<p>“Tusknteal’s” comment above leads me to believe that students who, when asked “What other schools are you applying to?” answer honestly and list all the schools on their list, are at a disadvantage - school’s will see the number and range of schools and might opt to not take a risk that they are #1 and reject an otherwise qualified candidate. Is it unethical to not answer that question fully to better one’s chances? Do school’s have any other way of finding out what schools candidates have applied to? For us, the chips will fall where they may - we were honest because that’s how we felt we needed to be. But it does make me wonder if this is another hurdle that will have to be jumped in the application process…</p>
<p>“That’s one of the main reasons some highly academically qualified students are denied. The school believes, rightly or wrongly, they will not show up, so why screw up their yield just to give their familes an ego-boost.”</p>
<p>I have my doubts on this. Last year during the revisit day at Exeter, Michael Gary, the Dean of Admissions,told us in a meeting that historically ~60% of Exeter admits were also admitted by Andover, ~30% by Deerfield, and ~10% by St. Paul. They know they are competing with other schools, and are working hard to get best students they can.</p>
<p>FWIW, we answered the “where else are you applying” totally honestly when asked. So during our summer interviews/visits, we said "We don’t know, but we’re looking at Schools X, Y, Z…then when we had a better sense of things (fall and early Winter), we just told them.</p>
<p>Every school asked this question and we answered honestly. We think that it is bad to lie. Very few applied only one school. The top schools are similar and attract similar applicants.</p>
<p>f2000sa, re #20, I would venture to guess that most accepted kids did <em>not</em> hear from the school before the decision was made. It can be encouraging if the school contacts you as they wouldn’t bother if they had no interest, but don’t be discouraged - at all - if they don’t.</p>
<p>I will tell you this a CLOSE relative told me that the interviewer asked what other schools they were applying to, they answered honestly and the interviewer told them STRAIGHT OUT… We are NOT going to accept you, because you are applying to a need blind school and you will get a better fa package with them. Needless to say my relative sure enough got accepted to Andover and got a full ride! And was rejected by the other school. !</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>Think about it. The schools don’t have enough staff to contact all accepted kids’ families before March 10th. </p>
<p>If your children attend a private school, that school’s placement counselor should be talking with the prep schools. They may let the prep schools know which way their charges are leaning. Their aim is to find the appropriate school for all their students. In that case, the prep schools do not need to contact you, and indeed, they can speak more frankly with your school’s placement officers than they can with you.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, and don’t trust boasts or gossip. What will be will be.</p>
<p>B4b, how can any school know which other schools their applicants will be admitted to, much less presume they will be admitted to one of the uber select schools? Gosh, it’s like the pretty girl who sits home alone because everyone thinks she already has a date. It really puts those kids with a placement office at their private middle school, or those with groups like ABC, NJ Seeds, et al advocating for them at a distinct advantage.</p>
<p>And yes, we’ve had acceptances with nary a peep from school. We’ve also had waitlists from schools whose interviewer sent child weekly, “what’s up?” emails.</p>
<p>None of it means anything until the envelope is sealed.</p>
<p>Forgive me if I appear cynical. I just wish that this could be a more simple process without all the conjecture that comes with yield protection.</p>
<p>I’d agree… Dc is coming from a public school… No advocates but us parents, no placement office, thankfully throughout my process I had very close family that has done this several times and acted as a consultant for us, by way of a wealth of knowledge</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think they take rational guesses from years of experience. It’s a very small world, isn’t it? Unlike colleges, there aren’t that many boarding schools. That’s probably why some go into education consulting after a while. They do know which type of kid has good chances at each school. It’s not perfect. They can’t talk with each other about applicants before March 10th, due to antitrust concerns. It must be painful to lose kids to need-blind schools. They do ask students who turn down their offers of admission to let them know where they’re enrolling. If parents and others wouldn’t take yield into account, they wouldn’t have to worry about it.</p>
<p>I think the pre-preps’ placement offices, or other groups, may raise the chance of admission to a school. I don’t think they can get you into your first choice. It’s probably much like shamus khan describes on the college side of things, a sort of horse trading: <a href=“http://web.mac.com/shamuskhan/iWeb/Site/Work_files/gettingin.pdf[/url]”>http://web.mac.com/shamuskhan/iWeb/Site/Work_files/gettingin.pdf</a> (page 13 and following.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But many other schools DO NOT take this thinking into account simply because you can’t know for sure if another school is going to accept a student. Based on experience you can guess - but since admissions is influenced by what mix of applicants are in the pool each year, someone who is obvious one year, might be shut out another year. So you got lucky, but it’s worked in the opposite for other families. </p>
<p>We have some CC students caught in that trap - schools that assumed the student was so strong (or recruitable) that they would likely matriculate to school “X”, but school “X” waitlisted or declined them leaving the student with no options at all.</p>
<p>Having a prediction come true for one family may be part luck, but not the norm.</p>
<p>I never thought it was the norm, just shared an experience as everyone else has.</p>
<p>Thanks Periwinkle that paper was definitely worth the read.</p>
<p>@board4better, I know that. I was just posting a cautionary tale for those students and parents who lurk but don’t post here. It’s all good.</p>
<p>Any call from FA office yet? They should be busy working on numbers now…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How is it any of your business if another family received a call from a school FA office? And, more to the point, how is it any of our business???</p>
<p>Find another hobby!</p>
<p>It’s not so much that one “top” school won’t accept thinking that you’ll go to another “top” school. It’s more a less selective school thinking that you will not attend. </p>
<p>I know of a couple of examples. </p>
<h1>1 - a student that my son went to school with. Applied to - and accepted to - Andover and Milton. Also applied to a school with a higher admit rate. That school called the placement director at their current school and asked if they were the student’s first choice. Would they come if accepted (FA was not a factor). The answer was that they were not first choice, so they wait listed student.</h1>
<h1>2 - 2 families who have posted here had similar experiences. One was accepted to Andover and Exeter and waitlisted at Williston. The other was accepted to Deerfield and Hotchkiss and waitlisted at Suffield.</h1>
<p>Speculation was that in those cases Williston and Suffield were protecting thier yeild and if the familiy had called and said “you are our first choice” they probably would have been accepted. </p>
<p>Original question - agree with everyone. Don’t worry if you’ve not been called and if you have been, it’s still not a 100%.</p>
<p>@F2000sa: I’d imagine that any calls from Business Offices at this stage would be to inform the family of missing documentation or an issue with the PFS. FA award decisions are typically sent along with acceptance letters, or shortly thereafter.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>New here, but have been visiting the site regularly for the past year or so. Thankful for all of the parents who share their experiences here. We’ve learned a lot.</p>
<p>Yes, we were called by the Financial Aid office of one school this week. Not sure what this means exactly, other than they needed more information. </p>
<p>We are already a bit nervous and worried around here, and now we really don’t know what to think. But every family is in the same boat (of waiting and wondering what news Saturday will bring). </p>
<p>Must say I don’t envy the admissions staff who are having to make these hard decisions which will impact many lives. </p>
<p>This week seems long but keeping busy with work and kids, and trying not to get hopes too high!</p>
<p>Parkermom, not to worry. It was a good sign actually. I think they were ready to make your child an offer. And that’s why they wanted to make sure they everything piece of Info they need to make a good fa decision. Now I can’t guarantee you already got it but if it’s any comforting you were def running in the final round of the application process. Good luck!</p>