Greetings all,
Just returned from BS revisit days and was very surprised to find out how many schools overenroll… every year. At Exeter, many freshman DS met were living in ‘emergency doubles’ ie: singles turned into doubles. Cramped, miserable spaces with hardly any room to turn around. Apparently, it is typical and happens every year. I’m curious to know if those of you who have kiddos in BS have encountered this. I’m also curious to know if anyone here knows the stats of overenrollment? Is it 20%? Or 5%? I’d love to know what we are getting him into. TIA!
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Definitely not every BS overenrolls. some under enroll.
Normally doesn’t happen. Exeter’s entering 9th grade class is always 200 (give or take like 5). Last cycle, it was 221. So they had one year of over enrollment, and I’m sure they took action to make sure it doesn’t happen again this year (more waitlisted and less admitted students, etc)
I would think the schools would have a strategy on whether they are looking to grow, stay the same size or decrease their size which is driven by many factors in the long term vision for the school.
Based on this, it is the admissions office to manage this appropriately. I think COVID may have thrown off their predictions on yield so they may still be adjusting.
In general, if their goal is maintain at a certain size, if they over-enroll one year, they will adjust and extend fewer offers the next year to maintain the overall size of the school. If they want to grow, I would look to see if there are plans for additional permanent housing - if so, there may be a “painful” year or two where dorms are less than ideal in terms of space…but that should be temporary.
Long term this type of overcrowding does not serve a school well as they will not be offering the experience that students/families expect which will have an impact on reputation, future applications etc.
It is my understanding this is not the case at Exeter… it is par for the course. My info may be anecdotal, but I’ve talked to kids from the past 8 years (at least a dozen families) who attended Exeter, and there were ALWAYS emergency doubles… to the tune of 20-30. I know at Lawrenceville they have room for 224 ish and accepted 390 (those numbers were announced from the stage by the head of admissions). How is it possible NOT to overenroll? Had I known this was a thing I would have asked that question during our visit.
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DD lived in an “emergency double” for a year so I know how small it is. It’s still functional and you get used to it. On the other hand, there are large singles although with undesirable features.
Exeter just finished a new dorm and is renovating the old ones, so hopefully things will get better soon.
Someone shared a picture of a single dorm at Yale when a few parents were talking about the small rooms. We stopped complaining after seeing the picture.
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I would call Leahy and ask him about it.
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Overenrollment is always possible, and yes, it happens. But…
Schools are pretty good at predicting yield. They know they won’t get everyone who has an offer. And yes, there are glitches. If a school that’s a "comparable " has a sex scandal in March, for example, many students who might normally have chosen that may suddenly flood the scandal-less alternative. Alternatively, policy could spook foreign students who might worry about getting visas. There is always something unknowable.
Of the 390, some offers are for day students. Overenrolling there has less dire consequences.
Many parents think that doubles have been turning into triples or singles into doubles when in fact they had always been triples or doubles. (Actually, DH was ranting about DS’ room freshman year at college only to find out that 40 years before, his brother had lived in the room directly above it – with the same number of boys sharing the space.) I wonder if everyone has just become accustomed to more space in larger rooms, especially among the demographic that applies to BS.
If a class is out of whack, it is often corrected over more than one year to ensure that the lopsidedness doesn’t continue. Schools graduate kids and have attrition too, so it’s hard as an outsider to do the numbers.
Bottom line, I would not assume this is going to go badly but it’s good you are aware this happens.
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Schools dont want to overenroll. I know Hotchkiss is always struggling to hold to the 600 student target size of the school with varying degrees of success.
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From the Hotchkiss magazine we just received, referring to fall of 2022:
“The School opened with 601 students, 16 higher than the target of 585 because of an increase in the yield up to 64% (up from 46% five years ago). With the Memorial (dorm) renovation now underway and a higher initial number of students, dormitory space is tight. Common rooms that had been converted into student space during COVID ‘de-densifying’ remain in use this year.”
I have no idea what their admit rate was this cycle, or if they have overenrolled again… seems like a big change in yield in just 5 years.
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Sometimes this happens because a school rises in popularity, and that’s how it’s presented outside the admissions office. But often, admissions has a lot to do with this too. They offer more enticing FA packages to students in demographics they want to yield, they create an “xyz scholars” program to entice another demographic, they get a little slicker at admitting for fit, etc. And as they improve yield, they need to admit fewer students for the seats they have to fill, making the school a bit more selective as well. It makes for a great story to the community!
Almost every BS and college has had a year when they were surprised at how popular they were, but mostly, yield is pretty well managed. They are pretty good at putting odds on each admitted students probability of saying yes.
Of course, this is where those WL come into play – especially for the schools that really can’t go too far over their target class size. Perfect way to bring up the number at the end to just where it needs to be.
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All true!
However in Hotchkiss’ case, they were coming off a rocky few years, with flawed Heads of School that had a negative effect on the institution. Craig Bradley, the current Head, not only has steadied the ship, he’s brought the school to new heights, which is reflected in the Admissions statistics, or so I believe.
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Makes sense, @cinnamon1212 – and not fer nothin’, a school (and HOS) that is making those kinds of improvements may also want admissions to up their game as well. So the two often go hand in hand.
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@DrPrimo I hope that the revisits and decision-making process are going well!
DS revisited Hotchkiss last week, and in his final address, the Head of school, Mr Bradley gave a thoughtful speech about how the kids had been carefully selected, acknowledging that they had received other offers and encouraging them to choose Hotchkiss etc … and jokingly quipped that they would figure out where to put everyone! 
Joking aside, as @gardenstategal suggested, I have the impression that Admissions are at the top of their game too. DS has been on the receiving end of a charm offensive from Hotchkiss since 10 March (with conspicuously more wooing than the other 4 schools he was accepted to).
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Yes, hiring Erby Mitchell was one of the first things Craig Bradley did. Erby replaced two particularly bad predecessors. Part of Mr. Bradley “righting the ship” as I mentioned.
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Honestly, room size shouldn’t be the focus, or even a focus when choosing school. Kids get used to the space. I haven’t heard anyone not sleeping well because of the size. Roommate is the key.
Compared with food, I don’t think room matters much. Kids usually move into better rooms in a year, but dining doesn’t change for the entire 4 years.
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How’s the food at Exeter? My DS is an eating machine.
It really depends on the person. DD eats a lot and goes out once a week with friends on average. She said the food is fine but sometimes the taste can be better.
Away games is a different story. It’s usually pizza or some other fast food. But the crew team has a tradition that parents, not the school, provide most of the food. It’s better and kids love it.
Do you know what boys dorms have been most recently renovated? Feel free to IM me if you’d like.
Sorry I don’t know much about boys dorm. I know at least one of the boys dorm on the south side is renovated. It really doesn’t matter at this stage because you don’t know where you will end up anyways.