<p>I've heard various reports of students getting turned down (or deferred) ED because they come from a prestigious academy (namely exeter, andover, maybe st. pauls), but were otherwise competitive applicants with the right scores, grades, ECs, etc. </p>
<p>Has anyone else heard this? Is it true? Are colleges now looking for the kids who haven't had the opportunity to attend an elite school?</p>
<p>Overall: will attending a prestigious prep school hurt my college admissions to an ivy?</p>
<p>It’s not going to hurt your chances. Those of us who aren’t as lucky as you are the ones who need to be worried. Just don’t expect your school name to get you in. That’s all.</p>
<p>The top prep schools used to just call HYP and tell them who would be attending that year. No discussion involved. Things have changed a lot.</p>
<p>There’s a big push among the Ivies to recruit underprivileged students, and prep school kids are easy to mark as rich, whether it’s true or not. Overall I just think the competition has gotten a lot hotter, and that prep school students are finally facing the arbitrariness that other applicants have been facing for decades.</p>
<p>It’s complex. An elite prep is a microcosm of an ivy, so you already have a group that almost all qualify for top colleges. Then you have tons of top college legacies, top URMs, recruited athletes, development candidates and kids of the powerful. And all of these kids want the same 12 schools.</p>
<p>Add in that the top colleges simply don’t want as many from these schools as they did in the past. With more internationals, more low income and first gen and all the other things they want, they can’t take half the class from top preps.</p>
<p>So yes, while in general attending an elite prep school will prepare you for any college and most will jump at the chance of having such students, the unhooked are at a disadvantage at the very top colleges–they would have more likely gotten into HYPS from their local high school.</p>
<p>If you’re unhooked and you’re attending a top prep school, it will make your chances of getting into HYP essentially 0 unless you’re one of those rare few astronomically qualified candidates. On the other hand, it is a tremendous advantage for applying to schools ranked in the teens and lower.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I was expecting to hear that HYPS will accept fewer (esp unhooked) candidates from the preps. But what about the other Ivies… Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth?</p>
<p>I’d expect the situation to be somewhat similar to that of HYPS… but maybe to a lesser extent regarding unhooked candidates?</p>
<p>I think students at elite prep schools still have more chance because they would get more rigor education and more ECs opportunities. Here are same examples of top prep schools whose students were admitted to top colleges (percentage of admited to Ivies + Stanford + MIT to total number of students):</p>
<ul>
<li>St. Paul’s – 34%</li>
<li>Deerfield – 32%</li>
<li>Milton – 32%</li>
<li>Andover – 29%</li>
<li>Exeter – 29%</li>
</ul>
<p>For most public schools < 1%</p>
<p>Of course things have changed. This should be obvious to everyone.</p>
<p>This is a ridiculous thread. Going to a prep school is an amazing privilege that you have been blessed with! Seriously! Relax! Your school is going to have prepared you so well for college that you will be able to get into a great school that you love.</p>
<p>^ no. as hmom has pointed out, it’s a complicated issue with a big set of pros and a big set of cons.</p>
<p>If one comes from a wealthy family, there are no drawbacks to attending an elite prep school.</p>
<p>Absolutely agreed with ChoklitRain and monstor344. There are definitely pros and cons and in some cases it can hurt your chances.</p>
<p>Are they as elite? No.</p>
<p>Are they still elite? Yes.</p>
<p>Just look at the stats. Clearly, these prep schools produce more Ivy-and-the-like-bound kids than almost any other school. It’s because these schools know how to play the game–they have college counselors and connections up the wazoo–and because they tailor their education to match what the Ivys (and the like) are looking for. You can hardly blame these colleges for wanting kids who are used to thinking hard, doing their work (and let’s be honest, the work at these schools is a lot closer to college prep than what most public schools offer. Yes, I go to public school), and being involved in their community, not to mention that the vast majority of prep schoolers can pay full freight. </p>
<p>However, recently the Ivies (and the like) have been pushing for more diversity. Going to Exeter doesn’t have quite the weight it once did; or, to be more specific, it has the same weight/level of impressiveness, but elite colleges now accept fewer kids from these schools.</p>
<p>From what I see at Yale, it’s still pretty strong. </p>
<p>Andover kid 1: Hi!
