Wondering if anyone has an idea of what application numbers look like this year now that deadlines for many schools have passed. Last year’s numbers are intimidating.
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I read a few years ago that fewer babies were born in 2008 and years after that. Colleges have been talking about the cliff in 2026 for a long time. Maybe we will see it in this year’s prep school applications vs last year’s.
More applications doesn’t necessarily mean stronger competition. For the higher yielding schools, yes it’s more competition. For the lower yielding schools, probably no. The level of competition is mostly driven by the number of applicants, not applications. At the end of the day, schools have to fill the spots with people.
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This is one of the “problems” with common (lower-case c) applications in general I feel. They tend to swell the denominator in the admit stats because “why not apply to X while I’m at it?” is such as easy thing to do. Check a box, send another $X (for those who can).
I’m not saying that there isn’t more actual competition. There is. But my sense is that when an admission rate at a given school goes from, say, 20% to 10%, it’s not actually 2x as difficult to get in for a given individual, even if on a total population level that’s what the statistic indicates. It’s the difference between data and information.
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Ultimately, you can only control your own application. How many more are in the pile for any given school in any given year is not something you can control, so let that worry go. Put your best self forward and let the chips fall where they may. That’s all anyone can ever do, regardless of the number of applicants or the quality of the pool in any given year. No need to be intimidated by increasing apps that may not indicate increasing quality per @DroidsLookingFor post above. Your application may be one of the ones a school is looking for. Perhaps others should be intimidated by you. Good luck!
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I’m also curious if there is a rush to get in this year while many schools are still TO. Hopefully, next year will be back to normal, although I’ve been saying this to myself since 2020.
Curious as well! My daughters private high school received over 1000 applications for 100 spots last year. This year it did seems as though most schools ran out of interview slots by December, a sign of a tougher year???
It is actually becoming more difficult to get into many of the well-known schools. Applicant pool is stronger, and more academically qualified than ever before, with less pure legacy admissions. Perhaps not twice as hard compared to 10 years ago, but significantly more selective than ever. There are more academic applicants who in the past would have stayed at their local public/day school, and a lot of great international applicants.
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We are using a school consultant and her comments on #s (or her business year over year - and her business is 40 yrs old so not a fly by night organization)
Demand/interest from US applicants - slightly down YoY as schools and activities went back to normal in the US
Demand / interest / her client #s from Asia (esp Hong Kong) - tripled YoY…
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We heard recently from a (non gladchems) BS board member, that last year the school had a record breaking 1000 applications for 90 spots, and this year they have 1200 applications. I suspect numbers are up across the board.
Any idea if the quality of the applicant pool is similar?
I don’t think so. It’s so easy to apply nowadays, as you just need to send $X dollars and write a few essays. Also, TO allows (relatively) less academically qualified people to apply.
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Yes, but lots of kids have straight A’s, rigorous classes, and would still do poorly on SSAT. They will look just as competitive. I feel like the TO this year really gives an advantage to kids who may not be as successful academically. After all, aren’t they also going to have to take tests at school?
tests in school format (MS, HS, College) are completely different from standardized tests that are benchmarked against the group taking them at the time - the standardized tests are the least reliable element to measure academic success.
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That’s exactly right. TO allows less-academically students to apply to highly prestigious schools. After all, grades and GPAs are not standardized.
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Andy – testing well on the SSAT does not guarantee that the kid will be an academic superstar. Similarly a kid with a comparatively low ssat score can make the first honor roll. There just isn’t a huge difference between kids testing at the 75th percentile and kids in the 85th, or 90th percentile.
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Of course, there is no guarantee of an ‘Academic Superstar’. Say there are 2 applicants. Applicant X and applicant Y. If applicant X has a percentile of, say, 90 and applicant Y has a percentile of 75, which one is more likely to be admitted? I realize there are many other factors, such as ECs and interviews, but for this scenario, let’s assume the only difference is the SSAT score. The obvious choice is applicant X.
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Let’s get back to topic and refrain from debating test optional yet again.
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2022 numbers:
Loomis-2400 apps received
Exeter-1800 apps received
Berkshire-1400 apps received
Thoughts?
What percentage of these are 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade?
Not sure…Two of the totals were directly in emails from the schools that they’ve sent the last few days and then, one other is from an update I received directly from one of the school contacts.