<p>If I may quote a Stanford adcom on the definition of tip: " a tip will get you over the fence if you’re on it; it won’t get you closer to the fence if you’re far from it."</p>
<p>I believe that there is a faculty tip at Harvard; it’s a tip, not a hook, and it’s one of many (being from Cambridge is another tip, for example). It will help an applicant whose application is excellent in every other ways, but it won’t help one whose application is subpar. I’ve never heard of tenured faculty leaving if their kids did not get admitted to a top school. However, when my H was a grad student, his department tried to recruit a prof who had 10 kids and taught at a university where faculty kids were given a free ride. The prof would not budge from his university.</p>