<p>The elite colleges are aware that boarding schools have different grading scales. The applications are read by officers who are in charge of different regions of the country. If you’re in Massachusetts, or Texas, or Oregon, your application will be read by officers who travel in that area, who know the schools. Those officers will know the leading prep schools well. Thus, I don’t think that grade deflation harms applicants from prep schools. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you aren’t a genius, nationally ranked athlete, or billionaire’s child, attending a prep school will not give you those hooks. It might work against you, in that the officers will know that you have had a better education than 95% of the other applicants. </p>
<p>Phillips Academy Andover has an average SAT score of 2079, according to boarding school review, and Exeter has an average of 2074. Consider this paragraph, from a Princeton University press release: </p>
<p>
[Princeton</a> University - Princeton makes offers to 8.39 percent of applicants in record admission cycle](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S30/15/00I77/index.xml?section=topstories]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S30/15/00I77/index.xml?section=topstories)</p>
<p>For many boarding school applicants, I’d venture to say that the grade point average isn’t the problem. Colleges know the established schools, and they know that it’s harder to get a B at some schools than an A at others. I’d say the SAT is a larger stumbling block. PEA and Andover have very high average SAT scores. The application pool to many leading colleges is a very select group, with even higher SAT averages.</p>