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Russell Gold's avatar

You ask, presumably rhetorically, why you should get into university more easily just because your parents went there? It turns out that there is a simple reason: most private universities have traditionally raised the bulk of their finances, not from tuition, but from alumni donations. It is therefore very much in the university's interest to keep their alumni loyal. They do this in a number of ways, including regular mailing, sports success... and admitting the children of alumni.

It has been found, therefore, that alumni donations regularly increase during their children's high school years, in hopes of making it that much more likely for those children to be admitted, and it is largely assumed (although I've seen no data) that it is specifically the children of alumni who are large donors who have the highest chance of admission.

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Christopher Messina's avatar

As an American who studied at the Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney, I applaud your perspective and quick analysis. I think you should explain the table to the mathematically challenged who will not quite get what the - very powerful - point the table makes.

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