How hard is it to get admitted into the 11th grade at schools like Deerfield, SMS, SPS, Hun, etc.?
Does being an international student decrease my chances?
It will vary from school to school. Most do not have lots of 11 grade slots and even fewer have FA if it’s needed.
Junior year is often the most difficult at BS, so they will really want to know you can succeed.
Being international may make a difference, or it may not. It really depends on how many spots there are and what would serve the school best.
I know our school had dedicated spots for international students in 11th, usually from the same countries so possibly through a formal exchange.
Thank you for your response! @gardenstategal
Being an international decreases your chances regardless of the grade.
Ouch. That sucks honestly.
Perhaps, but it should come as a surprise to nobody that American schools (particularly the highly selective ones) give preference to American students. For less selective schools, admissions for international applicants, particularly ones that are full-pay, is much easier.
@skieurope I politely disagree with your statement, we’ve talked to many AO at many of the top schools search for diversity and want kids from different states and different countries. You may be right in the fact there are fewer spots for students let’s say from Canada but there are fewer applicants from Canada. At SPS, Deerfield, and Choate they do a ceremony where students walk around with the flags of their country (great video from Deerfield on this). I agree with you that there are more spots for American students, but sometimes it is better to compete with 25 people for 4 spots than to compete with 1500 students for 100 spots.
I figured it might actually be easier if you are from a very underrepresented (or non-represented) country. I myself, however, is from a very represented country so I’m competing for like 5 spots with hundreds of applicants.
What @ReluctantDad and @sparkatzz are saying actually makes sense. That is how I’ve looked at it for as long as I can remember. But the way that @skieurope put it makes it seem like I could have amazing stats (not saying that I do) and still not stand a chance at these schools. Although I do understand that the schools may give preference to American citizens…
@ReluctantDad I’m not denying that schools want diversity. They can fill their classes solely with people from MA if they wanted. But they don’t. My point though, is if 1500 domestic students are competing for 100 spots, there are 400 international applicants competing for 10 spots, as an example. No BS, AFAIK, releases acceptance data for intl vs domestic, but some selective colleges do share that data; at that level, the international acceptance rate is about half the US rate. There’s no reason to think it’s different for boarding schools. At the most selective level, the percentage of international students is more-or-less fixed. Call it a cap if you will. So that denominator (acceptances) will not change regardless of how large the numerator (applications) becomes.
Not necessarily. I doubt any school will accept a less-than-qualified applicant from Ghana just to say they have a student from Ghana. And they won’t simply disregard the second applicant from Ghana in order to accept an applicant from Togo.
I’m not saying that. Nobody here can judge anyone’s chances with accuracy. I’m simply pointing out that it will be more difficult to get accepted. But I wish you luck.
I agree with @skieurope. Ultimately, those top schools have THOUSANDS of applicants and while they are in search of diversity, that does not mean sacrificing the number of spots for students in different parts of the US. For example, Andover’s student body is “11.5 percent international” and from what I was told by an AO, they try to stick close to this percentage of international students regardless of the number of applicants. While being from a country like Azerbaijan (Underrepresented geographically) for example, will be more helpful than being from China (overrepresented geographically), schools will still only accept students if they are actually qualified.
TO THE OP: when it comes to applying to 11th grade, your chances will be much higher at schools that are large (Andover and Exeter). I was told at an Exeter information session that they accept roughly 30 new 11th graders. Your chances would honestly be MUCH better if you considered repeating 10th grade (assuming you are in 9th grade now and plan on applying next year). Repeating is EXTREMELY common and not only gives you more time to find your passion and use the resources at the boarding school you attend, but it also gives you more time to prepare for college as you will not be jumping into the college admissions process the moment you get there, which is what you would have to do if you attend in 11th grade.
I appreciate that @skieurope Thank you!
There are a finite number of families in the United States who can afford boarding school tuitions. And not all of them have kids with top credentials. Therefore, in order for boarding schools to stay afloat financially and maintain high academic standards, they have to admit full-pay international students. It isn’t JUST about diversity.
A school on solid financial footing will have a smaller percentage of international students and these students will be quite diverse and drawn from a wide range of countries. A school on less solid financial footing may have to admit a larger percentage of international students and it is quite probable that a majority of these might be from China.
There are so many outstanding Chinese students whose parents can afford tuition, it is much harder for them to be accepted by top schools who want to make sure there is diversity within their international student population.
^I agree with much of the above, particularly as to excellent, full-pay students from China who face tough competition, but there are schools on strong financial footing who want to create a truly global community and use FA to do it, especially from countries that are not represented at many BS.
My son went to such a school.
@gardenstategal I think we are in agreement here. Schools on solid financial footing want to make sure their international populations are diverse and drawn from a wide range of countries. Schools with less solid finances end up with a large percentage of FP students from China.
I’m pleased to hear George is generous with FA for international students. What percentage of students are international kids with financial aid? Is the percentage of international kids on FA the same as the percentage of students on FA overall?
The percentages which are public are not broken down that way. But I personally know at least 5 kids who current students are international with full FA, and since I don’t know everyone (by any stretch of the imagination ), I have to imagine there are more.
I also doubt it is less than half, just based on my son’s friends when he was there. (Half the students at George get some FA).
^^meant I also suspect that more than half the international students are FP.
I recall someone explaining that there can be real challenges for students who come to the US for high school when it comes time to apply for college. If they need FA, the spots are really limited yet in some countries, having studied in the states may also have taken them out of the funnel for uni in their own country.
I don’t think any school wants to be responsible for putting a student in this kind of a pickle.