<p>2prepmom’s advice is excellent and, as I reflect on the kids in my son’s class who got into Ivies, spot on. I did go back and read ExeterDad’s thread and have to say that I found the counselor’s ranking of my son’s school choices both conservative AND accurate. For example, one point she made about schools that seemed like they would be safeties for my son, was that those schools might well not admit him simply because they wanted to protect their matriculation rates (the “Tufts Effect”). I suspect Exeter Dad’s child’s list was vetted smilarly. Because kids from Exeter go to top tier schools, second tier school may well be more difficult for them to get into from Exeter than from the local ps. I just can’t see this as a bad thing! And it is true that Exeter encourages kids to think beyond Ivies–but that is not to say that they don’t counsel well or encourage students to find schools that are best fits for them. </p>
<p>And I remember that there were lots of disappointed kids at ED time who ended up having their pick of great schools (yes, including Ivies) in the regular cycle. ED seemed to primarily go to athletes and URM’s.</p>