I am applying for college in the class of 2026. My dad is close with someone who is a higher up who is currently on an Ivy League administration. This person is close with the president and dean of admissions, and has also donated a lot of money. I met with him, and we got along well. After chatting for around an hour and a half, he said that I should send him my application after I send it to schools, and he will pass it on to the admissions director, who will place it in a “separate pile”. He additionally said that this doesn’t necessarily guarantee my admission, but I don’t know the extent to which this is completely true.
On the academic front, I have a 3.75 UW and have taken the maximum AP exams my school will let us take, but will only submit 3-5 out of the 7 I have taken so far. I have a 35 on the ACT, though. As for demographics (idk if they even matter still) I am a middle-class Asian male from New Jersey.
I’m not sure if this connection will help you or not. The whole scenario sounds a little fishy to me. It’s your dad’s friend who is a friend of the Dean of Admissions. The chain sounds a bit distant, and I’m not sure what incentive the Dean of Admissions would have to admit you, a random son of a friend of a friend. Recall the Varsity Blues scandal and how much money those parents had to shell out to get their children into schools through the “side door.” And now you’re saying it’s as easy as simply being a child of a friend of a friend? You might ask yourself if there are other benefits being exchanged that you’re unaware of.
That said, let’s assume this is all on the up and up, and the school does indeed have a separate back door interview process where the Administrator can meet with RANDOM applicants (you are not the President’s nephew, for example) and then personally select those random students to put in a pile for admissions. Even if this is the case, I might gently suggest that you step back from the process and ask yourself if this is the type of shenanigan you really want to be a part of. And make no mistake, even if there is no money being exchanged and this is just a super friendly and helpful “Administrator,” this is a shenanigan since in this scenario you bring nothing extra to the college - no special athletic skills, no rare needed musical instrument for the band, no underrepresented minority or first gen diversity, no geographical diversity, no special institutional priority, no legacy loyalty, not even money since your family aren’t the donors.
Ask yourself if the Dean of Admissions or “Administrator” would be embarrassed (or potentially fired) if the media got wind that this college were in the practice of simply admitting friends of friends because… you know, old boys network (or worse). Yuck. Is that something you really want to be a part of?
Look, from your description, you are a phenomenal student who has surely worked incredibly hard for your achievements. It may be healthier to simply put your best foot forward with all the schools you apply to and choose from among the many stellar acceptances you’ll surely have. Will you get admitted to this particular Ivy or any Ivy at all? Maybe not. But you will know that you are at a school that genuinely valued you for your accomplishments, not because of some ethically compromised insider baseball. If it were my child, I would not allow him to send his application to the friend for special privileges. Just my take!
I have no idea whether this “connection” will help or not.
You are an excellent student. Wouldn’t you rather apply to schools and get in on your own merits and accomplishments? To me, this has “yuck” written all over it.
There are so many wonderful schools out there that would be happy to have you…for you. That’s the path I would take.
It’s fine to apply to this Ivy League school, but in my opinion it is important to get in on your own rather than through some kind of favor. As I said before, that has “yuck” written all over it.
I agree, the connection is unlikely to help. Try it if you want to.
I’m going to be blunt, but with good intent to help OP. 3.75UW is good, but on the low side for an unhooked applicant for the Ivies and other top schools (including the top publics). You have a strong ACT score but so do most other applicants - plus, most of these schools are test blind.
My well-meaning suggestion to you is to come up with a more realistic and balanced list. No issue with taking a shot at the Ivy+ etc but balance it out.
The connection won’t hurt and it will help get you noticed…but not sure if it will help get you in. Getting noticed is the first step. I don’t see anything wrong with it. The friend is not getting you in…they are helping you get noticed. From there it’s up to you and it’s still a crap shoot for a solid student like yourself. Good luck!
The connection may help with admission but you can’t count on it. Are you applying SCEA or ED? You don’t have to tell us but I would strongly recommend that in this situation. Also run the school’s net price calculator to make sure it will be affordable (unless you are full pay.)
I agree with dadofjerseygirl that your uw GPA is on the low end for these schools…does that gpa only include core courses? As for AP test scores I would only report 4s and 5s on your app.
Make sure to have a college list that includes a few reaches, a handful of targets and at least one affordable safety/highly likely school. Try to find a school with rolling admissions so you have at least one acceptance in hand before this Ivy releases decisions. If you want help developing a list let us know. Good luck.
In fact it probably has no influence at all. Given your “relationship” is nothing more than a 90 minute discussion and tangential to the actual admissions officers, you should not anticipate it having a meaningful impact.
