<p>And just what activity would that be?</p>
<p>exie</p>
<p>Speaking from the experience of having attended boarding school, and now having two kids admitted and succeeding at the most selective of schools, I too know of what I speak. My kids peers who have “driven the process” have been rejected or admitted and been booted quickly. Precocious kids like these often burn out or have problems coping with the structure and discipline in boarding school. The most successful kids at boarding school have home environment which are not very different from what they will experience at school, that is the “fit” we all seek. You describe how much yours and your husband’s impressions of Taft were instrumental in YOUR decision to send your child. You assessed the “fit” for her. I have never known too much good parenting to be detrimental to a kid. The smallest amount of bad parenting can traumatize a kid, long before it needs to be described as “helicopter”.</p>
<p>Accepted to Harvard from Andover this year: 16, last year 21. Numbers for Yale are almost identical (16 accepted). Many are cross-admits, and at least 3 will not matriculate to Harvard, Yale matriculation will probably be higher (at this point 14 students confirmed their matriculation to Yale). If I’m wrong with numbers - please correct me; this is “to the best of my knowledge” at this point.</p>
<p>On the other hand, maybe the last year was unusually good, and this one is just “regular”. So, we need to compare say last 3-4 years, not just two.</p>
<p>The interesting point this year at Andover and some competetive public high schools as well is how well girls who have BC calculus and AP Physics have fared. In most cases they have beaten boys who have done much more math and phy sics. At Andover, MIT has gone girl-wild with just one boy (who is reputed to be a potential nobel winner) from the 2011 class and six girls (most of whom have not attempted the more difficult math and physics courses offered).</p>
<p>This is an example of just how unpredictable the college admission process has become. If you are a parent, you have to figure what slot your kid is going to compete for. In other words, going to Andover and doing hard courses well doesnt qualify him or her.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about physics, but I checked USAMO qualifiers from Andover for the last two years. There is only one person from this year senior class on that list; and that person is female. That potential nobel winner is probably on that list as well (he skipped a year, so he might appears as 11th grader). Agree, that guy is extremely smart, but there is also another girl (currently in 11th grade I believe) who is extremely smart as well, and might also be called a potential nobel winner. So, we have a tie here.</p>
<p>But I agree, the ration of 1:7 is a little bit too off (are you sure that only one guy was accepted, I think that might be more). On the other hand, majority of Andover students are mainly interested in other schools than MIT/Caltech/HarveyMudd, and I believe that gender ratios for those schools (HYP and other Ivies) are pretty close to 1:1. </p>
<p>What is probably more troublesome: there are students with perfect SAT scores and good grades who did not get into HYPS. People are arguing that perfect scores and ranks are not enough; you need a “hook”. Like creating a drama studio for underprivileged kids in a local school; or attending research seminars in behavior economics at nearby university, or starting a business (preferably a green one) with a group of friends - just a few that came to my mind. How much of this you can do in BS? I’m not sure. Sport will still be a hook, but everything else might be quite restricted due to rigorous curriculum and rules. And if this trend for “hooks” will continue – there might be more challenges for BS kids. Just some random thoughts.</p>
<p>Of course, one should be cautious in drawing inferences from admissions data for a single year. If memory serves me correctly, just last year MIT had almost the inverse proportion. I don’t know the complete gender distribution of the 10 students that were accepted, but of the 7 that enrolled, only 2 were female. In a similar vein, Caltech accepted 3 males and one female, although the latter was the only one to enroll.</p>
<p>[Meet</a> the Team - 2010 US Physics Team - AAPT.org](<a href=“http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2010/team.cfm]Meet”>Meet the Team - 2010 US Physics Team - AAPT.org)</p>
<p>The Andover-MIT boy is on the team.<br>
Did he take all those high level classes at Andover?</p>
<p>Yes, kids can take Fluid Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics at Andover. And they have great math and physics teachers there. If you are done with school classes, it is possible to take online MIT course.</p>
<p>This thread has gone really far afield from the intial inquiry when it points to one gifted boy at Andover or the number of girls matriculating to MIT. Back to the general–this was a particularly brutal year and the trend for the past couple of years at Ivies and top LACs has been lower % of admits Do we think it will continue to trend downward or is any tapering off in sight?</p>
<p>A fellow correspondent on this forum has posted me some interesting data regarding the trend at Andover.
Quote
I think it is probably the “worst” year in recent history although percentage wise it is not so out of range. Ivies+SM rate in recent years:
2005: 35%
2006: 32%
2007: 31%
2008: 32%
2009: 36%</p>
<p>Assuming a similar matriculation over acceptance rate as last year (113/195=58%), this year the matriculation rate could be something like: 148*58%/294=29%.</p>
<p>I think quantman and mashaa may be right in saying that this trend could continue as colleges like HYPS are more than ever looking for students with special talents or achievements (“hooks”) while a top BS like Andover in general is meant to create well-rounded graduates (this affects the four/three year students even more), which apparently is not the most “efficient” way in sending kids to top top colleges. Would like to hear more of your opinions either in the public forum or through PM on this topic. Thanks.
