<p>I agree with @Periwinkle, at least in our experience. Most of the families that we know (NYC, private schools) only applied to a few boarding schools. Either they were coming from a school that continued through 12th grade so they had a “go big or go home” mentality, or they were coming from a K-8 and also applying to day schools. So they would apply to maybe 3 boarding and 3 day options. Many of these families are full-pay, legacy families, thus increasing their chances for admission. They were more likely to apply to only Andover & St Paul’s for example, because they had a good option at home and were a strong candidate. I don’t know if this demographic really is the “norm” however, or if it used to be and now it’s shifting. Some schools (like Deerfield) may have more of these candidates as a % of their admits, and others (like Exeter) proportionally fewer. Again, this is based on people that I know, and is certainly not a scientific study - ha! So I would agree that not all of these admissions stats are created equal.</p>