<p>1) If “Feeder” means: “a particular boarding school provides a halo effect in the college admission process, beyond what is justified by individual merit”, then I believe ^the point is false (albeit possibly true in a former era.)</p>
<p>2) If “Feeder” simply means: a relatively higher percentage of students from a certain boarding school tend to go to a certain HYPSMWA school, then the point may well be correct, but not at all surprising nor unfair.</p>
<p>Often when people use the term Feeder, definition #1 is implied.</p>
<p>St Paul’s sends more students to HYPSMWA than anyone. Is it because they attract and develop terrific students; or is it because the students are getting admissions they don’t quite deserve? I say it is not the latter.</p>
<p>Agreed. And the “high percentage” (mid 20s or so to SM + IVY) is certainly not like the first definition of feeder. In previous eras, or so I hear, the rector could call up the director of admissions and send kids to whichever college. Now, well, the system is slightly more meritorious than that.</p>
<p>SWHarborfan, I’d love to see the exact WSJ article you think you’re citing. The most recent WSJ article I can find online gives almost the opposite impression.</p>
<p>The linked chart has many private schools, but few public schools.[WSJ.com[/url</a>] Those public schools which make the list, with the exception of Princeton High School, seem to be exam schools, which are fine schools, but not open-enrollment public schools.</p>
<p>11% of US k-12 students attend private schools (including parochial schools.) Private schools students as a whole do very well in selective college admissions.</p>
<p>I know that around 60 years ago my alma mater sent all of its students to either Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. The yearbooks from that time period showed where the senior was planning on attending college and it was always one of those three.</p>
<p>However, today at any boarding school you are NOT going to see every student attending a HYPSM school. Even the schools that send a high percentage of students to a HYPSM school (such as SPS) do not have every student attending one. </p>
<p>This is because things have changed and these schools want to diversify their student bodies.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned HYP and other top colleges having conference calls with guidance offices at Andover/Exeter. But actually, they have conferences like that with all schools, public or private, that have many applicants. They will also call the guidance office of a school they don’t know well, or have never had an applicant from; or sometimes just to ask a question about that particular kid. </p>
<p>So while someone from Andover or Exeter or whichever school it was proudly mentioned these conference calls to a group of parents, what he or she may or may not know is that these calls are not only for private schools, and are actually pretty common.</p>
<p>Newyorker22- actually, you’re right in that it was not at Exeter or Andover, although one of my older children did attend one of those schools and I believe that they have similar conversations. I’m not sure where you heard the tone “proudly”, as this was a factual statement that reported what was said by the the HYP director, not the parents or staff at the boarding school. In my experience, the academic bar is set higher for prep school kids, but quite a few of them do manage to attend. My own kids have no interest “I already go to HYP for high school, why would I want to have that same experience again?” While they loved/love their time at bs, when the time comes for college they wanted/want to go far away and have a whole different experience. By the way…are you primarily a prep school, or college consultant?</p>
<p>newyorker22: as an education consultant, do you agree my earlier assessment, which is there is no “special relationships” between major prep schools and top colleges (i.e. HYP and the like) which an individual can count on or take big advantage of. Even with the hooked, as a hook is a hook anywhere you are. It is not becoming a bigger hook when you go to a prep school. Another question for you is that based on your experience, are there many students/parents that are still trying to get into a prep school hoping to get a better chance for a top college in four years?</p>
<p>Regarding feeder schools to ivys, several year ago the IRS threaten to end Yale’s tax exempt status because it was admitting too many affluent, priviledged kids and not giving enough scholarships to middle class students from public schools who had been admitted but could not afford to go. This given that Yale is an extremely wealthy institution of learning. In other words, the kids from public school where just as qualified to go (and in most cases more qualified) but private school kids were shown a unfair bias. (think the Bush twins- the party girls of New Haven) The IRS noted that Yale was not following the tax exempt provision that it be a benefit to the community including making the University available to students. Yale now has a host of initiatives making a Yale education more accessable to more students. All the other ivys have followed suit so true “feeder schools” do not exist anymore. There are many more kids that go to Ivy’s from public schools then from private and, some would say, that in the past 10 years, attending a private school makes it less likely that you will be admitted to an Ivy.</p>
<p>As the class of 2015 is comprised of only 53% public school graduates, I’d be interested to read an article about the IRS’s threat.</p>
<p>As far as I know, Harvard led the way in generous tuition cuts, determined by family income. The Senate was at the time investigating the size of college endowments. And then the Crash happened.</p>
<p>The most prestigious boarding schools are now much more selective than they were decades ago, too, so a high percentage of their graduating classes are probably qualified to attend Ivy League colleges, yet lower percentages than ever are getting in. My father was on academic probation for most of his time at Andover, in the 1930s, and yet he easily got into Harvard as a 16-year-old. Harvard accepted two-thirds of its applicants in 1950, and 90% of legacy applicants. That was a very different world, and so the “feeder” myths are pretty meaningless now. The boarding school population is probably more accomplished, overall, now, but the competition is intense and global. a truly exceptional kid will excel anywhere, and admission to “HADES” won’t guarantee college admissions.</p>