<p>What fun is fun says is not accurate. There are some families a school simply cannot say “no” to, regardless of whether money is waved openly or not. To present these places as entirely meritocratic without politicing in the back rooms is naively idealistic, even deluded. The politics at the big monsters matter even more than at the “hidden gems”. Fun is fun assumes OP is some crass “new money” wannabe, but there’s nothing to say this kid isn’t a Kennedy, a Romney, a Tudor Jones. People like that can walk into any of these schools.</p>
<p>Whether or not they succeed and can graduate is an entirely different story, but quit the moralizing, some of these kids already know better, and the ones that don’t are going to have to grapple with it firsthand.</p>
<p>If you are CLEARLY not academically capable of keeping up with the other kids in the school, no prestigious school will admit you for all the gold in Africa. </p>
<p>But if you are borderline academically capable of keeping up with the other kids in the school, and you’re from one of the clans u mentioned, you’ll get in–even if u apply late.</p>
<p>On the other hand, reflecting the SSATs in the 60s, there are lots of matriculations to colleges that you would NEVER see on a matriculation list at Andover or Exeter (for example, “St. Anselm’s”? “Elon”? “St. Michaels”?). In otherwords, yes, a very few good kids end up at the Ivies at NMH, but God forbid you are not in the top 10 or something because otherwise you end up at someplace sketchy. If you look at the matriculations at PEA, for example, everyone – even the lowest of the low – ends up somewhere you have actually heard of. The lowest of the low at NMH end up in the abandoned spaces.</p>
<p>@GMT…in my experience, setting aside the obvious hooks of $$$ and athletics, another category where schools are willing to go to bat with kids that represent the lowest portion of the SSAT mean…faculty children. Children of faculty who would obviously be completely underqualified will be given every opportunity to battle their way through. Some eventually get counseled out, some graduate with very low GPAs and have to attend the kinds of colleges placido disparages (some, mind you, not all), but these kids are (only) there because they have a “grappling” hook. The system is far from perfect.</p>
<p>And to OP…fun is fun may have been thinking of the Admissions Office. You don’t start there, you start with Development. THEY won’t hang up, & they’ll make the appropriate connections in Admissions.</p>
Why? “A development case” with a potential of $2 million is a bigger, more effective hook with more predictable outcomes than hooks like URM or special talents, simply because they are rarer. Is it news to you that one can “buy their way” into elite colleges or elite boarding schools, or are you checking if it has changed? Note, however, the reality that rich and powerful can often have their way in college/BS admissions has not changed or not yet the fact that these schools are offering a lot more financial aid to a greater percentage and a bigger population than decades ago, and than most “hidden gems”, which don’t really hold a higher moral ground for having fewer clients with big money approaching them.</p>
<p>Yuck, yuck, ick, yuck. This whole thread is making me ill. I’m going to pretend it ended at #39 and re-adjust my rose-colored glasses. Can we please just look away while @acdunk does his dirty business in private?</p>
<p>placido240-
On the contrary, many kids at NMH don’t go on to well known schools because they aren’t attracted to schools like Princeton or Harvard. NMH isn’t a school where you will find many kids whose only aspirations are to go to Harvard and work on Wall Street or in law or whatnot. In fact, I believe that NMH reported that around 75 or 80 percent of students got into there first choice college, which is a remarkable number. Of course there are students who fall to the curb and go to lesser schools, but don’t believe that is the norm. What I really was trying to say earlier was that if going Ivy is what you want, NMH can get you there, but not all kids want to go to these schools. Also, Exeter, Andover, and schools like them may not show their full matriculation list. I’ve noticed when visiting schools that many such lists name themselves as samplings of colleges that students go on to, so of course the school would choose to say that they had a student go to, say Cornell, instead of a smaller college.</p>
<p>Acdunk, interesting idea. I will do the reckless thing here and assume you have participated in the SSAT review classes to work on your score – if not, I’d get to work on that ASAP and give the test another shot. Heck, get a tutor.</p>
<p>I don’t know that either PAA or PEA will go for this just based on the size of their endowment (they may not need the money that badly), but it may be worth a shot. Smaller schools may be more open to this type of arrangement, but likely would want to keep it quiet. </p>
<p>Please also understand at this sort of admission can be distasteful to some, if not most who have achieved the scores, grades, etc. to be admitted to these schools. The true test will be, once in, can you stay in?</p>
<p>Regardless, good luck achieving your aspirations.</p>
<p>@Periwinkle - the “year off” isn’t that unusual. </p>
<p>I actually appreciate it when schools list the “alternative” choices. It helps families not get so wrapped up in the “college or bust” mentality. Shows a lot more enlightenment and flexibility then the old days when they were on the phone constantly asking my parents “what’s wrong with your child?” when my sister announced she wanted to study dance in NY instead of applying to Harvard like an obedient boarding school senior. :)</p>
<p>There are a lot of options for students post school today - including gap years for volunteering or travel abroad, entrepreneurship, etc. Or for some students - it may just come down to wanting (needing) to work for a year or so before taking on the college tuition burden. BS tuition does tend to take an insane bite out of finances these days. I almost need to take a valium before filling out the contract and looking at the payment options.</p>
<p>FIF is back!!!
I’ve been reading this thread and thinking - what are all these posters smoking? the OP is obviously a ■■■■■, and there was fun is fun with his(?) comment about exactly that. Common people - 4 pages of comments about an obvious ■■■■■?</p>
<p>oh and by the way the number at better known colleges is 4 mil not 10 mil.</p>
<p>^^I think the thread just provided an opportunity to talk about the “development case” hook, which is not as often talked about as hooks like URM and geographic diversity. That OP needs and can use the help we could provide here is highly doubtful in the first place.</p>
<p>@ExieMITAlum, yes, students take gap years. On the other hand, a rate of 8 per year in a class size of 250 is 3%. That’s comparable to the number attending MIT. You are assuming the students have a firm, alternate plan. Most may, but we can’t assume that. If Exeter were a public high school, it might be listed as “undecided/unknown.” </p>
<p>For all I know, they could be kids on Harvard’s Z-list. Or, they might not have been happy about their college admissions outcomes. </p>
<p>^^ Oh I know, which is why I added the current cost of buying your way into a top rated private university/ivy.
I was just really excited to see fif’s post.</p>
<p>@Periwinkle, I’m just wondering about the general “burn-out” factor. Pressure seems worse than when I was a student at my own school. And there’s the other factor of high student or parent expectation that the yellow brick road was going to lead to an IVY and by senior year it’s obvious that isn’t going to happen. It be worth checking out at some point as to what is behind those stats.</p>
<p>@dsterino - that tactic has been tried (look up articles on donors who try to get their money back when their children are rejected). If a school doesn’t want you, no amount of money (except saving them from bankruptcy) is going to make them change your mind. Not at the top schools.</p>
<p>@ExieMITAlum, I think any parent considering the most demanding schools should think about “burn-out.” It’s hard to judge a school from the outside, though. There are certainly students at good public schools and day schools who work beyond their limits in high school. </p>
<p>Other schools may have a similar percentage of students who choose to delay enrolling in college, but they may choose different reporting methods. “Year Off” is clear enough. If a student wins acceptance to Oberlin, but defers enrolling for a year, do they appear in the list? Do students who choose a gap year not appear in the lists of matriculated college students? Do they appear in following years, once they matriculate?</p>