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<p>Anecdotes are weak. How do you know he didn’t step it up and do really well at Phillips? I got Bs and Cs in middle school because I was lazy and bored, and I ended up valedictorian of my high school and got accepted to three out of the five Ivies to which I applied. Anecdotes are weak.</p>
<p>He still lives in my town when he’s not at school so we still keep in touch - he’s nowhere near valedictorian. And I know anecdotes are weak, but I’d prefer not to give more info for privacy reasons.</p>
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My HS is very highly regarded and it’s not a test selective public. Our HYPS count is somewhat skewed (12 to Pton) and the school is in an extremely affluent area.</p>
<p>My school has the same stats as andover, if you judge academic “sucess” average SAT II subject test scores (even though we don’t prep for them in class), and while we have fewer students in the 700-800 SAT I area, those who do have those scores don’t get accepted to HYPS even if their stats are the same as those of top students at Andover. Yes, I do recognize that Andover students can go beyond AP and take more difficult classes, etc etc, but we have that kind of stuff at my school as well (Lin Alg/Diffy Q’s, you can get Ind Studies that go at your own pace at the push of the button, etc).</p>
<p>I DO recognize that these schools are phenonmenal, but I also believe that the fact that they’ve been getting rather cozy with HYPS for over 200 years has something to do with it too. You can’t deny it.</p>
<p>We have the exact same percentage of 5’s on AP exams. EXACTLY the same (~50%)</p>
<p>Andover’s admission rates are also really low…It’s basically done a lot of the work for these elite colleges by selecting its class carefully. It shouldn’t be a surprise that if you got into Andover, you have a good chance of getting into a good school (If you accept the top 20% of a school that accepts 20% you should be getting the top 4% theoretically, right?) Sounds like these colleges and Andover have similar criteria for accepting applicants–whether these criteria are fair is a different question, but these figures shouldn’t surprise you. </p>
<p>It’s much like saying that most graduates of two year colleges don’t transfer into Ivies. But so many of Deep Spring’s graduates do–surprise, surprise.</p>
<p>Justtotalk, read my above posts.</p>
<p>What sort of Middle Schooler would a kid have to be to get into Andover?</p>
<p>Would it take something like a 2100 SAT? Or would they have to have great Middle School ECs? Because its tough for me to imagine a huge number of Middle School ECs, where I’m from.</p>
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<p>I did. It’s nonsense. My point was that Andover’s applicant POOL is filled with students like those in your high school, except that they’re younger at the time of course. Of all these kids with academic potential and good grades (we should expect some sort of self-selection, right?), only 1/5 got in. </p>
<p>Those 20% or whatever Andover’s acceptance is had something else. Whatever that something is, which I suspect is things like being an exceptional musician, having unique technical or creative interests, having well-known parents, whatever. And apparently, we’re seeing that Harvard likes the type of students that Andover chooses. </p>
<p>So, yeah, they have the same number of 5’s on APs. Those that didn’t get great grades went to like UMichigan or Illinois, or other great schools. Those that got good grades and had the other things going for them got into Harvard and the likes. </p>
<p>Why the big fuss? It’s a well known trend that Andover, Exeter, Choate, St. Paul’s, etc., ship it to the Ivies every year.</p>
<p>On the flipside, there’s plenty of students at those prep schools that don’t go to a top 10 school from there and these students are usually really good and deserved to go. If you read the boarding school reviews, many of the grads that go to great colleges talk about how much easier it is than the boarding schools they previously attended. Should we pity the prep school kids that didn’t get into schools they otherwise may have because the academic rigor at Andover deflated their GPA a bit? </p>
<p>No. It’s not like the Ivies wouldn’t love to have all of you. There’s just limited space.</p>
<p>“Andover’s admission rates are also really low…It’s basically done a lot of the work for these elite colleges by selecting its class carefully.”</p>
<p>That’s the central point here. It’s a lot like how 15% of my Harvard Law class came from Harvard College. The law school applicants already went through one filtering process four years earlier.</p>
<p>I second the opinion that H/Y/P is generally a breeze for people who excelled at an elite prep school, at least until thesis time. They’ve basically already had four (or sometimes two) years at an elite liberal arts college, and THEN they go to a university. They call them prep schools for a reason. These kids are infinitely better prepared to hit the ground running than almost anybody else.</p>
<p>And 8% Harvard Law class came from Yale College? 15% Yale Law class came from Yale College. But Yale Law class of 214 and Harvard Law 550 a year.</p>
<p>The point is more that they’re coming from elite, well-known schools, rather than that they’re coming from Harvard. Top colleges know what they’re getting from these prep schools, especially since the prep school admission process resembles that of the top schools in many ways. The analogy was, I believe, more that the top colleges (like Harvard) “weed-out” candidates in a way that the top law schools would, explaining such large percentages of graduates in these programs.</p>
<p>Yes, but you’re missing my point: Many of the people on this forum would have already been “weeded out” in the eyes of these schools. Yes, Andexeter is selective at 20% acceptance or w/e, but even then their average scores are lower than the people on here. Yes, I KNOW that scores aren’t everything, but still.
