<p>goddamnit, I wanted a single.</p>
<p>Dude, Exonian, chill out. We get it, you love Exeter, hate Andover. You don’t need to start spewing all this hate over the school…</p>
<p>Umm, Exonian16 Im guessing you don’t have much knowledge of the geographic layout of Massachusetts. What about the towns I mentioned in my last post, are their school systems too good to add to your list? Lynn is barely in the vicinity of Andover and neither is Dracut. I don’t think I’ve ever even been to Dracut. And I think the name is now Governor’s Academy, in case you missed that. What about Brooks? Middlesex? Pingree? Milton? Concord? Just to name a few.
I also notice that you spend quite a lot of time bashing Andover, but very little trying to disprove the same points about Exeter. And for someone who doesn’t even go to Andover, hates it for that matter, you’ve done quite a lot of research on it.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to not involve myself in this, but I feel like it’s appropriate to speak up at this point.</p>
<p>Exonian16, I’m not sure what you guys do up in New Hampshire, but the only time that Andover actually cares your school is when it comes time for A/E in the fall. Andover and Exeter are so similar. Would you please stop grasping for ideas that will prove Exeter’s superiority? I assure you, you won’t find any. Any similar student who argues in favor of Andover would be unable to do so as well. </p>
<p>By throwing out statements like “What happened to all the NICE kids?” when discussing Andover students in a thread (quote taken from earlier discussion), you allow the reputation of Exeter’s students to suffer.</p>
<p>Here are my recommendations:
- You don’t know the vast majority of Andover students. Don’t make blanket statements that are purely malicious.
- Save the “I hate Andover” metality for A/E.</p>
<p>Those are my two cents on the matter. </p>
<p>As a sidenote, come A/E, I’ll be the one in the purple holding a sign that says “UNITY.” :P</p>
<p>Exonians and Phillipians, </p>
<p>The discussion is about why Andover’s yield is so different from previous years, not about why their yield should be high or low. The composition of their day student applicants should be more or less the same this year compared to previous years. Also Andover has to add beds, which means it’s more about over-enrollment of boarding students.</p>
<p>A high yield at Andover may (and I stress may) also be do to the fact that Andover remains the ONLY need blind school up here in Northern New England. Exeter stopped their need blind status a few years ago. Therefore nobody at Andover gets put into another pile during the admissions process, and no student would be rejected due to financial need.</p>
<p>Perhaps those who accepted Andover were offered more FA?</p>
<p>I saw three pages on this thread when I logged on and thought, excellent, there must be a great amount of information re how they will accommodate this high yield in the fall. </p>
<p>Thank you, DAndrew, for linking the Phillipian article.</p>
<p>As for the rest, sigh.</p>
<p>I apologize for getting defensive. It’s just that I’m tired of seeing so many students with “my school is better than your school” attitudes.</p>
<p>Also, our Head of School said last year that they were going to accept fewer day students in the coming years. Many of my day student friends have said that they had friends who applied, got in, and chose to stay at Andover High or another local school because they didn’t want to leave their friends. Because boarding students made the conscious decision to leave home, maybe they’re more likely to attend the school? I have no idea, just speculation.</p>
<p>Also, a new “stack” was opened for 4 or 5 boys, meaning an entirely new dorm was created out of an already existing residential house on campus.</p>
<p>I think Andover is “pleasantly surprised” by the unexpected high yield this year, much more than annoyed by the inconvinice of having to find dorm rooms for these unplanned headcounts. I can understand why this is a boost of morale, to the admissions people, to the people who have made the decision of adopting and maintaining the “need-blind” policies, and to the whole school community in some way. In addition, it doesn’t happen often. According to the article, last time when the overenrollment of this signicance happened was in 1990’s, so it’s not like they have to go through the trouble every year. IMO, they have done an exceptional job in attracting the students they want to attend their school this year, and they deserve the credit. Every school has their moments of glory - some more than others - and so is the reality.</p>
<p>PA has a high yield because it is a great school. This is a true whether an admit comes from a public school in Hong Kong or one of the private schools close to the campus. It is also why an astonishingly high 88 percent of the mostly boarding students who attended a Spring Visit program decided to attend PA this year. </p>
<p>The implicit premise of those who argue otherwise is that PA benefits because the yield of its day students is higher than its boarding students. Thus, as PA has a marginally higher number of matriculated day students than its chief competitor, some mistakenly conclude that PA has an artificially high yield.</p>
<p>However, those who make this argument miss the point. The important factor is not whether PA has a slightly higher population of day student than another school. It is the relative yield of day students and boarding students at PA.</p>
<p>If the yield for day students and boarding students at PA is about the same, the number of day students at PA is statistically meaningless. If it is lower, day students decrease the PA yield. And if it is larger, day students are merely one factor among many others such as student perception of fit and need blind financial aid. </p>
<p>Absent evidence of the relative yield of day and boarding students, there is no statistical basis to determine what, if any, impact the day student population has on the yield at PA. Nor is there any mathematically reliable basis to conclude that PA’s day student population explains why it traditionally has had a higher yield than its sister schools.</p>
