[1][2] It is considered to be among the most influential old boys' networks in India, with its alumni including a former Indian prime minister, politicians, diplomats, officers of the defence forces, writers and artists.

In the media, it has often been described as "elitist", and in 1985 the Washington Post reported: "[It] raises the question of who should run India, and whether it is healthy that a minuscule elite exerts such influence on a democracy whose founders were determined to break from its caste-ridden, imperialist past.

"[7] In another report in The New York Times, Steven Weisman wrote: "Not surprisingly, Doon School people are sensitive to criticism that they are sharpening the worst tendencies in a country long burdened by caste and social hierarchies."

Articles cover news about the alumni (births, deaths, obituaries), subjects such as current affairs, history, literature as well as the school itself.

In the February 2014 issue, alumni wrote a letter in the Rose Bowl campaigning for the release of Kobad Ghandy, who had been imprisoned in Tihar Jail for four years without a conviction, and charged for being a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

[20] In 2014, billionaire meat exporter Moin Qureshi, then serving as the president of the society, was charged for tax evasion by the Enforcement Directorate.

"[23] In 2017, the society's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act's licence, which allows an organisation to receive funds from outside the country, was cancelled by the Union Home Ministry, due to the failure of filing annual returns for five consecutive years.