<p>@truth - Dont kick yourself too much over requesting too much FA. I too asked for significantly more money than was designated on my EFC. We were not awarded what I requested, but rather received something slightly more than the EFC. I dont think the schools view your number as Gospel. It is just a guide, perhaps an opening offer to a negotiation?? And while the school wasn’t Andover, it is one of the well-endowed schools that one could be accused of attending for “prestige”.</p>
<p>Ignore truthsquad (aka bsadvisor/ straighttalker/ ■■■■■) </p>
<p>^^The post by @truth refers to some older posts by @sharing. I think calling people Andover haters or bitter does nothing to further the discussion. I think that everyone here is an adult and should be able to hold back their fangs and try to limit the venom spewed. How about we accept that we agree to disagree etc. You know the saying.</p>
<p>@Periwinkle, Andover is about 20 minutes closer to Boston than Exeter. </p>
<p>Greater Boston area. See: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_locations_by_per_capita_income[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Massachusetts_locations_by_per_capita_income</a></p>
<p>Andover is conveniently close to towns such as Boxford, Andover (the town), Hamilton, Concord, Weston, Sherborn, Dover, Wellesley, etc. </p>
<p>@SharingGift wrote:</p>
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<p>I really doubt there is a bias, even subconcious. Basically the categories that Andover wants to recruit from are fairly fixed each year: XX legacy, XX actors, XX musicians, XX athletes, XX math whizzes, XX language buffs, etc. The number and % of students in each of these categories may change slightly from year to year.</p>
<p>BUT the percentage of students in each of these categories who need FA vs FP are fairly constant over time. So there is no overt bias that I’m aware of. It takes parents with money to devote 30 hours a week to playing a sport/instrument/theater. Add in travel costs and lessons and you can see that only students with means can afford this. So it is natural to expect that in each of the buckets above, a higher percentage of FP students will be picked out by the AOs. Since Andover gets to keep their ‘first round draft picks’ they don’t need to negotiate with the financial aid office for students who they like.</p>
<p>Everyone writes about categories as if they are a given. I have never sat on an admissions committee but I find it hard to believe that any kid would fill one slot. I mean many of these kids are not only math whizzes but concert pianists. The other notion I do not believe holds true is that athletic prowess at such a young age predicts future athletic success. There have been instances of athletes blooming later i.e. Michael Jordan. I have seen kids who were the top U10 tennis star in the district that by U14 are not as highly ranked. I think test scores factor into a lot of these decisions because the average SSAT scores remain very constant over the years. This is my speculation added to the rest because as I said I am not an AO.</p>
<p>And there’s Andover’s own story of Caroline Lind '02! </p>
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<p>Good guess but not true. This year at my school a whole bunch of varsity crew people are graduating. So next year they need more crew people than tuba players.</p>
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<p>How would you know if there is overt bias?</p>
<p>@stargirl3 Was Caroline Lind overlooked when she was at Andover? In some sports kids mature slower. I don’t know if Rowing is one but I know that in tennis most of the top girls are playing the circuit by high school. Therefore, it is harder to get a tennis scholarship as a man vs a woman. The men mature later and some of the best are vying for tennis scholarships. This was an explanation I received from a college tennis coach in the past so that is my information source.</p>
<p>Caroline Lind turned to rowing after she broke her nose playing softball. My kids started rowing when they were 11 years old. Most kids don’t start rowing until HS. </p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation. I noticed she was 6 ft tall. You must also have tall kids. I have heard that college crew teams have cut off of about 5"8" for girl. I am not sure what it is for boys. Limits the kid unless they want to be a coxswain.</p>
<p>I can’t say enough about Andover. We get zero $ for our daughter in college (also supposedly needs blind), but we got a substantial amount from PA. It should be the other way around and I will always feel indebted to Phillips for getting us through hardship. My daughter’s sophomore year, my husband lost his job, and again they stepped up. On the other hand, my daughter in college still didn’t get anything. We ended up needing to take out full Plus loans for her and pray my husband would find employment soon. (I can’t make the same $ and I’m home with our other children.) </p>
<p>@kimsanity Yes and no. I agree with the first part of your post, but most colleges do not have an acceptance rate lower than Andover’s 14%. They might have more applicants, but they also have more spaces. </p>
<p>Not to argue, but just saying… Some college acceptance rates for 2014: Princeton: 7.2%, Dartmouth: 11.5, U of Penn: 12.1, Brown: 8.6, Yale:6.72, Harvard: 5.9, Stanford: 5.1, Columbia: 6.94, MIT: 7.7, Duke: 10.7%.</p>
<p>@Daykidmom I know that there are colleges more selective, but the vast majority are not. </p>
<p>Colleges and universities also have federal funds. PA does not. Colleges and universities also have work study. High schools do not. To be honest, nobody knows for certain except the people who work at these places, all I can say is that PA has been extremely generous to my daughter, and empathetic to our family’s situation. My daughter has no great athletic prowess; she was not recruited. My D studies a ton, writes well and is lucky in that she tests well. Speaking about colleges now, I heard a Davidson rep speak and he accused the Ivies of ‘needs-peak’ instead of ‘needs-blind’. But who really knows with certainty?</p>
<p>I can believe Andover is need-blind.</p>
<p>PA is not talent-blind, though. Children don’t play cello in the womb. They don’t drive cars, thus participation in extracurriculars depends on invested parents. </p>
<p>PA also cares about test scores, as do most selective schools. They look for well-prepared students. That usually means either a private pre-prep, a leading public school or magnet school, or unusually determined parents. All these things correlate well with income.</p>
<p>Well I am convinced. Based on what I have seen here, to me there is no question that Andover is DEFINITELY NOT need blind.</p>
<p>Don’t know why they feel the need to continue to insist they are. I guess there is only upside (ie drives up applications) and little downside as it is difficult to actually call them on it. And there are are probably no legal ramifications to falsely marketing themselves.</p>
<p>Furthermore I do find it hypocritical that they put such emphasis on looking for “nice” kids. (The EXACT adjective used numerous times by the former Admissions Director at reception) Meanwhile, they themselves are being misleading or, to be blunt, lying.</p>
<p>@Jersey386: I was at the same reception and heard the Andover AO speak about the quest for “nice kids”. However I disagree. While no school can be 100% need blind (short of using a computer algorithm to rank kids), Andover does the best possible job it can. </p>
<p>Once the determination is made by Andover on the “first round draft picks” then the ability to pay is immaterial. They do their best in an imperfect world. Not so hard to believe, I do.</p>