<p>We have a fantastic public school, and we were blessed with two students with “the right stuff” who will succeed no matter where they go to HS. For us, we were trying to decide if BS will provide something more tangible than just academic rigor. I know folks want to wag their finger at me and tsk tsk me for saying that I still think that being able to say you went to a prestigious boarding school still opens some doors whether its for college or in business down the road and we are trying to decide whether its worth the added expense. We’ve already committed to a boarding school, and I’m not going to be one of those parents who give the BS headaches by micromanaging my son’s academics or being disappointed if an ivy isn’t in his future. At this point, I just want son #1 to enjoy his experience and find himself. I do think however that the only thing missing for a FP student at a BS, is the fire in the belly. Having come from low SES, graduated from a local mediocre public school without benefit of any hook, I was hungry to make something of myself…got that ivy league diploma, got that top 20 medical school diploma, had a good career in military medicine which ain’t easy for a woman, now am working on my personal stretch goals, which BTW don’t include where my children go to school. But all this to say, I think it helps to have fire in the belly, passion to serve humanity or passion to become the best at something…but I think that may be the leg up that some kids will have applying to colleges that my kid won’t necessarily have.</p>
<p>I think there is a recent study (NYTimes I think) about the long term (20 years) earning potential of Ivy and Non-Ivy graduates. BS/Ivy may open a door in the beginning, ie get you a foot in the door, but they won’t do much to make sure you hang in there especially when the kitchen gets hot. They found no long term difference in earning potential between Ivy and Non-Ivy grads. It’s probably the fire in the belly that gets things going!</p>
<p>Let me shout this from the mountain top (although I know it makes people feel better to have an “excuse.”)</p>
<p>“They” do not let in “less qualified” students for fit, legacy etc. The pools are so huge they don’t have to. I know for a fact Exeter made a lot of phone calls (days of them) to inform alumni their “legacies” weren’t accepted. Hardest phone calls on earth to make.</p>
<p>So let’s give Adcom’s a break and stop using theories about what does or does not happen just because some other equally clueless person on the outside, or who is miffed, wants to read tea leaves and tell you the opposite.</p>
<p>Let’s move on. It’s getting old. If that attitude comes through in an application or interview, it’s a major reason that child or family was not accepted. We can all smell drama and neediness and entitlement (even if unintended) from a mile away and no one wants to put up with the trauma/drama.</p>
<p>It sure ain’t a tall mountain and the slope is slippery. 
Looks like you already forgot about all the highly qualified Public Figure BS Alums, lol.</p>
<p>Exie,</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Bummer… This makes no sense. If the acceptance rate is the same for legacies and non-legacies, it’s stupid to ask people to check legacy box on applications as it wouldn’t affect their admit chances. There should be nothing on the application check boxes about legacies, gypsies etc. as according to your insider knowledge it won’t help them. It’s time we got a break on this one from the insider! Also, don’t forget the constitution says all men are created equal (hopefully it includes women), yet all applications you fill out in the good ole USA, you are asked to fill out if you are a Caucasian/Hispanic/AA… Go figure! :D</p>
<p>Just finished self-indulgent spa visit - much happier now!</p>
<p>Oops - I digress. Okay - clarification - less qualified - no. Legacy that is well qualified - well that’s a different story and even then it’s not a 100% yield. At some schools it may be a bit better - but again, out of just the legacy pool, those kids selected are very qualified (if not they would screw up the matriculation numbers).</p>
<p>Here’s the deal - if you’re a legacy and it’s missed by the Adcoms and the answer is “no” there is heck to pay when the same school comes back out hat in hand for a donation from the parent. So Adcoms have to do some special handling which is why alum get calls well before the letters are mailed with the answer if it’s a “no.” Some alum assume their kids are an automatic “in.”</p>
<p>I was told I was one of the few who was taking it well, jovial, and plotting out next year’s interview strategy now that it’s no longer a conflict of interest for me to talk to applicants (you can’t interview when your own child is applying to schools). Many others were “quite grumpy” about the perceived snub. </p>
<p>Yep - all men (and all women) are created equally. Unfortunately not all legacies are :-)</p>
<p>Non-legacies will prop up the Matriculation numbers, Legacies will pay the bills. Perfect Harmony!</p>
<p>Let’s analyze a case in point. Folks, Analyze the applicant stats in the article below and let’s poll how many of you think URM has helped the applicants? I hope this poll supports Exie’s contention!</p>
<p>[Yale</a> Says Yes, 4 Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/education/19yale.html?_r=1&ref=education]Yale”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/education/19yale.html?_r=1&ref=education)</p>
<p>PS: I support Affirmative Action and I am not a beneficiary.</p>
<p>ummm…</p>
<p>From the article:
</p>
<p>They’d have gotten in without being URM. Quadruplets from a struggling situation with sky high SAT scores and near the top of their class at a school that is need blind.</p>
<p>Hmm - four in college simo means the FA will be huge.</p>
<p>I vote this isn’t affirmative action, - or if it was - it wasn’t in the negative sense of underqualified.</p>
<p>I think the birth situation trumped race this time (or combined to make a perfect storm).</p>
<p>Would be interesting to see what would happen if we sent the Gosselin kids in a few years (assuming their mother will spend more time on their education than showcasing them on reality tv)</p>
<p>This is what I see:</p>
<ol>
<li>I never heard of any one public high school (let alone Danbury High School) from which HYPS selected 4 kids in one year.</li>
<li>Danbury High School is not even in the USNews Bronze Medal High School List. An A there may mean a C at Exeter.</li>
<li>The SATs mention only ONE kid making 800 in ONE subject verbal, we don’t know what the other scores are.</li>
<li>Yale rejectee/WL profiles include many perfect 2400 SATs.</li>