Unquote</p>
<p>Speak up folks… what do you think ? What is happening at Exeter, Deerfield, Hotchkiss ?? Please send me what you have.</p>
<p>This looks like a “quota” system set up by colleges for the feeder schools. Analyzing last few years’ data shows that the quota is 32% ± std. dev. for this school. It doesn’t reflect the quality of students entering each year, rather the standards of admitted students varies a little up and down to meet the “quota” that is set up. There is also another quota where the % of whites, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans at many top colleges falls within a preset “quota” range year after year. This is also fondly called social engineering, not meritocracy. :)</p>
<p>grinzing,
Do YOU think it will continue to trend downward or is any tapering off in sight? </p>
<p>pulsar,
I agree; and this is why at least for near future I would expect the same 30-32% plus/minus std. deviation, no fundamental changes. The interesting question though is about longer time horizon trends; but I doubt there are many people who can predict those trends. Can you try?</p>
<p>Long term trend will likely be a slight reduction of admits as the BSs will continue to enroll more FP (may not be the brightest) students due to economical factors. Of course, colleges will also need these FP folks. So there is a balance, so the trend would be slightly downward, but not a significant drop.</p>
<p>College trend of more applicants and lower admit rates will continue–it is self perpetuating, with admit rates so low, applying students feel the need to apply to a greater number of schools each year. Tough on kids, tough on admissions officers–but in the end, it’s really tough to differentiate oneself, even from HADES, from the well-qualified pool. BTW, there’s some social engineering the BSs college counselors do too, to try to spread the love around to various colleges.</p>
<p>
But Andover and some other schools have increased FA budget every year for the past few years and are funding a higher percentage of students. I think that Andover is trying hard to keep up with H and P in not changing its need-blind policy 
- very ambitious indeed.</p>
<p>Classicalmama</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Truly -it’s not meant to imply that. What I’m trying to say is that sometimes parents don’t know where the boundaries are and step over a the line in a way that negatively impacts their child’s success when competing against an applicant pool that is increasingly filled with students who are more “independent.”</p>
<p>There are quite a few posts on the boards from students whose parents are still pushing an agenda after acceptance (Tuesday’s posts are a great example), parents who admit that their children “seemed” enthused until the acceptances and now don’t want to go . . .</p>
<p>I know that different parents and different regions of the country have variations in parenting perspectives so there’s room for all approaches. </p>
<p>I just caution parents to be careful about the level to which they convince themselves they’re just helping when - in fact - some may be doing it all. The best test for BS readiness is if the student can handle the process (with significant parent input) by doing the lionshare of the paperwork, and arranging the teacher recs themselves.</p>
<p>Tetus,</p>
<p>Good for you. I’m sure you must be very proud. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I did assess fit. But my husband and I didn’t get a vote. We did not make the decision to send her, she made the decision to go. I’ve been pretty consistent about that. I reserved the right to veto a choice at the point of application (I vetoed Stony Brook because it was a bit too overtly religious and it came off the list - but only after she read the site more thoroughly and said I saved her from a mistake)</p>
<p>I do think home life (and I’ve said this before) is a major factor in which children are successful. But there is fine line between “supportive home life”, and dictating the events and doing all the prep work. With today’s pool of applicants, that’s not a hard choice to make. Which leaves many students and parents wondering what went wrong.</p>
<p>Clearly, you and I will just have to agree to disagree.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exactly (not 100% but a lot more than before). </p>
<p>I think, years ago, boarding schools had an edge (and may still have a tiny bit of leverage) but truly, the change in environment in admissions pools at college may be influencing the change in admissions decisions at BS - bringing in the students who either already model or are capable of modeling that behavior. Which is why I pointed to the profiles of Andover students posted this year.</p>
<p>Heck, at this year’s Alumni Leadership Conference I sat in on a workshop held by students leading project in third world countries and commented to other alum that we’d be outclassed if we had to apply today. :-)</p>
<p>Still, I think the opportunities exist at BS. We got a letter today from the registrar at my daughter’s new school saying she would be out of the office for few weeks this summer because she was leading a school trip to South Africa. I know another student talked to my daughter about her trip to the Dominican Republic for a school sponsored service project. And many MANY BS have substantial community service projects and opportunities to do “independent studies” and “senior projects”. </p>
<p>What I think is hurting many students (again I use Tuesday’s father as an example) is that some students are so driven to pursue academic “stats” that they have little else on their resume to compete with those “extras” pursued by other students.</p>
<p>So in an admissions decision who do I choose - a kid with great stats and no substantial activities, or a kid with good/great stats and a passionate pursuit of some project that is unexpected from someone that age? That, unfortunately, is the competition and often parents have little visibility to what the competition is bringing to the table.</p>
<p>BTW - another factor driving matriculation numbers - the influx of candidates that otherwise would not have applied because of many colleges like MIT, Harvard, etc. choosing to drop tuition to zero for families under $75,000. Once those policies were announced applications began to climb rapidly. Same at BS’s with that policy. At MIT, this year the application pool continued to rise despite the bad economy and the admissions percentage dropped to less than 10%</p>
<p>My oldest daughter attends a nationally known college, and the admissions officer said that with the economy, there is also a trend of adults going back to college. </p>
<p>So boarding school may be a “hook” but perhaps no longer the most compelling one. And other schools are more aggressive going after that “type” of student. I’ve known some students who said “no” to HYPM’s because lesser known schools offered a full-ride and it meant graduating debt free.</p>
<p>Lots of variables behind all those numbers.</p>
<p>ExieMITAlum,</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How much of those activities may be stage-managed by parents behind the scenes? I’m thinking of activities such as the “service tourism” junkets, whereby the children of the wealthy take care of service opportunities in some exotic locale.</p>
<p>@catg: music.</p>