Most students accepted at Andexeter ARENT famous musicians or w/e…Yes, excellent students, but still</p>
<p>But most people at Andover and Exeter and the like aren’t accepted to to top schools. Yale, at least, tends to accept those with the highest GPAs, which are often on the order of 5.7-5.9/6.0. I understand your frustration, of course, but years of admissions has shown these colleges what students at these prep schools within a certain range will do in college. On the other hand, they won’t necessarily know what a 4.0 UW from school X will bring. Approximately 1/3 of Andover’s class applies to Harvard each year. “Only” about 6-7% of the class is accepted. Some are recruited athletes. A few have parents who went there (but I don’t completely buy that as a reason, since they’re getting into other top colleges as well, and you can’t be a legacy at <em>all</em> the top schools). It’s not the average Andover student who’s getting into HYPSM, it’s the top of the class and athletes, generally. And to be fair, the top musicians at these prep schools generally (but not always) want little to do with top schools; they want a conservatory. Those who get good grades and are wonderful musicians/athletes (especially in less common sports) seem to have a free ticket in, though.</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to imply that you need to be at the top of Andover/Exeter to get in, just that being at the top tends to get you into almost everywhere. At Andover, those students with near-perfect GPAs get accepted practically everywhere. Yale puts more focus onto accepting students with the top GPAs than Harvard does, though (from my experience, at least). Not everyone in the top 10% at Andover and Exeter is unhooked, but even those that are routinely are accepted to pretty much everywhere. Once you get outside the top 20%, students being accepted have a fairly strong hook (recruitment for an uncommon sport, being of immense musical talent, legacy). I have for several years now watched people who have no hooks of this sort but amazing grades be accepted everywhere they’ve applied, while those with slightly less gaudy grades need more of a hook. A year or two ago, I did some research, and discovered that those in the top 10% at Andover almost exclusively go to Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Stanford. The next 10% tend to go to the other Ivies or the very top LACs. But these make up only about half of the matriculations at HYP; these are students who have strong hooks, while those at the top don’t always (sometimes they do, of course).</p>
<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>So I’m in my first year at Andover and I know that the 33% to ivy league school’s is a pretty huge deal. But I also do know that to maintain EC’s, year-round sports, decent grades, social life and living on your own is also very hard and intense. I know that almost everyone here has the grades and scores to make it into very good colleges, so the competition is always tough. It’s the kids that have passions-debate, sports, music etc that really gets the colleges. (also high grades of course). The thing is, Andover had a 14% acceptance rate this year and they accept nationally ranked atheletes, top musicians, and kids who have already started their own organizations or charities all over the world. Everyone brings something special to the table. Yes, I do believe that sometimes colleges give Andover a boost up, but just to stay here, get decent grades and compete with eachother is much harder than you might think. Also, yes I do agree with the fact that college is easier since there has been much feedback telling us that Andover was probably one of the hardest experiences they had to go through. It’s literally a whirlwind of things here and just making it through with shining achievements is quite the accomplishment.</p>
<p>Andover_Girl</p>
<p>Thanks for the inside info…beats my speculation :P.</p>
<p>Hola amigos.</p>
<p>I have a lot to say, but it’s kind of late and I have SATIIs tomorrow morning. Summer hasn’t quite started yet, I need to bend over and accept the College Board’s sweet justice (Henry Zhu reference) before I can relax and really start enjoying the next three months.</p>
<p>Anyways, I’ll let you guys ask questions. I’ve been at PA for three years, and, I don’t mean to brag, but I understand the school and the life that surrounds it a little more than most people on this site. Feel free to quote this if you have any dire questions that just might decide the fate of your college acceptance and the outcome of your life.</p>
<p>Haha, I’m just kidding. Or am I? It depends on how you see life.</p>
<p>This is probably irrelevant, but my school has had 8 HYPSMIT acceptances in the past ten years. Average class size: 500 kids…so acceptance into HYPSMIT~ .16%. Yet I’m from a well respected, national blue ribbon public school. Maybe I’m just jealous, but I feel that attending a prep school certainly has its advantages when applying to elite colleges, not just in terms of preperation, but name recognition.</p>
<p>HYPSMIT, i think you have a flawed sense of the situation.</p>
<p>my school is not a national blue ribbon school, but our rivals are, and they havent had anyone get into HYPSM in forever (our school actually has a few), but it doesnt matter, cuz national blue ribbon focuses on the average performance of the students. a good public school can send its graduates to all non-top tier schools, but as long as the average student (which at a public school is not extraordinary) is doing relatively well, then your school can be recognized despite not sending many students to top schools.</p>