[dragonwriter]

> From my POV getting into Ivy League seems as simple as getting a high SAT, applying, getting approved for a loan.

Your POV is simply, factually, wrong; more people get high SATs and apply to the Ivy League schools than they can admit by a wide margin, and there are a lot of tricks (many of which leverage accidents of birth, wealth, and social circle) beyond that which go to getting to the top of the list.

The bigger ones involve the hyper rich buying buildings, and the merely very rich engaging in bribery which is higher risk when discovered, but legacies, padding applications with extracurrriculars for which opportunities are very much not equal, etc., all play a role.

[HWR_14]

For the hyperrich, setting aside 10 or 20 admissions for "idiots who bring new science buildings with them" seems to benefit literally everyone at the school.

[patmorgan23]

The Ivy's all have multi-billion dollar endowments. They should go without a single donor dollar for a generation and be fine And even expand.

[true_religion]

Sure but why stop a practice that is working so well already? It's just 10 slots out of 100s.

[MagnumOpus]

It's over 200 out of about 2000 at Harvard, plus another 200 for athletes... Though of course the bigger issue is that Harvard only has 2000 places for undergrad despite a $50bn endowment, in order to create some artificial scarcity.

[HWR_14]

200 people in each class at Harvard donated buildings to get in? That seems hard to believe.

[dragonwriter]

That “over 200” is for legacies, not building donators, right?

[hot_gril]

> The bigger ones involve the hyper rich buying buildings, and the merely very rich engaging in bribery which is higher risk when discovered, but legacies, padding applications with extracurrriculars for which opportunities are very much not equal, etc., all play a role.

Legacy and extracurricular are the big ones. Very, very few people are buying buildings or bribing.

[dragonwriter]

By “big” I meant showy, not common or broadly used.