<p>The fact that Andover is over enrolled does not detract from the excellence of another prep school that may be heavily drawing from its waiting list this year. A school’s yield does not make it a good fit for an applicant. It does, however, illustrate how many admits regard it as their best fit.</p>
<p>From a purely statistical standpoint, such a large increase in yield is unexpected, which is why there’s a such a fuss about it. It does not reflect on Exeter’s yield or the effectiveness of Exeter’s revisit day (I personally preferred Exeter’s). </p>
<p>Exonian16, probably the main reason why there are so many day students enrolled in Andover is that more people in the day student region know about Andover, which means that more talented kids from the Andover region apply. All the day students I know (and I know quite a few) are just as good as the rest of us boarding students and I know a few that are on full FA. The school doesn’t specifically choose day students for money.</p>
<p>I don’t know how this will affect next year’s acceptance rates; I heard that there isn’t a huge over-enrollment of incoming ninth graders but more incoming tenth graders enrolled than expected. It’s throwing housing processes in a loop because of the rearrangement of triples and stacks, but there probably isn’t much of a difference otherwise.</p>
<p>Exonian16, please lay off the bashing. You remind me of a couple of previous trolls, actually.</p>
<ol>
<li> “Yeah the day student yield doesn’t affect the overall yield. Tell us about it. It is 100% as people don’t want to go to Lawrence High School or Methuen High School or Tewksbury High School” </li>
</ol>
<p>This poster argues that PA has a 100% yield for day students. However, he yet again offers no evidence to support that premise. And even if we accept his unsubstantiated calculations, PA still has an astonishingly high yield of 80%. Either way, his argument is much ado about nothing.</p>
<ol>
<li> “Sadly about 30% of students are day students, a whopping 350 students out of 1100 on campus. </li>
</ol>
<p>There is nothing sad about the fact that PA opens its doors to day students. If PA had the same percentage of day students as PEA, the day student matriculation at PA would have been about five or six students less this year. Yet again, this poster’s argument is much ado about nothing.</p>
<p>Apparently you care quite a bit, otherwise you would stop posting. And also, how is it bad that a school takes that many day students? If they are eligible they should have the same chance of being admitted as the boarders, and vice versa.</p>
<p>"people going to boarding schools prefer schools with fewer or no day students "
Your opinion doesn’t necessarily equate with that of all boarding school applicants…</p>
<p>Think it might be time for a ceasefire…</p>
<p>Anyone have a sense yet of how Andover’s overenrollment will affect their FA/FP percentages?</p>
<p>The audience I had in mind for this thread was composed of incoming students who are curious about their future housing, and prospective applicants who are wondering what their chances look like for the next application season. I apologize for seeming like an Andover cheerleader, I really didn’t mean it that way at all!</p>
<p>@classicalmama, I’m not sure at the moment, but I can ask some of my teachers involved in admissions to get you a good answer. </p>
<p>But anyway, it would be really nice if maybe we could clear out the negativity from this thread. There is more to being an Andover/Exeter student than arguing about which school is better, as both are wonderful places.</p>
<p>@cassat
Nicely said, as has been said before in many threads, but users like exonian16 refuse to even consider the fact that our schools are equals in any way.
I hope my friend has good luck next year though, she was wait listed this year, and obviously wont be getting off, but I don’t know if this will decrease her chances for next year. I was actually surprised she didn’t get in this year, but you never know.</p>
<p>I actually think it makes a lot of sense that Andover has a slightly higher yield and admit rate than Exeter. First, it’s closer to Boston, and so probably has a higher number of well-qualified day students applying and, when admitted, willing to make the drive. Second, Exeter has a very distinct method of teaching–Harkness–which I suspect both attracts and yields a more select (and by select I do NOT mean superior!) group of students. Third, Exeter’s application is a bit more painful to put together than Andover’s: Exeter requires a handwritten essay and is not part of the Gateway to Prep School. </p>
<p>But I agree Andover2016 and cassat–Exeter and Andover, while distinct in many ways (and thank goodness for that!) are equal in quality, and it’s just silly to get so worked up over a handful of percentage points.</p>
<p>To clarify:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>PEA had a 69% yield last year. PA had a 78 percent yield last year. [Phillips</a> Academy Matches Last Year?s Record 78% Yield Rate; ?Highest Rate Among Peer Schools this Year | The Phillipian Online](<a href=“http://phillipian.net/node/127795]Phillips”>http://phillipian.net/node/127795) . This year PA has an 84 percent yield. </p></li>
<li><p>PEA’s admit rate was 19% last year. PA’s admit rate last year was 14%. [url=<a href=“Sort Boarding Schools by Key Criteria”>Sort Boarding Schools by Key Criteria]Sort</a> Boarding Schools by Key Criteria - Boarding School Review<a href=“click%20on%20acceptance%20rate”>/url</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>I have seen no data that supports the conjecture that PA has a larger applicant pool of day students than PEA. The size of the applicant pool has no bearing on yield, which is a ratio of admitted students to matriculated students. </p></li>
<li><p>Both PA and PEA are excellent schools. However, PA has a higher yield and lower admit rate than PEA. This is a fact, not an opinion. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I would urge everyone to allow this thread to return to Cassat’s original purpose.</p>
<p>Exonian16, Please stop. You are not doing yourself, or your school, any favors by your replies. Prospective families are using CC as a resource and perhaps this is your real intent, but Exeter doesn’t come across well with you as a student representative.</p>