<p>Someone I know is a very involved alum (very involved in terms of the usual committee things and speaking on various topics, but also providing legal services to the college) who has donated in the low to mid five figures every year for 35 years (as income grew). His daughter applied to alma mater this year, ED, and was deferred. Was that a denial in practice, if not in name? She has great SAT scores but everything else makes her completely unqualified for the school in question. (Tippy-top LAC).</p>
<p>I would characterize that as more of a hard denial. 
That student doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of being accepted in the regular round.</p>
<p>If there were any way to accept her, given the level of alumni legacy involvement, they would have accepted her early decision. A consistent five-figure donor at an LAC would be enough to get noted by the alumni giving office and I’m sure that these colleges all have some mechanism for reviewing the list of legacy applicants.</p>
<p>As a side note: high SATs coupled with underperforming academic record, especially from a well-heeled applicant, is a kiss of death, unless it’s a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>Thanks iDad. It’s a significantly under-achieving student. Dad is extremely (I’m not sure of the right word) well known and well regarded in a professional field, so he’s sort of a “ta da” alum. But the daughter has never done anything but watch tv in her entire life. Dad is the greatest guy in the world and still has hope because he set her up with dinners/lunches/meetings with the top administrators at the college, including the president. A shame.</p>
<p>My prediction is that she will be waitlisted, then never get off the waitlist - e.g. people are always amazed at why Princeton has such a long waitlist every year even though it is very rare to get in off the waitlist -methinks it’s for the children of alumni who are not going to be admitted, yet are given the face-saving “waitlist” so as not to infuriate the donating alumni.</p>
<p>Soft reject.
What if she did get admitted and she attended. She could be way out of her league and eventually fail. THAT, would not be good situation for everyone.</p>
<p>Yes to what Parentoftwo said–“she will be waitlisted, then never get off…” I’ve seen this happen with legacy kids. Their hopeful parents cling to the possibility of a waitlist admit into July, the kid believes mom or dad can make it happen despite middling stats.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on how completely the completely unqualified is. I’m aware of legacy kids who deferred at other selective schools who did get in during the regular round. The school doesn’t have to worry about yield with respect to a kid like that one. I would certainly hope this will tell her she needs to apply to other schools, if she hasn’t already.</p>
<p>My take on this, from what’s been said up-thread, is that she’s smart enough to do the work as expressed by SAT scores, but it’s work and she hasn’t shown the hard-working quality as expressed by GPA.</p>
<p>The admissions committee may want to see mid-year grades, may want to see more achievement points, may want to see just how bad their $250-300K donor wants his kid in the school. </p>
<p>I don’t know what school this is, but I would not worry about a student like this flunking out, unless she’s a total party animal. In terms of concepts and academics, there is usually sufficient support available for students that want to do the work.</p>
<p>I don’t think she’s been flat-out rejected – but I won’t go as far as to say she has a lock on admission in the RD round either.</p>
<p>Yeah. There’s no cost to a courtesy waitlist. That is probably how this will play out.</p>
<p>Or, the dad could always go this route – perhaps the tackiest naming rights deal I’ve ever seen. Note that the letter announcing the naming of the new building was made in the Spring of 2010, just as the two boys were finishing their senior year. I have no idea why it couldn’t have waited until they had received their diplomas and left campus. As far as I can tell, the dad who gave the 7-figure gift naming the future building after his two then teen-age sons, had no previous connection to Williams College:</p>
<p>[NAB</a> now Hollander Hall | Office of the President](<a href=“http://president.williams.edu/letters-from-the-president/hollander-hall/]NAB”>http://president.williams.edu/letters-from-the-president/hollander-hall/)</p>
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<p>Oh sure. That happens. But this sounds like a high profile alum with a long track record of significant giving in the context of the size of the school. I can’t believe this applicant’s folder didn’t have the gold star (or whatever designates significant donor legacy) that ensures full review by the admissions dean. If they could accept her, I believe they would have.</p>
<p>Now, that’s not to say that it is unimaginable some sort of intensive negotiation between now and April might not result in an acceptance. But, I doubt it.</p>
<p>The worst of a tipy-top school wants is a lazy smarty with heavy legacy. I admire the admission director has the gutes to make a decision like that. I am sure he was under high pressure and he can stand up to it. as longprime has already pointed out, it will be harder to flunk out a student than just let she go at the onset.</p>
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It might be worth a phone call, though. I would think that an alumnus who has given this much would have a contact person in the alumni office.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s hard for top LACs to not accept legacy students like this. I think it happens all the time, as in every year.</p>
<p>On the flip side, I think that a legacy who would have at least mid-pack qualifications in the enrolled freshman class is probably all but guaranteed acceptance at these schools if they apply early decision. The school would want to have at least defensible justification for slapping an alum.</p>
<p>He does have a contact person, they’ve met several times. The girl is has either a perfect (superscored) SAT score very close to it (it was 2380 last time and it may have gone up, I forget), with a C average is rigorous classes, a rank smack in the middle of the class, and zero (literally) extracurricular activities. Never had a job, never played a sport, never joined a team, never volunteered. Zero.</p>
<p>I agree with the WL prediction. They’ll drag it out as long as they can in hopes that she’ll give up and go elsewhere, saving them from having to reject her.</p>
<p>That Dad ought to count his blessings for a courtesy waitlist and move on. He would just be putting the school in a tough position to press the issue. With a “C” average, there’s no way the school can admit the girl. They won’t even admit a top football recruit with a C average. Gotta give 'em at least a 3.0 GPA to make it look good admitting a slacker.</p>
<p>Shame on the parents for letting her sit around and think their money would compensate. We have friends where both parents received their MBAs from an Ivy and are major donors (7-figures w endowed chair) and the oldest was not admitted undergrad. She had no real ECs, as she spent most of her holidays & vacations jetting around the world with her family. In the end she went to his mid-tier undergrad school and was quite happy. I think she’s now home working in the family business, that he started fresh out of business school.</p>
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<p>This is very true. There are many, many alumni who make donations like this dad has done. It’s never a guarantee that your child will be admitted. It seems pretty clear that this girl has made little to no effort all through high school. The surprising thing here is that it would appear that the dad has done nothing to influence or address that issue.</p>
<p>I had been emailing with the dad and offering good thoughts and he just mentioned that a personal friend of his, who is one of those million dollar donor, super boldface name types, had emailed the director of admissions on behalf of this student about 10 days ago. I guess if even that didn’t help, they need to find some other choices. I hope they do.</p>
<p>With a C average, the only thing that can help her is a lot more zeroes.</p>