<p>Hot off the press…thought some of you might be interested. Looks like the applicant numbers are about the same as last year. </p>
<p>[The</a> Exonian](<a href=“http://theexonian.com/2011/01/20/news/admissions_applications_hold_steady]The”>http://theexonian.com/2011/01/20/news/admissions_applications_hold_steady)</p>
<p>Which article， classic?</p>
<p>Hmm…the link goes right to it for me. I’ll paste it below, in case my computer’s making a connection you all aren’t seeing.</p>
<p>By Yooha Park and Amanda Li Staff Writers</p>
<p>The economy may be improving slowly, but the gains have not yet affected the number of applicants for admission to Exeter, which held steady at about 3,000 for 2011-2012, Director of Admissions Michael Gary said Wednesday.</p>
<p>We are still counting applications as they come in the mail, Gary said. It feels as though there will be a similar number of prospective students from last year. Admissions will continue to accept applications through January 25, according to the Exeter website.</p>
<p>Forty-one percent applied for financial aid. This year also marked the rise of the online application, with paper applications no longer sent out to prospective students automatically.</p>
<p>Despite the economic downturn, Gary said, Admissions financial situation is similar to that of peer schools and Exeter will be able to maintain its levels of financial aid for applicants. The budget for financial aid, Gary added, has not yet been set; the Trustees will do so in two weeks at their annual meeting.</p>
<p>We will continue to meet the full demonstrated financial need of admitted students, he said. Although we are not need-blind, we have more students on aid than just about any other boarding school.</p>
<p>Admissions officers will scrutinize the applications through March, when decisions are released. Gary sketched out what he and the other admissions officers are trying to find in prospective Exonians.</p>
<p>We continue to look for students with proven ability, who love to learn, who have strong character, are mature, involved extracurricularly, and are nice, he said.</p>
<p>Admissions continued its efforts to pursue its mission of attracting youth from every quarter. Gary and the Admissions staff traveled around the country and the world, flying to Hanoi and Moscow to educate and spark interest at school visits, high school fairs and admission receptions.</p>
<p>Several applicants found that the process was easier than they had initially expected. </p>
<p>At first, I was reluctant to ask questions because Exeter gives off the aura as a very prestigious school but Admissions, and the Academy as a whole, was very helpful, prospective lower Andrew Wong said. I found that they were willing to answer my questions.</p>
<p>Prospective prep Sam Yoo agreed. They seem to really care about the applicants, he said. They were very helpful and I found that they were really organized about everything as well.</p>
<p>Senior Valentin Hernandez, a head Academy tour guide, said that from what he saw, the incoming classes of students were of the highest caliber. From what I have seen in this years admissions season, I think we have a very strong applicant pool this year and a lot of qualified students that would make excellent Exonians for next year, Hernandez said.</p>
<p>Some members of the Admissions Committee, however, wished that prospective students could send in their applications earlier so they could devote more time into reading the applications.</p>
<p>All the faculty of the Admissions Committee would like to start reading the applications earlier so we can devote more time to reading the folders, science instructor Yoojin Choi, a member of the Admissions Committee, said. A majority of the folders come right in on January 15 and I wish the applicants would send them earlier because faculty would not actually be so pressured by time.</p>
<p>Even with a similar number of applicants from last year, Admissions believes that the similar amount will not restrict them from finding qualified Exonians.</p>
<p>We always have a strong pool of prospective students so Im very excited to find very qualified future Exonians for next year, science instructor Elizabeth Stevens, an Admissions Committee member, said.</p>
<p>Yeah, it linked to a past issue initially.
</p>
<p>Good to know Andover doesn’t corner the market on “nice” kids.</p>
<p>In other news, Choate’s having another record-breaking year for applications, just like every year.</p>
<p>I think that this article is a very good sign. I noticed that only 41% applied for financial aid. I remember reading that in 2008 I think around 2/3 of the applicants applied for financial aid. This year, it seems that financial aid won’t have as big of an impact on the admission decisions as it has in the past two years.</p>
<p>Really? Is it true that significant fewer applicants are applying for FA this year?</p>
<p>yooha park? hahaha she’s a former CCer, how cool is that. </p>
<p>41% FA sounds pretty… low. but i think that’s a good thing, at least for me, so i’ll be happy :)</p>
<p>Anyone knows what percent of applicants applied for FA the past couple of years? I know 2009 admission season was particularly “bad”, when the school had to stop need-blind, turned down 70+ applications rated A1 because of their FA needs, and only offered 27% of the admitted students FA (vs. 56% for the last year). That may have made prospective families to have second thoughts on whether they should apply for FA in the following years. I wonder how many applicants applied for FA in 2009 and 2010 admission seasons to start with. Anyone has that info?</p>
<p>DAndrew-</p>
<p>Where did your numbers (27% and 56%) come from? Not denying their validity, just curious as to your source.</p>
<p>According to the PEA website, 47% of current students (not including faculty and staff children) receive FA. I like the fact that PEA strips facbrats out of the equation. Obviously faculty and staff kids receive a tuition break but as special cases their #s don’t apply to the average applicant.</p>
<p>[Phillips</a> Exeter Academy | Can I Get Financial Aid?](<a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/15848.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/15848.aspx)</p>
<p>The info is stored in my “boarding school research” folder. I believe it is an excerpt of an old Exonian article.
</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/704347-some-stuff-took-took-forever-type.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/704347-some-stuff-took-took-forever-type.html</a></p>
<p>Interesting article. Glad I’m applying this year, and not in 2009.</p>
<p>Yes, that could be the source of my quote. Could anyone post a report or any info they have access to about the 2010 admisson season regarding Exeter’s FA policies, stats and how they influence admissions?</p>
<p>There are a few parents of students who entered Exeter in 2010 on this board. Do you know what percentage of the newly admitted (in 2010) received financial aid?</p>
<p>It’s weird, but I don’t–all I’ve ever been able to find is the overall percentage of students on FA. Neato’s way better at ferreting out this kind of stuff, though–maybe she knows?</p>
<p>I have this little red half sheet of paper that I picked up in the admissions office. It has all kinds of stats on 2010-2011, including how many apps for each grade, how many new, etc. But it doesn’t say how many new students receive aid, only that 47%, 164 of which are in the under 75000 free tuition policy, which is nearly 1/3 of the kids on FA.</p>
<p>That’s all I have. Sorry.</p>
<p>Found this old article from Exeter website: <a href=“http://www.exeter.edu/documents/Exeter_Bulletin/SP10_ATT_TrusteeRoundup.pdf[/url]”>http://www.exeter.edu/documents/Exeter_Bulletin/SP10_ATT_TrusteeRoundup.pdf</a></p>
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</p>
<p>It sounds like the plan for 2010 was to make it similar to 2009. In the long run, in order to “make the total percentage of students on financial aid more consistent from year to year”, they may want to pull back for a few years until a target percentage is reached, then maintain it. If this is true, then this year may be a good year for FA applicants as the school may be able to support more (than 27%) of the new students after two years of “pulling back”. And, the fact that only 41% of the applicants are applying for FA could be good news, assuming it is lower than previous years.</p>
<p>D’Andrew: But wouldn’t that mean that an extraordinarily high number of uppers and seniors were on FA? How else would one account for the 47% overall rate?</p>
<p>I have not a shred of hard evidence, but I’d be very surprised to hear that only 27% of the current class is on FA, based on my kid’s dorm and friends–but I’ve been wrong before!</p>