Try talking to someone who's worked a few decades as a Development Officer at a major university. Would they want their institution to be associated with Mr. "I will never need to actually work" Trust Fundee? Or with a real-world proven entrepreneur & business management prodigy?

FWIW, with a 42% admission rate, donor-related applicants are 7 times more likely to be admitted to Harvard than other applicants. Based on this, I would say they tend to want to be associated with people who already have money, regardless of what they may say.

Yes-ish.

If the wealth "in play" is merely a trust fund large enough so that the applicant can live modestly without ever working, they won't care. (And any "I don't need to work" argument would be a huge red flag.) Similarly - I cannot give my grand-niece a 7X boost on getting into Harvard by donating $1,000 to Harvard.

Vs...if I was a billionaire, and ask a Harvard Development Officer about my grand-niece getting admitted to Harvard, then I could get her far more than a 7X boost.

You've either never spoken to people in development or didn't understand what they do.

For one, they aren't involved in admissions at all.

Their goal is to make long term relationships so that both sides, the donors and the university get something out of it. Not to judge people based on where their money or connections come from.

"Involvement" need not be official.

Development people have influence, and definitely want future financial success stories moving smoothly through their university's admissions pipeline.

Is that the choice though? It's more likely that you have to choose 100 people among 30 trust funders, 2 business prodigies, and 200 ordinary people.

The perspective changes if one is choosing to go to a school that costs $100k+, especially in debt. At that point, it becomes a business decision.

Getting money that way isn't impressive, though. But surely there's some value to someone who's, presumably, intrinsically motivated to attend for some reason. That thing everyone born on the treadmill fakes being.

> Getting money that way isn't impressive, though.

Depending on how big the trust fund is, I think you'll find it will open more doors than a summer lawncare initiative.

> ‘my trust fund is already paying me more than your median graduate’s full-time job’

that'd be a good argument too. why go to college if you have income security? go do something infinitely more interesting and fulfilling