common app.
FYI, the special tuition rate (or even preference in admissions) is a common employment benefit, but it’s not intended to “keep you around.” This is a perk that is typically offered to all university employees (sometimes all faculty members, but often all full-time employees regardless of classification). It’s not like a spousal hire, which (though not automatic by any stretch) is seen as far more important in luring/retaining faculty, and it’s not given to some faculty and not others (at least, I’ve never heard of this happening). So it doesn’t matter if you’re an especially productive scholar or valuable to the university in some other way. The university knows your kid’s college choice will have very little impact on your decision to stay in your position (and as you point out, we in the humanities are not exactly mobile). That said, being a child of an employee is definitely a hook that gives your kid a better chance of acceptance compared to others with similar qualifications.
Check whether your university uses the Common App questions asking whether the applicant is related to university employees, or if the university’s own application asks that. If yes, then they know the connection.
Either way, though, the question is whether they really do want to “keep [you] around”. Unless you were a very recent star hire, or have a track record of bringing in the biggest grants across the university—and quite possibly not even then—the university legitimately doesn’t care if you stay or go. You know the dismal state of the academic job market as well as anyone else, and therefore you already know that you can easily be replaced by a solid number—whether it’s scores or hundreds depends purely on the size of your field—of potential faculty who can slide directly into your hiring line if you leave.
And sorry to be the bearer of so much cynicism at the dawn of a new year, but that’s the reality we’re living in.
My understanding is if a college has a policy like that, they are usually happy to discuss it with faculty, because it is part of the incentive package and incentives only work if you know about them!
In terms of gathering information, it depends how your university is structured, but you could consider starting with your Department Chair, or possibly any sort of Dean for Faculty Affairs (or whatever they call that role). Also possibly some sort of HR office, although I think usually Faculty Affairs is happy to help out with this sort of thing–again, it is part of the incentive to be faculty.
Honestly, I would not do this. Admissions preferences and tuition breaks for employees’ kids tend to be either an across-the-board policy or an informal benefit rather than anything written into a contract, so introducing yourself to the admissions office could come across as heavy-handed and entitled behavior. At selective colleges, my guess is that admissions preferences are more thumb-on-the-scale than absolute guarantees (as with most hooked applicants), because colleges do reserve the right to deny admission to applicants who are clearly unqualified, however strong the hook is. The admissions department will have ways to figure out when an applicant is an employee’s kid. Anything more than that would be inappropriate intervention.
It would be okay, however, to seek out advice or insights from colleagues whose kids have been admitted in previous cycles, and learning about their experiences might shed light on your kid’s chances.
[Caveat: I teach at a non-selective school, and my husband teaches as a moderately selective school, so admission is virtually guaranteed to any employee’s kid who qualifies. I don’t know how strong the hook is at a more selective college, and it probably varies by school. I also don’t know of circumstances where kids’ admissions guarantees are written into contracts, but I could be wrong about that, too.]
I don’t think there is a risk calling an HR rep to ask the question. Every employee at the college is entitled to understand the benefits for which they qualify- whether it’s something quantifiable, like dental insurance, or something qualitative, like “an admissions preference for a qualified employee’s child”. They’ve heard the question before. And while you’re on the phone, it’s worth checking to make sure your survivor benefit designations are up to date. you would be surprised how many people check off the boxes on some forms their first day of work and then never look at the paperwork again. And some families get VERY agitated “after the fact”. Which is totally understandable. But your HR rep can’t backdate a form. As long as you’re making a phone call…..
I wasn’t suggesting a “lobbying” visit, but one of genuine exploration. As in “I teach here and my kid is interested in applying. Is there a specific protocol that needs to be followed in order to take advantage of any preference– and is there any? - or should they just apply like any other student? Is this documented somewhere?”
Clearly, you don’t want to be heavy-handed or annoying, but if there’s an advantage to be had, you want to know what that is and how to access it. If you were a major donor, you would probably reach out to the development officer you work with. How is this different?
The advice to confer with other faculty you know whose kids are attending is excellent, btw.
I don’t see a problem with contacting admissions directly and asking the question. Obviously don’t come off heavy handed or entitled. Just politely and humbly ask the question.
Please trust me that this is not a good idea. Just like parents in general should not be involved in their kids’ application process (in terms of contacting Admissions – I’m not talking about behind-the-scenes parental support), it’s even worse when faculty/staff at the university in question step in. Typically, faculty and (non-admissions) staff don’t really have contact with Admissions, anyway. There’s just no way to approach them with this question without seeming heavy-handed. Take the suggestions above: get back-channel info from colleagues, or maybe ask HR.