By the dint of that I can flourish in china as well, I would say that I am gambling.
Every thing goat mama said is true. Exeter is as generous as Andover with aid. I know this first hand as my child is at Exeter. They are need aware but that doesn’t mean they aren’t generous.
Their math is exceptional and learning math in harkness is a unique experience.
Andover or Exeter are not an automatic ticket to MIT, so if that is your goal, you need to reassess. They do have lots of resources and are very intellectually diverse.
Yes, please don’t mention this.
As I’ve stated many many times on this site, if you are applying to a boarding school with a goal of getting into a particular university, you are applying to boarding schools for the wrong reasons. A boarding school may give a student the tools with which to develop him/herself into a viable candidate, but others schools may as well. Colleges admit students, not boarding schools.
Even more than that, a top-tier boarding school education can actually hurt your application to the most selective colleges, as these colleges cap the number of students they would accept from any boarding school.
@1NJParent is this actually true or just a rumor? I have heard it referred to often but I’ve also heard people poo poo it often. Obviously, boarding school would not want it to get out if it is indeed true.
What evidence is there for the statement that colleges cap acceptances from boarding schools (or any school)? I’ve read some speculation on that being true, but actual facts as posted by at least some colleges on their FAQs is that such caps are an urban legend. Because colleges seek geodiversity does not mean that they impose caps on any particular school(s) or type of school(s).
@momof3swimmers is your child a student on financial aid? If yes, how much does he/she receive annually? I need full financial aid, as my parents are not willing to pay
@dogsmama1997 @Altras The existence of these soft “caps” is not a urban legend. GCs at these boarding schools are well aware of them and they routinely advise their students in such a way as to avoid direct competitions for the same spots. To be fair, these “caps” exist for all schools, not just boarding schools. The added problem for the boarding schools is that they have more than their shares of hooked students (legacies, URMs, etc.) to the most selective colleges. Almost all colleges compare applicants from the same high school and the most selective colleges no longer accept a disproportionate share of applicants from any one school (no more feeder schools).
@1NJParent mit alleges that it does not compare students from the same school. Every app is unique, and there is no quota against the students of a school
Is your income high enough that the school might expect your parents to be able to pay? Schools don’t offer financial aid to families because they don’t want to pay. Will your parents contribute anything? Even with a full ride you’d have travel expenses and possibly health insurance costs. Can your parents cover those?
MIT doesn’t consider legacy status and therefore is more meritocratic (Caltech is probably even more so) than other most selective colleges. However, they’re the exceptions, rather than the rule. Even they won’t accept too many qualified students from the same high school!
@1NJParent, I’ll ask the same question as Altras. What evidence do you have for your assertion? I agree that students should not be applying to boarding school as a way to get into an Ivy League school, and I don’t want to turn this into a debate about college admissions policy, but I think you’re giving the OP incorrect information.
@Sue22 I have a friend who’s in the BS advisory/mentoring business, where a lot of this type of information came from. There are obviously very little public data (this is not a very transparent business), other than historical matriculation data at schools such as PA, PEA, Lawrenceville, etc.
I’ll phrase it somewhat differently, but with the same outcome. And I will preface it by saying that if anyone wants evidence/proof, etc, then one needs to look at an area other than college admissions.Although I will state that the following was considered accurate by at least one AO that hangs out on this site as well as others IRL.
No college has a min/max/quota per school, although if past history shows 1-2 people per year admitted to a particular college, you will not go wrong in assuming that 5 will not be admitted this year.
So, in the case of Andover, the numbers are a bit higher: 16 to Harvard, 7 each yo MIT and Yale, for instance. Why there numbers are higher than Newton North High is a topic for another thread. But one should still assume that the numbers won’t be 30 this year, regardless of how fabulous those applications are.
But let’s move past debating this here; it was not the OP’s question.
Looking at Naviance, I have to say that there are very large swings in both the proportion and number of applicants from our BS accepted to MIT, Harvard, and Yale over the past three years. By large I mean 4 vs 9, 1-2 vs 5, 2 vs 7. Same for Stanford and other Ivies, although Princeton seems pretty steady.
Let’s leave it at this – while there will be variation from year to year - and there is because every class has different students in it – common sense says it is highly highly unlikely that a school that matriculates 1800 students each year will want 30 from the same high school /BS. Just the way they don’t want half the class to come from NYC.
I don’t think admissions sets it so much as a cap. It’s more that they won’t achieve their institutional goals if they do that.
And if the college counseling office is doing a good job, they’ll direct the kids to the schools that will be the most excited to admit them so that those colleges meet their goals. They are connected to be able to do that.
What if my transcript cannot arrive by 15th jan
This is a fascinating thread to read. Difficult to think that precious financial aid money could actually flow to an applicant with an attitude like @NoJumpJustHum when there are so many others who would not only bring “brains” to a BS but also selflessly contribute to the community. “Non sibi”.
I don’t doubt that Andover, Exeter, and all the rest admit a few 13-year-olds (needing financial aid or not) who might be said to need an attitude adjustment. Give the kid a break.
@GoatMama , Do you believe this to be a normal variation or do you suspect there is a logical explanation for this swing?