<p>2013 applicants - I expect you’ve all heard this before, but it bears repeating yet again:</p>
<ul>
<li>it is extremely difficult to gain acceptance to the the most selective prep schools. Any school with an admit rate in the 14% to 25% range is a long shot for even the very best candidate. Thacher had a 14% admit rate last year, so for every 100 kids who applied, 86 were not admitted. Look up the admission stats for the schools mentioned so often here, using whatever acronym you favor: HADES, CHADES, GLADCHEMMS, etc. The odds are NOT in your favor to be admitted to any one of these schools.</li>
</ul>
<p>-I would guess that the vast majority of kids applying to these schools (my guess - more than 80%) have “what it takes” to be admitted. Yes, a few kids with less-than-stellar stats apply, chasing the dream, and probably don’t have much of a chance at all. But MOST kids applying would be great candidates. If you’ve always been in the top 10% of your local school, you have to remember that your competition to gain admittance to these schools is a completely different proposition. You are now competing against the very best-of-the-best from your state, your region, the entire US, the entire world. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>some people use the term “go big or go home.” If you have a good local school option, I think this is a reasonable approach, but be forewarned: so very many students last admissions cycle were disappointed after decisions came out March 10. Many, many kids with fantastic stats (super-high test scores and grades, great ECs, most likely very good essays, interviews and teacher recs) were waitlisted or denied at every school they applied to, as they only applied to super-selective schools. It takes a huge amount of time and commitment (and money - those school visits are not cheap, especially if you have to travel far) to go through the application process. Will you be OK if you don’t end up with any choices at the end of the process?</p></li>
<li><p>there are literally hundreds of boarding schools in the US, and only a very small handful of them are ever discussed on this board. The “Hidden Gems” thread is a great place to start to discover schools that might be just the right school for YOU. Do your own research - comb through BoardingSchoolReview, scour school websites, call the schools and request information. Yes, the schools most often discussed on this forum are truly great schools - but there are other truly great schools out there, too, with much higher admit rates.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>For anyone who thinks that the parent posters are just big downers who are raining on your dreams —*rest assured that quite the opposite is true. I really want every kid to get at least one fat envelope on March 10th, and I’m confident that many other parents share this sentiment. Our advice is well intentioned…and for the most part, based on our own experiences guiding our own children through the process (some more than once).</p>
<p>What about things that help to make an applicant’s chances better (to a selective school in the 15-30% range, say, but still applies to others)?<br>
Geographically (and in other ways), you should help the school’s diversity goals. A hook, or other compelling facets which help you to be memorable, or speaks to a school’s own culture. Grades that show drive. SSATs I think are probably more flexible than many admit; the numbers are medians and averages, after all, and lots of 93+ will mask all those in the 60s and 70s. (Clearly, 80+ supports your grades more consistently.) Day students are in a different applicant pool than boarders, and whether it is less competitive or not depends on the school. In either case, I believe that almost all schools have 55-70% of students as full pay, so despite impressions, your odds improve if your family has income and/or assets to help the school meet its huge bills (often 10-30k more than tuition to educate each student). If you need aid, a mix of schools with differing competitiveness for these funds makes even more sense.</p>
<p>Do you think you guys could maybe check out my HADES chances post and tell me if those schools would be reasonable to apply to given the basic info I have on there? I would really appreciate it , and maybe you could also recommend some schools that I should apply to if you don’t think I have a good chance for HADES. </p>
<p>P.S. I need schools that give out generous financial aid.</p>
<p>@ExeterIsAwesome: I don’t really believe in “chancing” (either posting threads or giving opinions on likelihood of admission). I can count the times I’ve commented on a “Chance Me” thread on one or maybe two hands (over the course of 2 years), and the majority of my commentary is of the sort mountain hiker noted above or “you should really think twice about how much info you have provided…you’ve made it easy for AOs to identify you”.</p>
<p>Since financial aid is important to you, here’s something to think about. For starters, I’m pretty sure Andover and St. Andrew’s (DE) are the only co-ed schools of any significant size/scope that explicitly state that they are need blind/will meet need (which translates roughly to “if you can get in, we’ll find a way to make it happen”). I’ve heard that Exeter is very generous as well, and can report from personal experience that St. Paul can also be very generous.</p>
<p>That said, at Andover, Exeter, and St. Paul’s, you are competing in an extremely large, and for the most part, well qualified pool. St. Andrew’s app pool is quite a bit smaller than the pools of those schools, but from what I understand growing in size and strength. My point here is that it pays to do some research and not just go with the “big name” schools…when a school that perhaps is not as “famous” might be able to offer you a similar education, similar college prospects, and similar/more aid.</p>
<p>It also makes real sense to consider schools where you might be a bigger fish in the app pool than at A, E, & SPS (and Choate, Deerfield, and Hotchkiss, etc.) You may be more wanted at a schools that isn’t one of the household names…which makes you a better candidate for grants/aid. At least that’s what I feel to be true and how I’d advise my own children.</p>
<p>Two school that are “below the radar” (though just barely)…that I’d look at are Loomis Chaffee and Taft.</p>
<p>ExeterIsAwesome - and any other 2013 applicants:</p>
<p>My philosophy is that you - along with your parents - need to take the lead in coming up with a list of schools to apply to. This is too important a decision to ask strangers on the internet to give you suggestions and advice. I believe that the place to start is NOT with the schools, but with YOU, and what you might need or desire for your high school education. Sit down and answer some basic questions about yourself; get your parents’ input too:
what are your SSAT scores?
what have your grades been for the last few years?
what are your academic areas of interest - either interests you’ve already developed, or areas of interest you’d like to pursue in high school?
