When I plug in numbers in the academic index formula for my son, he gets a respectable 210. However, he is a student at Phillips Exeter Academy, where every student that he is compared to is academically prepared. His academic index, which does not account for course difficulty, would be much higher if he went to public school. Does admissions factor this in at all when considering what “band” he is in for Ivies?
On the other hand, the AI appears to favor standardized tests which may be leveling things off to address this exact issue.
The AI number is the AI number. The rigor of his academic record will be taken into account by the admission committee when the time comes to decide if he is admissable. Also, since your son is a track guy I believe the bands won’t apply to him. That is only applicable to football, with a similar system in basketball and men’s hockey.
If your school’s college advising dept is doing their job right, colleges your student applies to will know it is a more rigorous undertaking. On the other hand, it is too hard to try to second guess how much alike or different rigor is and I don’t believe a college would take for example an elite school B student over a non elite A student. Even if standardized test scores are an exact match, suggesting equal abilities, it benefits the receiving college to have the higher raw stats representing their admit profile. On the other hand, if your student has attended an elite school, they will be recognized for being more self directed and for having tackled a rigorous curriculum.
I wouldn’t worry about an Ivy (or any high academic university) having an excellent understanding of Phillips Exeter and what it means to be enrolled there.
For fun I googled Exeter’s matriculation list. Combined placement of students during the past three years for the Ivy League is 185 students, or over 60 per year on average. That’s kids who made those choices. There were certainly admissions offerings in addition to that number that probably weren’t utilized.
Each Ivy schools would have different mandated AI number. I believe Harvard may have the highest mandated AI of 221. Princeton and Yale may be similar as well. Depending on how good of an athlete your son may be, there perhaps may be some leeway given by the school. I know of one athlete from a very academically strong private high school who’s gpa of 3.8 was questionable, until the regional representative covering his school was asked to evaluate, since he was very familiar with the rigor of the school, stated to the AO that a 3.8 from that school was very solid and ultimately was admitted.