Data? Sources?
Found the source for Exeter. An impressive 52 percent come from public schools. But only 8 percent of the students are Hispanic (17-18 percent of the US population identifies as Latino or Hispanic).
https://www.exeter.edu/sites/default/files/documents/facts.pdf
@CaliMex 8% is far more than, for example, the hispanic enrollment at many of the renowned top public test in schools. I think it is dangerous to infer there is a problem with admissions simply because the number of enrolled students doesn’t “match” the percent of the population they represent. Could not one argue that white students are under represented?
Our local test-in academic magnet school is 10-11 percent Hispanic… agreed that we are greatly under-represented. And yet, we know Latino kids with strong SSAT scores who have been rejected from elite boarding schools…
Also, who knows how many HIspanic are applying? Perhaps the acceptance rate for this group is actually higher.
Plenty of whites are also rejected from elite boarding schools.
To go back to the question originally posed, it doesn’t seem to me that admissions are a complete crap-shoot, though there is necessarily some degree of randomness to the process by virtue of the subjective and other non-empirical measures that go into the determination. In some ways the candidates are like buffet items, and the schools are like buffet customers. Each school wants to make a perfect plate, but what constitutes a perfect plate varies from customer to customer, and while some items are generally more coveted by customers, different customers have different appetites, and few are looking for a full plate of just one item. From the perspective of the buffet item, let’s say salad, whether it gets picked by a particular customer probably seems random because the salad has no idea how many other salads are in the buffet, how much salad a particular customer wants, how well those other salads are presented, what other ingredients are in other salads that a customer may want, or what other items seem particularly appealing. But that the doesn’t mean that the customers’ decisions are random. They all want a great meal.
Anyway, just a bit of fun…
You’ve made me hungry!
"8% is far more than, for example, the hispanic enrollment at many of the renowned top public test in schools. "
@Center is right. No use sugar coating it. If you see a number that is higher than 3 or 4% for Hispanics, or 1 or 2% for blacks, you’re not looking at a true “test in” school. At least not a top one. And I say that with some empathy because my DC is Hispanic.
Most schools - like Lowell in SF or any of the science academies in the South - have long ago caved in to lowering academic standards in order to increase diversity. (They generally look at things like grades, year end Common Core test scores, or recommendations, or they make allowances for “underserved” elementary schools, take the top x% from each middle school or a grouping of middle schools, etc.) I am only aware of a few schools that retain true “test in” status: the NYC specialized high schools.
At these schools you are going to see large swings in demographics, especially in the very “top” ones that are most desired. Forty years ago, they were 40-50% Jewish, today they are 75% Asian. I hope 40 years from now they are 40-50% Hispanic and Black. One thing I know, no one ever doubts that any kid who is there got in on any measure other than his intelligence and drive. BTW, for all the talk about SES and opportunity, it’s a bunch of baloney. Those schools were, are, and probably always will be, home to predominately working class kids. Parents who can afford to pay NYC private school tuition or bs tuition get their kids out - they either don’t want or can’t take the competition.
Here’s the latest screed attacking them, and you can search the NYT archives and you’ll find similar attacks like clockwork literally over the past 40 years at least:
You have to consider regional demographics, too. In SF, less than a third of the kids are White. (You’d never know it from looking at private school rosters, but that is due to economic factors).
^ Same thing in NYC. Asians - at least East Asians - are a small minority, less than 10%, NYC is 70% Latino and Black by school age population. Even 40 years ago, whites were a minority in NYC (school age).
I guess the bottom line is, if you don’t have a ‘hook’, you’re going to have a lot of trouble beating the odds of admissions crapshoot.
Does anyone have a Magic 8 ball ? :-S I think most of us here on CC are “unhooked” but not yet unhinged- hang in there and believe…ok I admit that it takes some Oscar-quality acting sometimes to stay positive.
Obviously - It’s more difficult to get into BS these days than the graduate school attended by that AO >:) who wrote the dissertation.
I think kids who can fill a couple of roles ( athlete, musician/art/theatre, academic spike in some area, some club interest ( debate, newspaper, etc) will do the best. My kid seemed to get the best feedback about doing many things although s/he has a definite spike too ( which at this point I am strangely thankful for). I do think legacy has impact as does URM but they must have other things as well. Schools need to pay their bills, get kids into best colleges (high test scorers), play games ( athletes) and be interesting ( the social community kids). Therefore a kid who dips into a couple of pools can round out the class quicker.