<p>How competitive is prep-school admissions? Is it like college admissions? And what are the applications like? I go to a private school, but it’s certainly not one of the top prep schools. It’s k-12, and for the high school the students only need to take a standardized admissions test, everything else is on the parents. Middle school and elementary school applications are done solely by the parents.</p>
<p>I know I sound like a complete dunce by asking these vague questions. I’m a high-school senior who was oblivious to this competition back in middle school. I’m just trying to get a sense of what prep school admissions is like.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the prep school, some are more competitive than others. Like colleges, many vary in rigor, academic standards, average test scores, etc. Some acceptance rates dip below 20 % and others exceed 50%. </p>
<p>And what are the applications like?</p>
<p>Well they seem somewhat similar. We have to fill out loads of info. We also complete numerous essays, get recommendations from teachers, take standardized tests, go on tours and interviews, etc. </p>
<p>I know I sound like a complete dunce by asking these vague questions.</p>
<p>No you don’t. Many people I know are not familiar with the process either :)</p>
<p>It depends on the school. On this forum, most of us are applying to the super-high competitive schools like Phillips Exeter, Phillips Andover, St. Pauls, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Choate, Groton, Middlesex, Taft, Milton, Peddie, and Lawrenceville. (sorry if I didn’t say your school fellow CCers). However, there are boarding and prep schools for all ranges.<br>
The applications are pretty long and tedious and require lots of effort from the students and the parents (teachers too). Most apps have short answers and a long essay. Interviews and the SSAT are also required. Yeah, I would say it’s a lot like college applications.
The top prep schools teach some of the brightest kids in the nation and all of the schools mentions above have admission rates of less than 25%.<br>
Pretty stressful - and all of us are freaking out because the due date is Jan 15! But I think it’s worth it in the end.</p>
<p>any one knows how competitive is it to get into Milton from China or Hong Kong? And is Milton better or Hotchkiss better? </p>
<p>also anyone knows how many international students does Milton accept for 9th grade? they say 10% international students, which makes this only 16 students total, is that true?</p>
<p>Milton’s acceptance rate this year is 15%, as they said on the letter about 1000 applicants for 150 spots. I would think the international makeup should stay consistent with the exiting ratio.</p>
<p>hootoo, 1000 applications for 150 doesnt mean the acceptance rate is 15%. it just means that out of the number of students they accepted, they expect 150 to matriculate. you could probably assume a 50-60% yield rate at Milton, so the acceptance rate is probably closer to 25-30%.</p>
<p>Trust me, the admissions are tremendously competitive. You may infer it from the Master List of acceptances – tons of brilliant applicants get rejected for no obvious reason…</p>
<p>any feel what would be acceptance rate from china? i hear 500 students applied to the top schools, and based on last year the top ten schools only take 2 - 5 per grade per year.</p>
<p>also anyone has thoughts on milton vs. hotchkiss?</p>
<p>wonder if someone can answer how competitive is milton to get in? here’s the math, be great if someone can followup:
class of 180 students? of which 30 are taken from its own 8th grade, so only 150 spots left,
of that if you are applying for boarding schools, then take out another 60 (half of the 180), so only 90 spots. so two questions:
a) of the 1000 applicants for milton, how many are for boarders?<br>
b) if they have 10% international students, that makes 18 spots, so how many are applying from overseas?
any rule of thumb?</p>
<p>@lucyloo, I was not a domestic applicant, so I don’t have that much information about day schools. @hkdad123, WOW. If only 2-5 Chinese kids get in, then the rate must unbelievably tiny. I’m an international student and I got a feeling that acceptance rate is pretty low for people applying from outside of the US in general. It’s easier to be accepted as a boarder though, since more people apply as day students.</p>
<p>i mean 2 - 5 kids “per school” per grade per year, acceptance rate is tiny (one guy from lawrenville says ,1%, someone else says 5%), so wonder any one have any other to add for int’l student acceptance rate</p>
<p>as for milton, since they only have spots for 16 int’l student vs. more at other school, wonder if it is harder to get in milton or easier (since the applicant pool of slightly over 1000 maybe a bit smaller say hotchkiss at 1900)</p>
<p>Look, hotchkiss has 18% of international students, whereas Milton only has 10%. I’m guessing that this should give more available spots for international students, even though their overall acceptance rate is about the same. I’ve never applied to hotchkiss, so I don’t know much about that school :/</p>
<p>It is hard to define international vs local students. A lot of kids live overseas have US passport. They have been in schools outside US ever since just return to US for BS and college. They don’t count as international student, I guess!!</p>
<p>I had the same question, but according to some threads even kids who were born overseas, but have US citizenship, apply from US, and attended a school in America for a pretty long time do count as internationals… That doesn’t really make much sense to me either.</p>
<p>@Hkdad…I am not sure how many kids got accepted in HK but my daughter and her schoolmate got accepted for G10 this year. I knew at least one person also got accepted in China.</p>
<p>hi HKnewparent, good to meet you. my daughter got accepted to milton also, and will most likely go G9. in her school, they have 2 accepted (one to G10 and one to G9) and one on waiting list that I know of. wonder which school your daugther going to - local or int’l? mine is going to an int’l school.</p>
<p>appreciate hearing from you if you know of any news on milton. even though she will most likely go, still be good to find out more info on the school
thx</p>