I am sure the person you spoke to is well intentioned but unfortunately your circumstances won’t serve as a hook unless they are willing to lie about the nature, tenure and depth of your relationship.
That doesn’t mean not to go for it but build your list consistent with your credentials and discount this recommendation to avoid disappointment.
I think this approach is unethical, frankly. In fact it could work against you. Apply to a wide range of schools on your own merits, not some scheme. This is a classic case of thinking the end justify the means, but in this case the “end” is you getting into a top school. Honestly I find this post and some of the responses to be depressing.
Regardless whether any of us like it, this is a not atypical course of business at many schools where large donors like OP’s connection are specifically told they can ‘present’ or ‘tag’ applications and what said process is. Sometimes this connection helps, sometimes it doesn’t.
Do you know of or have you heard of any case where being tagged by a large donor worked against an applicant?
We see posts like this pretty regularly. But this is more like a friend of a friend of a bigwig is going to put your name in a separate pile. There is a lot of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon going on here.
I would not expect this to be an admission ticket. There are probably a lot of names in the special pile, because no doubt all the other friends of friends of friends are doing the same thing. And most likely, there’s an even smaller super special pile. And even that pile won’t trump the super duper special pile.
Sure, your app might get a closer look, and that is something that most apps won’t get. So you do your very best and make a good list of colleges based on your grades and stats. Your safety is still your most important school.
You sound like a great student and you will have good choices. I wouldn’t get too excited about this.
By design, this kind of pull has little impact. But it can make sure your application gets a good read. It’ll be up to you to make sure it shines when that happens.
You are a strong candidate. Nobody here knows what 3.75 represents at your school. At the school DS attended, it’d have been one of the top in the class. At others, it might have been in the second quartile.
Just be sure to apply to schools you feel would be a great fit for you.
So there can be something sometimes called a Dean’s List where applicants on that list can get an advantage in admissions at the relevant college. It won’t usually get in someone not considered academically qualified, but it could potentially help an academically qualified person beat the still large odds against admission at these colleges. And a VERY large donor (these days people say it would typically take being a $10M+ donor at Ivies or equivalent) might be able to get their own child or grandchild onto such a list.
Similarly, faculty and certain staff can get their children or perhaps grandchildren onto a similar list (it is basically an informal part of their compensation package).
What does not sound right to me about this situation is that this person is not your own parent or grandparent. And to my knowledge, this courtesy is not extended to children of friends, because of course that would end up being far too many people.
Of course I am aware this is done, and I respond in a similar fashion whenever a scheme like this comes up. Admissions folks can look pretty unethical too, in light of all the rhetoric about honoring “challenges” and diversity of backgrounds- and continuing legacy, Z list and so on. The financial reality of keeping wealthy alumni/ae and donors happy continues. But doesn’t apply to this case.
I wonder how it really feels to get in based on connections, if this kind of plan were to work. I think it would ultimately feel a lot better to go to a different school and know that you got in on your own accomplishments and character.
The root of this is the idea that getting into an Ivy is crucially important. It isn’t. No doubt the culture around this student prioritizes prestige, and that is not uncommon at all.
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Do you know of or have you heard of any case where being tagged by a large donor worked against an applicant?
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I know of one case, but it was a few years back (2019) right at the height of the Varsity Blues scandal. The child of a large donor was not admitted to a Top 20 and they received a phone call explaining that although the student was generally well-qualified they were not at or near the top of the list of applicants from their school. They said that because of the then-recent scandal the school was extremely strict about admitting students based on the holistic “applicant score” they created for them and would not be able to admit the student. They offered a guaranteed sophomore transfer. In any case, that was for the child of a huge donor. And, honestly, the right outcome prevailed. In the case of OP the connection is much weaker and unlikely to make a big difference, if any. However, I think all applicants can and should do whatever they can to get noticed in the pile of 50K+ applications.
Thanks. That seems like a normal situation and the fact that a donor (parent in this case) supported the legacy student didn’t in and of it itself harm the student’s outcome (which is what compmom suggested could possibly happen).
Remember that the friend hasn’t seen the whole application. Nor did he guarantee admission. He has simply offered to say “I met a friend’s son, he seemed like a good kid, make sure he gets a good read.” This isn’t much of a bump.
Fwiw, the very few kids I know who were not qualified and got into schools because their families were mega-donors were not particularly happy. Their academic options were limited by their aptitude and they had to work harder than most of their classmates just to pass. Very frustrating way to spend 4 years to keep the family happy.
To be qualified and able to move to the front of the line – for any reason, including athletics and connections-- is different.