what are your extra-curricular interests - either sports/activities you’re already participating in, or that you’d like to pursue in high school?
do you have a preference for single-sex or coed education?
do you have a preference for school size (small: under 300, medium: 300-500, large: 500-800, very large: over 800?)
do you have a geographic requirement (day student, within a few hours drive of your home, close to a major airport, within a certain region of the country)?
does it matter to you what percentage of students at the school are day versus boarding?
does it matter to you if the school has PGs?
do you require full or partial financial aid? how much of the cost of school can your family contribute?
do you want a school that is “formal” or “informal” in the dress code and its overall “personality”</p>
<p>This is in no way a complete list - I expect you can think of other things that might matter to you. But I believe this is the place to start. Once you have a rough idea of what is important to you, then you can start looking at schools, and trying to determine what schools might meet the needs/wants you’ve outlined. You can pull up basic stats from BoardingSchoolReview, and then dig deeper by looking on the school websites, researching here on CC, and asking the schools for view books and other information.</p>
<p>If you feel you are just not up to the task, hiring an educational consultant can be one approach to get some “professional” help in your search for schools that might be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>But I can’t stress enough that this is YOUR life - no one else’s - and you need to take ownership of the process of choosing what schools you might want to apply to.</p>
<p>How critical is it to you to gain acceptance to at least one school in the coming admissions cycle (2012-2013)?
do you have a good local option for high school if you don’t receive any acceptances?
(In my experience, a waitlist can be pretty much a “soft-deny.” The odds of coming off a waitlist can be very, very small.)
would it be realistic for you to apply again in 2013-2014 if things don’t work out this cycle?</p>
<p>The numbers provided might give you a better sense of how the pool of applicants can be further divided into subsets. Your own analysis of the numbers can help you to be more informed, especially when comparing one school to another. However, there is never enough information to make the admissions process “predictable”, or to get a really reliable “chance”.</p>
<p>mountainhiker and Charger78 have given all future applicants some amazing advice here…stuff you’d pay a consultant or at the very least read a book to find out.<br>
Heed their words.</p>
<p>I would also like to add to the parents’ comments - It’s heartbreaking to be admitted to a school you like and then find out that the aid they are providing is not enough for your family to make it happen. In rare cases there may be another school where you meet some sort of criteria where they want you enough to give you more. Generally though, if two schools both gave you aid that wasn’t enough, that should be an indication that most schools will feel the same. Take a very close look at your family’s finances (or rather have your parents do that) and see where there is a disconnect. </p>
<p>You will find that for the most part those parents that put private education above every other need in their lives are the ones that are being given aid that works. Why? Because in their case they are forgoing many unnecessary (from the school’s point of view) expenses and giving a larger percentage of their income to education. If a family says - well we want to contribute X because we need Y and Z to buy a new car or go on vacation, or just set aside for retirement, a school is liable to say that YZ is disposable income that should be used on school.</p>
<p>I strongly agree with everything these great parents have to say. I only applied to one school, but I will be attending Hotchkiss in a few months and do have experience with the whole admissions cycle. Like Aubrey said, feel free to PM me about any questions you may have. </p>
<p>Remember though guys, going to boarding school should not be about going to a place with a big name. It should be about going to a place where you can have fun, grow as an individual, and prepare yourself for life. Sure, college matriculation stats may look impressive. But the point of high school is to help you shape into a responsible, interesting, educated young adult. Follow your own dreams, not anybody else’s. Where I’m from, applying to boarding school was considered crazy. But now that my friends have learned more about where I’m spending the next 4 years of my life, they are insanely jealous. </p>
<p>The point of this is, have fun and apply to places where you will be exposed to amazing opportunities in things you are passionate about, not places where the only reason you are interested is because they have a cool acronym. I guess I sound hypocritical, as I’m going to a HADES school in a month and a half, but really, the main reason I applied was because they have a team in my favorite sport.</p>
<p>tl;dr: enjoy yourself. don’t apply just for prestige. PM me if you have questions. (:</p>
<p>I’m applying for the fall of 2013 and this my first year of going through this process. So any tips? I’m applying for Deerfield, Andover and Worcester academy. But I REALLY WANT to get in to Deerfield or Andover</p>
<p>Hey, guys. I was recently admitted to a HADES & will be attending this up oming September. If anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Hey, everyone. I was also recently admitted to a HADES school, receiving financial aid, as an ORM, so it is possible! Copying @bksvet310 here, but feel free to pm me :)</p>
<p>Looking back, I realize that my last comment could have come across the wrong way, and that was not my intention at all. I meant that I understand how difficult it can be in that situation, and I am willing to answer any questions for other people in similar situations.</p>
<p>I was admitted to a HADES in 2011 so feel free to PM me about any questions you may have about the first year and all. I’ll try my best to help XD</p>
<p>I wasn’t admitted to one of the 5 school everyone obsesses over on this board. (I only applied to one anyway.) I wasn’t admitted, and neither were 86% or so of the applicants. Some of you will have the same story this year.You can be qualified and not get in. That goes double for financial aid seekers. Have a plan. Have a backup plan too.</p>
<p>good luck to all, and remember that luck is part of the process.</p>
<p>ill be a junior at a hades this upcoming september.
@prepgrad2017</p>
<p>Math - 800
Verbal - 800
Reading Comprehension - 763
Total (just for your convenience) - 2363</p>
<p>remember - in case you are worrying about your scores or might, its definitely not everything. of course importance of your scores may come down to race, or other things like that, and of course a higher ssat does give you a slight advantage, but keep in mind that the ssat is only part of the whole. i am very familiar with the admissions process, so let me know if you have any questions.</p>