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No one is going to be able to answer this definitively because I'm sure it's hush hush, but it's inconceivable that this sort of thing doesn't happen. Of course connections matter. Of course there are some less qualified people that get in based on family name alone.
Dubya
Have your parents donate a building and you're good to go.
From what I have heard, this is a common practice and not all that hush hush at all. From the school's perspective, people who can get strings pulled for them have already mastered a pretty important business school skill that will make the more likely to get jobs down the line.
Some schools (wharton for instance) have a few avenues for "official" string pulling, i.e. certain companies get to say something to the extent of "we highly recommend this person" outside of the actual letter of recommendation. I know this from my uncle who works at CS and is one of these points of contact for a certain school.
Each school is different though. I am a vet, and the vets club at some schools had personal relationships with the ad-com, and they were basically the gatekeepers to the school for any vets applying (this is one extreme). On the other extreme, some schools maintained complete distance between their adcom and any student clubs, even the vets club.
My understanding of the family connection piece is that it is not nearly as strong as some people might think, the sons of a certain President of a certain top 3 business school were not granted admission to that business school (although I am unclear if this was tough love or if father truly couldnt just get them admitted). However again this is probably very school dependent.
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