Do you have a sense of what percentage of applicants receive at least one offer/what percentage are shut out? I think a setting of expectations is helpful, even if it is not what we would like to hear. We are actually confused. So many reported cases of great feedback from the AO and then the kid comes up empty. So we are not putting a lot of stock in the good feedback. I hate being the brakes when my kid is all gas!
1 Like
You can multiply the probabilities of getting rejected at each school and find the chances that way, but that method assumes that the admissions decisions are independent of each other. That may not be true.
At a party, I met a former admissions officer at one of the Ten Schools and learned that, as of 2022, the admissions officers talked to each other. Often the conversations were to the students’ benefit. So, if a kid looked good but was on the line for admissions, they might talk to the other schools on her list to make sure she got into the school that looked like the best fit. That way, the schools get who they want while ensuring that the kids get into at least one school. The process also allows the schools to keep their admit rates lower, which they like to do. A former educational consultant (who helped kids get into boarding schools) told me that she thought the practice was definitely helpful for the kids.
I recently asked a couple of admissions officers about the practice and they both got very stiff and said that they don’t do it. Maybe that’s true now. Colleges used to have a similar process but stopped after lawsuits, or so I’ve heard.
I don’t know how I feel about the practice but I kinda hope they still do that. It may help good students without major hooks to get to a boarding school, even if they don’t have more than one option.
2 Likes
I don’t think this happens. There are kids who get into every GLADCHEMS school to which they apply, and plenty of kids who get into none of them.
5 Likes
I am fairly certain that it is just an urban myth. In reality, AOs have far more files than they can process these days. Advocating a certain candidate to another school is neither legit nor sensible. That said, AOs do meet at education fairs and conferences and become friends. They might share general trends, but intel on specific candidates is off limits.
6 Likes
You may be correct, but I’ll note that I heard about the practice (of AOs from different schools talking about applicants) from a former AO at a GLADCHEMS who was in the meetings. I was surprised by the practice and asked a bunch of questions about it. It didn’t sound right to me. The AO defended it and said it actually helped the applicants. So, I’m quite sure that schools talked to each other about applicants in 2022, and I would guess that they still do so.
1 Like
In the meetings? This is what I do not understand. What meetings? Sometime between late Jan and early March, GLADCHEMMS AOs (or GLADCHEMMS plus others, or maybe TSAO) get together with a list of names and swap info? Just doesn’t sound credible at all. Maybe I am missing the context.
I can see a smaller BS AO speaking to a nearby BS AO or an AO friend of his about the odd case where they can’t take someone but wish to find that person a good BS home, but the general practice of AOs doing wholesale name trading simply does not exist.
What definitely does happen: AOs may call a middle school guidance counselor and have a discussion about a candidate. Are we their first-choice? Or, we don’t have a spot, but XYZ school may.
4 Likes
Or this person may be referring to the TSAO traveling roadshow where the ten schools put on presentations in various cities across the country giving students in far-flung places an opportunity to learn about schools they might not be able to visit and to interview with them at the event. I did see ADs/AOs from the various schools chatting with each other, but I doubt it was anything like horse-trading with kids they just met that day.
6 Likes
Sorry, what I meant from “in the meetings” is that this AO was one of the admissions staff in the meetings that make the admissions decisions. Not all admissions staff participate in the meetings. Some are part-time and brought in to help out with interviewing.
If anyone doesn’t believe this story (and I don’t blame you if you don’t), I’d invite you to ask an AO at a revisit day, when the power dynamic is flipped away from AO’s and towards parents and students. Just please come back and let us all know what you hear!
And I’m referring to the story that AO’s at different schools coordinate with each other about applicants.
Yeah, it does seem like there will be fewere foreign students accepting their spots at U.S. colleges because of restrictions on immigration. (Colleges Fear Decline in International Student Enrollment) I’d imagine that the drop-off at BS is going to be even steeper since the kids are so much younger. What parents want to send their 14 year old to a foreign country if they’re not sure that they’d be able to enter with a visa or might get deported.
One administrator said that “I anticipate many [college students] will look for alternatives in the U.K., Canada, parts of Asia", which will probably be the same for BS students as well.
1 Like