What is the correlation between admission to private and boarding schools?

Curious if anyone knows - have combed around and haven’t found a clear take. For a kid who is admitted to competitive NYC private schools - Trinity. Horace Mann, Fieldston, Riverdale - how closely does that correlate with likelihood of admission to the GLADCHEMS boarding schools? My partner and I have opposing guesses, and haven’t found any real data on the question!

I don’t have data on this, but I can hazard a guess. There are likely factors that matter to both, like grades and scores, but others which matter much more to a BS but not a day school, like maturity (in terms of ability to thrive independently) and participation/contribution to community (including being able to productively fill your time outside of class and study.) Different pools, different goals.

A kid who strikes out in the day school application process may be showing too little academic prowess to be admitted to BS. But a kid who is admitted to day schools might not have the profile to be admitted to BS. They might have ECs/sports BS doesn’t support or they may not seem like they will handle social stresses, etc.

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I was having a conversation with a dad yesterday and he was saying that the NYC day schools ask around the boarding schools if they have a great candidate that they suspect has also applied to boarding and they may base their decision on whether they will get into a BS and if they believe they would choose that BS over them. Do you think this is true?

I am only speculating, but no. Who has the time, when there are thousands of applications and applicantsthat have to be evaluated? Also, what’s the benefit to the boarding school? (My point is, if no benefit, why would they take the time?)

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For what it’s worth our daughter was open with the NYC privates about her also considering BS, and it didn’t negatively affect her admissions. Just an N of 1 … but agree that it feels inefficient, and not something we heard about happening.

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I doubt it.

Too much work! And actually, they can factor this into their expected yield calculations without missing out on a student they like if they are wrong.

There are so many reasons that a student who has applied to both might choose day over boarding or boarding over day. Maybe a family thinks a job transfer might be forthcoming in the next few years. Maybe a kid just successfully auditioned for a prestigious orchestra.

After those lawsuits against private universities for discussing candidates during admissions, I really doubt any BS admissions offices would risk talking to potential competitors. Why would they even take that chance?

Otherwise, I’d agree with GardenStateGal—getting into a competitive day school (based on SSATs, grades, extracurriculars, etc.) is probably the baseline for getting into an equally competitive BS.

Also, let’s not forget that a lot of students at Trinity, Horace Mann, Dalton, etc., got in as kindergarteners. They might have seemed like strong candidates at five years old, but by middle school, some aren’t actually great students. They might still graduate from a top day school, but that doesn’t mean they’d be admitted to another day school or a BS in 8th grade.

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Do schools (both private and boarding) waitlist or reject qualified students who they think are more likely to accept a place elsewhere? Yes! It’s called protecting their yield, and it’s a real thing. Again, potentially more common at college than at the boarding school level.

I was speaking with a private day school locally today, and I was surprised that the AO admitted that our local private schools do talk with each other before sending out admission results. Admittedly, it’s a relatively small set of schools and kids, but this AO said if his school A knows that one of his students is applying to school B and will transfer if they receive acceptance. Then school B lets him know (before official decision day) that they will be accepting the student, school A has the opportunity to offer someone else a place rather than giving them a waitlist offer. Makes sense.
Very few students in our area attend boarding school, so there are no relationships or conversations there.

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While people call it this, it’s much more helpful to think of it as enrollment management. The goal of the schools isn’t to avoid rejection by admitted students but to fill the class so that it fits the school’s goals.

If you convey in any way to a school that you would attend only if everything else falls through, they know you’re not likely to say yes if admitted. If they can get what you offer by admitting someone they have a real shot at enrolling, why not? They also know you’re not excited to be there. Not good for anyone!

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