there isn’t a way to chance applicants because none of us know what happens in the admissions office. For example, a student with perfect grades and EC’s could still be rejected because of some unknown reason.
Have you made clear to Choate that the school is your first and only choice?
Only in an email to the faculty advisor of the debate program, but I think that Choate is one of the only Boarding Schools that is test-optional, and I am applying test-optional, so they can infer that they are my only option
They’ll infer no such thing. In general, admissions infers nothing.
I’ll add that I’m not a fan of “You’re my first choice.” Nor do I believe there’s any efficacy in that since (slightly hyperbolic), everyone, in between starting their non-profits, tell admissions of every school that they are their first choice.
I’ve yet to meet an admissions officer that fell off a turnip truck.
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I understand. Hopefully, they are still able to see my strongly expressed interest, even in just reapplying to start. Thank you again for your insights.
I would say the opposite. I think that prep schools do think about whether they are likely to yield a student, and if they are aware that a student as only applied to one school, it can make a difference to the admissions committees. This is particularly true if siblings and parents all went to one school and the kid is applying to the legacy school as well as some others. I think it can help for the family to say that while X school was perfect for our other kids and aunts and uncles, this kid really wants to try some place different. Also, if a kid applies to a school that does not have a extracurricular program that kid did competitively in the past, the school might want to know that the kid genuinely does want to go there despite the lack of an orchestra or hockey team. Or if a kid comes from a private middle school that never sends their students to a particular boarding school, the prep school might be skeptical. In cases like that, I think it can help if the family makes clear that the child will actually come if admitted especially if there is a limited financial aid budget and the kid is applying for aid. I think Choate may be need blind though so that part might not matter.
I note there are something like 300 boarding schools in the US (give or take). I have heard that since COVID a majority are now test optional, although I do not know if there is an official census, and I believe some have transitioned back to test required.
I believe that many if not most have switched back. We cursed our luck last year when my kid applied to her school. They switched back that same year. But I also can’t tell you for sure how many.
Agree with this. We applied to rival schools, one of which she was a legacy. I wanted her to go to the other school where she got waitlisted. During Revisit Day at School A, I ran into another alum, who, after telling them we were waitlisted at the other school and that I was still somewhat hopeful, told me (after recoiling in horror that we were interested in the rival), “Unless you write a letter saying very explicitly that you will choose them over us, there’s no way they will accept you. They assume the kid will follow legacy.” I would have done it had I known, but she’s happy at Alma Mater, so it worked out.
Point is, sometimes it’s necessary. @David_Robson you should definitely make it explicit.
So in this case, what do you recommend I do now that my application is fully submitted?
Anecdotal, of course, but of the six schools our daughter is applying to, four are test required, one is fully test optional, and one is test optional for admissions but test required for merit (Mercersburg, if anyone is curious).
This does sort of feel to me like what is happening with selective colleges, where some were already test optional before COVID, some may newly be test optional but have decided to make that a permanent decision, but others have transitioned back to being test required even if they were temporarily test optional.
Anyway, in context, the point is I don’t think a test optional boarding school would know for sure to how many other boarding schools an applicant without a test score submitted might be applying. There are in fact other boarding schools still test optional, and also the applicant could in theory have a test score they preferred not to submit to their school when given an option, but was willing to submit when required.
By the way, I think only one of her schools actually asked in the application where else she was applying, but I think it came up in at least two other parent interviews (or three, I am not sure if the school with it on their application was also one of the three where it was brought up), and possibly even in more applicant interviews. My point is just that obviously some schools do want some sense of this, which I don’t find at all inappropriate personally.
Why would they infer that? Choate doesn’t know which other schools are on your list, whether they are test optional and whether or not you’ve taken the SSATs, but chosen not to submit the scores. Choate Admissions will think that you took the test, didn’t do well and chose not to submit the scores or that you don’t test well. The only logic that they can apply regards your application to Choate not to whether you’ve applied to other schools (test optional or not).
Many schools ask during the interviews. It’s an opportunity for AOs to understand how much research you’ve done and whether you’re able to articulate a clear argument for their school. If you give them a random list of schools without a coherent thread and a generic answer about why you’re choosing their school, then you haven’t done yourself any favors.
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Isn’t the broad trend in colleges was towards requiring tests? HYP now require tests again; so do MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and even big state schools like Alabama. What schools have become test optional in the past few years? Is a similar pattern emerging at boarding schools?
Just because you applied TO to a school that allows it doesn’t mean than you haven’t applied to other schools and submitted your scores there.
There are schools that require scores but don’t give them a lot of weight. It just fills out the profile for them.
I meant “newly” as in before COVID they were not test optional, and during peak COVID they became test optional. This is in contrast to colleges that were already test optional before COVID.
Most recently, you are right that many colleges that went test optional during peak COVID have gone back to test required. I don’t know of any offhand that stayed test required during COVID and only since became test optional (although I can’t rule it out since there are thousands of colleges I know nothing in particular about).
Yes, I think that Vassar did a test-optional pilot in 2020 and decided to keep it, but broadly the trend at most colleges is back to requiring tests.