I know every year it is said that the present year was the most selective year in recent history for boarding school applications.
Does anyone have any idea if 2017 is going to be a more or less selective year than average? I know it is hard to measure but any gut feelings?
Thanks
I would expect that applications would still be high this year and it will be a very selective year (similar to years past). I have no special information about this. College applications are the same way - the number of applications keep increasing.
Barring some general change in attitude of which I am not aware, I would expect the same as well. Based on census stats, assuming I’m reading them correctly, it looks like the population of 8th graders this year is slightly larger than population of 8th graders last year: https://www.census.gov/hhes/school/data/cps/2015/tables.html
If the applicant pool is not increasing, then the overall difficulty of getting admitted will stay about the same. Note that international students are mostly admitted based on at least a rough “quota” so the increase of international applicants shouldn’t have too big an impact to domestic students. That being said, two trends can still continue. 1. The imbalance in # of applications and selectivity between the top few schools and the rest. 2. Decrease in admit rates across the board with yield going the same direction due to the increased ease of filing an application.
If you take a look at the Ten Schools “Events” calendar, this year there were no ten schools recruiting events in the Northwest, although a number of schools held individual events. In previous years (at least around 2010-2012), both Portland and Seattle have been visited by the TSAO. The lack of marketing in the NW may reduce the numbers of applicants somewhat.
Any thoughts or indications from schools on this?
I would assume that selectiveness will continue in an upward trend because the economy is still very strong for those parents that have children applying to prep schools. There is also an underlining trend in the US that each child does a lot more enrichment programs than previous generations. I believe this is a function of the reduction in family size.
@GoatMama mentioned on the M10 freakout thread that SPS is making some cuts in # of students…
So it should be a competitive year for SPS applicants…
@laenen I think it’s actually due to competitiveness of the academic environment for BS and colleges…in general. We stuck to true interests only, not resume padding, but there is a lot of “joining” going on these days to pad resumes. I have lived in two places where most families have 2-4 children. But I agree with you that only children often do quite a few activities and the family logistics can permit that.
@sunnyschool – I agree it is due to competitiveness – but what drives the competitiveness? 1. Ability to pay 2. The Cold War of child’s enrichment. Enrichment becomes increasingly difficult as you have more children. There is time, money, and motivation. I know my youngest child does not get the advantages I gave to my oldest. I am just to tired to keep it up. 
True, LOL, I feel the same way with youngest. Had to limit activities!
But I think it’s the decrease in percent of applicants getting admitted to selective colleges and the candidates (and parents) reading that they have to basically invent something to save the planet, to get into an Ivy league school.
Do you think that BS are now more popular with some countries and if that makes a difference in the number of available spots for the non-international student? Also, I go to a prep school feeder to a few top tier BS and this year it seems some kids are not going to boarding school but going back home (most cases to cities where they feel they are missing out on city fun).
Though this a hot topic in college (i.e. are international students filling up the spots for domestic students) I don’t believe this is that big of a topic in BS (I could be wrong)…
BS doesn’t have the same amount of apps from international students as colleges…
That is obvious. So they are already a minority in the thousands of apps that the schools filter through. Unlike (some) colleges, BS doesn’t have financial motives to accept FP int. applicants(at least none I can think of).
They accept int. applicants to diversify their student body. The AO’s probably have a certain figure/percent/quota that they reserve for international applicants and would stick pretty lose to it. There main clientele has been (so far) the US students…
@Atria , BS have the same incentive to enroll FP international students as colleges do, which is that they are FP. In fact many, including most mentioned on these boards, hAve agents abroad whose job is to source those students.
Truly, the number of families who can afford FP at BS (followed by college ) is limited, and many of those families prefer to keep their kids at home. So this is one way the schools manage their budgets.
Don’t get me wrong, international students enrich the community through diversity, but the schools tend to be quite tuned in to the financial advantage they bring as well and for many.
More kids apply to more colleges…more importantly in JUST 10 Years the number of foreign students in US went from 250,000 to over 1,000,000. Yet the number of spots in top universities increased marginally. So the answer to your question is Yes.
When it comes to international students, the only thing that matters to an individual domestic student is if the schools he or she is applying to are increasing their enrollment of international students without increasing overall enrollment. It seems that many of the top schools have maxed out their desired number of international spots, so the increasing numbers of international students seeking spots at those schools doesn’t matter to a domestic student.
For those domestic students seeking enrollment at a boarding school still increasing the number of international students it will accept, then yes, the increasing numbers of international applicants will decrease the number of spots available to domestic
Do you think it effects applicants that are FP? Would a BS take a domestic student over a international one if both had the same qualifications and both are FP?
@Atria - I wouldn’t be so sure of that!
Judging by the lists on interview days, there were kids from all over the world interviewing (well mostly Asian countries).
Also YES they do have an incentive to accept full pay international students. $$$
I do think it’s a hot topic, increasingly, just like colleges. That is why there are certain protocols for international applicants. I agree they probably stick to a certain % range though.
Well I stand corrected @gardenstategal and @sunnyschool…
Just assumed that BS will prefer FP domestic applicants over FP international applicants…
Will now politely bow out of the discussion and re-delegate myself to observation…
@Wannaboard that will depend on the school and whether they have reached their saturation point for international students, as well as too many other considerations to allow for a gross generalization of this type.