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A comment on Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of legacy status in admissions. Parent comment

Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by whimsicalism on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @06:07PM (#36794143)
Your comment is pretty spot on about the admission dynamics.

> Legacy

I think it is more of a tip than you are making it out to be simply due to yield farming - the smart kid who has a Harvard parent is more likely to go to Harvard over Yale than a generic smart kid, so if you want to keep your admission rates as low as possible you tip legacy.

> 10-20 kids/year who get in this way who wouldn't otherwise.

They certainly exist, Harvard has the z-list.

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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by meetingthrower on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @06:48PM (#36794580)
Hah just heard that come up in another context. Confirmed. Heard the price tag was $3m and you have to take a gap year.
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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by whimsicalism on Wednesday July 19, 2023 @08:03PM (#36795257)
I don’t know what the price tag is but the gap year thing is true, the people I was familiar with had billionaires as parents.
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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by robinbobbin on Thursday July 20, 2023 @05:00AM (#36798253)
why do you have to take a gap year?
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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by whimsicalism on Thursday July 20, 2023 @11:49AM (#36802278)
they admit you off of the waitlist if your family donates a lot but i think they get to not count it in this years numbers or next years if they give you a deferred acceptance
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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by CraigRo on Thursday July 20, 2023 @06:29AM (#36798731)
One special gifts officer told me that the U had rejected a rather limited number of people whose families had 8 billion dollars.

3 million might get you into Brown, but it isn't going to get you into Harvard.

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Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega... by meetingthrower on Thursday July 20, 2023 @04:46PM (#36806518)
I think this is a "we call you" situation, so if the kid is on the bubble they ask for the bribe. It doesn't work the other way if the kid is unqualified. No more Kushners...
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