Andover kid 2: Hi! Did you see Andover kid 3 at lunch?
Andover kid 1: Yeah. </p>
<p>And that’s just my residential college.</p>
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<p>What these schools have up the wazoo is ivy legacies, recruitable athletes, some of the top URMs in the Country, the children of the new rich and children of the powerful and connected. Oh yes, and they are almost all very smart. </p>
<p>The gene pools, athletic prowess and uber connections arrive at these schools with the student. No doubt the schools add a wonderful educational dimension to these students, but they were already superstars.</p>
<p>^^Most of these schools have well over 40% of their students on financial aid (most of that is full packages at the top tier schools), so please don’t think that they are all entitled rich kids. There is a lot of diversity at these schools and the work load is like nothing you will find at many public schools. I have kids who attended both. The non-honors courses at the private school are more rigorous than the AP’s at our public which is in an affluent, well-educated area, by the way. It has always been considered one of the best high schools in our state. I think the reason that you see more kids going top top schools from the preps is that this is the intention of the kids who go to these schools; they love to learn and want to succeed and achieve and are given all of the tools to do that in the prep school environment. There is always a small pool of kids just like this at the public schools; at prep schools there are just more of them all concentrated in one school…and there is likewise a higher concentration of well-qualified instructors who really want to be there. True, there are legacies, URM’s, athletes (although I think you will find just as many top athletes in publics because, honestly, prep school is not helpful in the case of sports like baseball, soccer, gymnastics…it makes it more difficult/impossible to devote the time needed to club sports which is what dictates collegiate and professional success in these sports), but I still believe that the main reason for more prep school kids making it to the Ivies and top LAC’s is just that it is a large pool of the top students all in one place with all of the support systems and tools in place.</p>
<p>An example: our public school is having a college fair this week. There are one or two okay schools on the list; nice lac’s…not top of the line. The majority of the schools are the state schools and technical schools. Son’s bs (an hour away) had their college fair yesterday…schools were there from all over the country including many of the top LAC’s and Ivies as well as many other schools from all areas (art institutes, state schools, etc.). </p>
<p>Another example: a very good friend of my son’s is an excellent baseball player and student. He has a 3.9 gpa and is ranked 9th in his class (our public school inflates grades and weights everything, so I don’t know if this is weighted or unweighted). I feel like this boy has been done a great disservice…we were just speaking with him and he tells us he is taking BC Calc and pre-engineering this semester…that’s it!!! He’s taking the other two blocks off because, “I’ve already met all my requirements, so there’s no need to kill myself my senior year” I asked both him and his mom if guidance or anyone had encouraged him to do more and they said, no that was the advice they give to seniors. Lovely, right? This boy has decided to only apply to one school…our state uni (which is an excellent school, but defintely a safety for this boy). His reasoning…why do anything other than the sure thing. I asked him if guidance had let him know about any DIII LAC’s where he could continue baseball; had he ever heard of the nescac schools. No and no again. The school really seems to instill a “just do enough to get by” attitude in the students at this school. </p>
<p>I feel like my son’s chances of attending a solid school (not necessarily Ivy) are increased by his attendance at his bs.</p>
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<p>While many of the top prep schools are quite diverse, the above figure is just not true.</p>
<p>I believe yes for many of the top 20-30 schools. I have had two children attend these schools on pretty much full grants and I am going by the posted stats (as well as just knowing first hand so many regular middle-class folks like myself whose children are attending on large grants).</p>
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<p>Andover: 42% financial aid, 12% full scholarships
Exeter: nearly 50%</p>
<p>based on the info from their websites.</p>
<p>Yes…and my sons’ school (from their website):</p>
<p>NMH (Northfield Mount Hermon): over 40% on aid; average award for 2009 $31,800</p>
<p>Deerfield and St. Paul’s are usually also 40%+, but have had a decrease this year because of endowment losses and offered aid to 35%. (25% full scholarships at St. Paul’s).</p>
<p>I believe Andover continue to be need-blind as well.</p>