<li>Yale rejectee/WL profiles include many Valedictorians and Salutatorians.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now what do you think? :)</p>
<p>Just jumping in here, but I know various Public High Schools in my state that have sent a considerabale amount of kids to HYP in a single year(nothing tremendous though) , and yes, Yale , Harvard, etc. waitlist and reject validvictorians with perfect scores and are presidents of every club because there are thousands upon thousands of them rolling in, more and more with each and every year. They want diverse student bodies so of course they cannot accept them all. In addition, colleges (or so I have heard) take your essay answers into serious considerations so you never know the quality of those. We are also unaware of clubs. community service, etc. and if not that many kids from that High School apply than that could help chances as well, you never know. But then again, hey, you could be 100% correct, sorry for my rant.I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.= )</p>
<p>Yale can create a diverse student body without having to take 4 AA kids from one school as there are many other AA applicants. In fact, the article says that this is the first time in Yale history they have done this. Yes, Yale has a long History. It is safe to assume that no one applies to Yale and wastes the application fee without having good essays, ECs etc. It is also safe to assume that Yale applicants from other High Schools can write as good an essay as a Danbury High Graduate.</p>
<p>pulsar you assume things that you do not and know nothing about you admit that you know little about these things yet you make many many wide generalizations about schools, acceptance rates, the effect of being a legacy on admissions, affirmative action ETC. </p>
<p>NO boarding school is going to take a kid that cannot handle the coursework and drop out. they do admit students who will most likely get a C+/B on their report cards, but it seems all of these students have something unique, that makes them stand out from the crowd.</p>
<p>honestly, if anything recruited athletes are the only people that most schools lower their academic standards for (of course there are other cases, this just appears to the majority of cases). Also the athletes with lower grades may be forced to repeat a grade in order to gain admission. Schools do this as many students would not be able to play at such a high level of prep school athletics, who have the grades that our qualified. athletics are a lot more important to schools then most people think. of course, there are athletes who would have gotten in anyways.
Take me for example, 82 average (albeit at a very good prep school) , 2307 on the SSAT about average stats. the reason i got into MX was Soccer and without i would have been rejected 100% no doubt in my mind, i applied for junior year (MX being overenrolled for the class of 2012 had 2 spots(70 apps)) Guess who got in ME over many people that were much, much, much more qualified than I. there are even people on this board who applied to MX for junior year who have better stats.</p>
<p>as Exie said many of the legacies were qualified, and would have been admitted regardless of whether or not they were a legacy at Exeter. How do you they weren’t qualified do you see the applications, no. I’m sure there were students who were on the bubble who got accepted because they were a legacy, but as Exie pointed out there were many kids who were qualified and were legacies who got rejected.</p>
<p>“Non-legacies will prop up the Matriculation numbers, Legacies will pay the bills. Perfect Harmony!”
[WSJ.com</a> - For Groton Grads, Academics Aren’t Only Keys to Ivy Schools](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Polk_Groton_Grads.htm]WSJ.com”>WSJ.com - For Groton Grads, Academics Aren't Only Keys to Ivy Schools)</p>
<p>not true as the article shows there are many intangibles that go into the admissions process for College and Prep school as well.
you seem to have a resentment towards well-healed families, yes there are many who do not deserve their affluence but others work hard, day in and day out. to live the way they do.</p>
<p>“1. I never heard of any one public high school (let alone Danbury High School) from which HYPS selected 4 kids in one year.”</p>
<p>try bronx science or stuyvesant high school two schools that multiple students to HYPS, also princeton high school and scarsdale high school both very very very strong schools, and do not require a test for admission, like bronx science or stuyvesant high school.</p>
<p>I think that the quadruplets hook was not that they were a minorities but that they are quadruplets and had very good applications .“Their applications were terrific, and we simply hope that they will all decide to come!” (Jeffrey Brenzel, Dean of Admissions at Yale).</p>
<p>Hcos, I think you need to learn how to comprehend written english. Where did I say they were admitted because they are minorities? I only posted the stats I saw. And I say you keep listening to Mr. Brenzel’s and other adcom’s talks. The more the merrier…</p>
<p>Here</p>
<p>“PS: I support Affirmative Action and I am not a beneficiary.”</p>
<p>and here
“Yale can create a diverse student body without having to take 4 AA kids from one school as there are many other AA applicants”</p>
<p>maybe you should remember what you wrote…</p>
<p>Pulsar - </p>
<p>I just noticed from your prior posts that you didn’t apply to BS this year and are thinking about applying next year. That speaks volumes.</p>
<p>It almost seems like you are already predicting your rejections for next year and lining up excuses for them.</p>
<p>I think I’m begging off on this debate. Your comments on other threads and willingness to argue with parents and Adcoms about how the system works (you think Adcoms compare notes, qualified candidates got a privilege, legacies have an edge, etc.) is enough to suggest to me you aren’t going to get into a school next year (and yes - I’m chancing you.) </p>
<p>It’s one thing to debate, it’s another to make ugly inferences about someone’s positive experiences.</p>
<p>Will be watching to see how well you do in next year’s applicant pool. Good luck with that.</p>
<p>good show, good show</p>
<p>^^^^nice post</p>
<p>I love people giving up in the middle of debates. Way to go… Me, getting rejected? Keep on dreaming! As far as BSs go, I already posted it’s not the end-of-the-world. Only some people on this forum think so. BO didn’t go to a BS and he is doing fantastic. :)</p>
<p>Hcos, Go back to post#34 or contact the English dept at your school.</p>
<p>
. .</p>