Criteria for admission: Percentage breakdown

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Hi guys. I was just wondering what you think the percentage breakdown (if there is one) is for top tier schools like exeter, sps, deerfield, etc. I know the decisions process is mostly subjective, but there HAS to be an objective part to serve as a standard of comparison.</p>

<p>This could be a good format:</p>

<p>_____ Grades
_____ SSAT scores
_____ Interview
_____ Essays/short answers
_____ Extracurriculars
_____ Geographic location
_____ Race
_____ Recommmendations</p>

<p>Or you can ditch this.</p>

2

<p>I didn’t know race was that important</p>

3

<p>All of these schools want diversity, so it could be.</p>

4

<p>Bump
tenchar</p>

5

<p>Can someone reply please? I think this could be interesting…</p>

6

<p>15% Grades
15% SSAT scores
10% Interview
20% Essays/short answers
15%Extracurriculars
(Same as Race) 1-5% Geographic location
Depends, for most of us, 1% or so but can go to 5% max Race
15% Recommmendations</p>

7

<p>i would disagree on interview and essay, they should be swictheed</p>

8

<p>Based solely upon my son’s app process last year, it seems to me that the break down here, for whatever it may be worth, is as follows: </p>

<pre><code> Grades 40%
SSAT 10%
I’view 15% (this factor could carry more weight if interview is on campus and with important admission officer)
Essays 10%
Hooks 20%
Recs 5%
</code></pre>

9

<p>Is the grades a little heavy? Sorry for changing the subject but I’ve been at an American Public school for the last 6 months and I have straight As but before that I was at a much much tougher school that is outside the Us and I had As, Bs and even a C or two in a non academic subject. Will this really hurt me? An A there was really hard to get and I would’ve been in the top 15% of my class at least but I dont think the BS know this. Is the most recent, the most important? I also had a high SSAt if it matters…</p>

10

<p>Maybe; still, we found grades to be the most critical element of an application to the top BS’s, unless there was some overriding hook (world class athlete, superb musician, famous/ stinking rich family, strong legacy, etc.). As for the grades, the more recent are the more important, of course. Needless to say, other folks may have uncovered totally different clues to the app game. I’m just sharing with you our read from the time we played the game, for better or worse.</p>

11

<p>Do you think being a top 5 football recruit will help (including post grads- i’m ranging from num 1 to num 5 recruit at various schools) can this be a huge considering my grades are okay but not bad. My ssat was a 95 nd my recs were fab. Read 2 of the 4 bc teacher showed me</p>

12

<p>Please read post #31 by Winterset on this thread:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/861950-hate-break-you.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/861950-hate-break-you.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Also, if you want to really dig into this, do a title search for “weigh the following.” This question has been asked over and over again. I’ve been reading these boards for longer than I’d like to admit and I think that the post I referenced above is the best I’ve read.</p>

13

<p>FYI, as I remember, the title was “Rate the following”, not “Weigh the following”.</p>

14

<p>Yeah, I think you’re right.</p>