<p>Exeter's FA director had an online chat session last night and gave specifics about their process. He said that roughly 60% of applicants request FA while they allot about 45% of spots for FA applicants, thus making the FA pool more competitive. AOs know whether an applicant is requesting FA, but no more than that. How much FA you need is not considered in the application process, only whether or not you need it. Once an applicant is admitted, they meet 100% of need. He said they get about 2600 completed applications per year (no breakdown as to grade) and that so far it looks like this year's numbers are typical.</p>
<p>I wonder how similar other schools' methods are to Exeter's?</p>
<p>I suspect Exeter is more transparent about the process than most, and the info you report is also in writing on their applicant summary webpage. </p>
<p>I think I saw somewhere that they used to be “need blind” but it didn’t really work for international student applicants, so they came up with this plan.</p>
<p>They are clear that the full cost of tuition, room, board, books, computer and travel is covered for families with income under 75K and their cost and aid estimator webpage has seemed pretty accurate for folks we know - aid is on a sliding scale up to 200K in income. </p>
<p>They award more total financial aid than any other school.</p>
<p>I know that much of that info is on their website, but that was the first time I saw how the actual process is laid out, with specific numbers. I know Exeter is much more transparent than other schools, presumably because they can afford to be. They can say that they will meet the need of the 45% of students to whom they award aid, because they know that in the worst-case scenario they can afford to give a full ride to that entire 45%. Other schools can’t - not for 45% at least - but I wonder whether the overall process is similar, albeit with different numbers. There’s no way to know, of course.</p>
<p>I know this is an Exeter thread, but I think Choate is very transparent about their process as well. Choate is not need blind, and states that clearly, but the school has increased its financial aid budget to 10.6 million and awards grants to 33% of the student body. If Choate offers admission to a student with an FA grant, the school will meet 100% of demonstrated need. Students are automatically enrolled in the tuition refund plan to pay benefits to the family of any student who, for various reasons, is unable to continue attending the school. Choate has also established a Beyond the Classroom Fund to support a students full participation in the Choate experience regardless of whether they receive financial aid.</p>
<p>Ive posted this before, but it may be useful information for new applicant familes. An article in the spring bulletin called, Minding the ($) Gap: Enriching the Student Experience Beyond the Classroom states:</p>
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</p>
<p>The article goes on to give some examples of where the Beyond the Classroom Fund can help students more fully participate in their education at Choate, such as assistance with music lessons, the spring break college bus tour, pre-season spring training trips for athletes, or something as simple, but meaningful, as a varsity jacket. The article wraps up a quote from Dr. Curtis:</p>
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</p>
<p>I was very happy to see the school take positive action to address the squeeze felt by the non-wealthy wedged into a very wealthy crowd, including those, like us, who pay the bill but have nothing left over for extras. As a new crop of parents prepares over the next few months to send their children off to their respective boarding schools, many will worry about these additional costs and how they will affect their childrens ability to participate fully in the whole BS experience. This is how one school is helping to address those concerns.</p>
<p>@twinsmama, in your online session, did the subject come up of when you would be notified of FA decision?</p>
<p>In the session we participated in, someone asked that question, and was told “you will receive FA decision in the admissions letter.” However, topic was changed and no followup was asked about whether that meant email notification, or the snail mail packet. </p>
<p>I have seen parents and students here share varied experiences about when they recived it (simultaneously or separately…)</p>
<p>This is my back-of-the-envelope estimation of the admit rates for different applicant pools, assuming 60% of all applicants seek FA, and they are chasing 40% of the slots. </p>
<p>FA applicants: 2/3 x admit rate
(60% of applicants chasing 40% of slots)</p>
<p>Fullpay applicants not from China or SKorea: double x admit rate
(25% of applicants chasing 50% of slots)</p>
<p>Int’l applicants from China or SKorea: 2/3 x admit rate
(15% of applicants chasing 10% of slots)</p>
<p>For instance, for a school w an 18% admit rate, this is what I estimate:</p>
<p>FA applicants: 2/3 x 18% = 12% admit rate</p>
<p>Fullpay applicants not from China or SKorea: double x 18% = 36% admit rate</p>
<p>Int’l applicants from China or SKorea: 2/3 x 18% = 12% admit rate</p>
<p>twinsmama, thank you for sharing these data, which is exactly the kind of information that I have been looking for some time.</p>
<p>GMT, I know you’re like me, but this is so funny. Yesterday, using an envelope from another, similarly named school, I literally did back-of-the-envelope calculation and obtained similar numbers. My numbers were 15% for FA admit rate and 27% for FP. (I didn’t break down FP into domestic and intl pools.) My numbers are different from yours, because I used slightly different assumptions (mine: overall admit rate=20%, and % FA among enrolled students=45%). Had I used the same assumptions, I would have reached the same numbers.</p>
<p>Now, I think there is a serious flaw in our assumptions: I believe we both assumed the same yield for FA and FP students. However, this can’t be safely assumed, especially in light of neato’s information on FA admit rate being 7%. This number is too low though, because with 7% FA admit rate, even if every single FA admit enrolls, the total FA students would only make up 31% of all students. Since we know the correct % of FA students at Exeter to be 45%, 100% yield for FA students would suggest FA admit rate at 10%. In general, I like to believe % yield for FA students is somewhere between overall yield and 100%.</p>
<p>To make a long, convoluted story short, here’s what I found: if we assume 100% yield for FA students, FA and FP admit rates would be 10 and 35%, respectively; if we assume the same yield for FA and FP students, then the admit rates become 15 and 27%, respectively. The real numbers should be somewhere in between.</p>
<p>@Sharingift,
Lol, finally someone who is a bigger geek than I am… I agree that 7% admit rate for Exeter FA applicants is ARITHMETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. If 60% of the applicants are FA applicants, then w a 100% yield rate for them, the lowest possible admit rate for FA applicants is 10%, to achieve a student body comprised of 45% FA recipients. But a 100% yield rate is totally unrealistic, so the real number is going to be lower than the overall admit rate, but higher than 10%.</p>
<p>There’s no way to determine admit rates for day students w/o the data of how many day applicants there are.</p>
<p>It’s possible if less than 40% of admitted students in a particular year are FA which is what I think happened the year I was given that info. If few FA kids graduate, the new class needs to have fewer than normal FA kids to preserve the overall FA ratio.</p>
<p>Even if the FA recipients comprised only 30% of the new enrollees that year, the FA admits would have to have 100% yield to have a 7% admit rate. It’s totally unrealistic. That AO either had faulty data, faulty math, or lied to u.</p>
<p>What if 80% of the applicants that year Neato refers to looking for financial aid? Would that explain a 7% admit rate for FA (forgive me for not plugging in the math)?</p>
<p>The ratio of students looking for FA could have changed because of financial events in the last 6 years.</p>
<p>That’s entirely possible! Or, it referenced only domestic applicants. If number of FP applicants from China and SK alone are removed from equation, the math starts to looks very different.</p>
<p>Still short by more than a dozen kids… but it’s possible if the increase in FA applicants was accompanied by lower FA grants (say, lower than 40%) AND by near 100% yield. I presume you and neato are familiar with actual historic figures…</p>
I literally did back-of-the-envelope calculation and obtained similar numbers. My numbers were 15% for FA admit rate and 27% for FP. (I didn’t break down FP into domestic and intl pools.) My numbers are different from yours, because I used slightly different assumptions (mine: overall admit rate=20%, and % FA among enrolled students=45%). Had I used the same assumptions, I would have reached the same numbers.</p>