<p>Did anyone attend today? What were your thoughts?</p>
<p>Speaking to the parents in the morning, Michael Gary stated that they accepted 487 applicants out of about 3,000 applications. At the end of the day, he stated they received 3,000 applications and then proceeded to say they had time to process and read 2,500 of them accepting around 490 students. What's the deal with the 3,000 vs. 2,500?? </p>
<p>Also, what was up with a few prospective kids and parents having little red stars on their name tags while most didn't?</p>
<p>I think they meant 3,000 preliminary applications and 2,500 completed… i could be wrong, though (you can look up the actual numbers on their website). it’d be really strange if they didn’t even LOOK at 500 applications. maybe they were late…?</p>
<p>i’m curious about the red stars as well. it could mean athlete or international…?</p>
<p>edit: VV hcos could be right. i’m just speculating on what the red stars mean, really…</p>
<p>Among the 3000 application, 500 could be incomplete at the deadline, or were simply late applications submitted after deadline, therefore the admission didn’t process them for the 487 acceptances they made. So, finally, the admit rate for Exeter is likelly to be 487/2500=19.48%.</p>
<p>This is actually similar to its last year’s admit rate. Last year, Exeter admitted a few more than they admitted this year out of a pool of 2600+ “completed” applications for a 19.8% admit rate.</p>
<p>I wrinkled my forehead at that comment by Mr. Gary as well and I mean to send an email asking for clarification. He actually said that they received 3000 applications and “we read about 2500.” It could mean that some were not read because qualifying numbers were too low. It could mean that some came in after the deadline. It could mean that some were never completed. The statement did strike me as somewhat odd and I wondered what he meant by not “reading” all the apps. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that as long as Exeter has a lower yield than Andover, they will continue to admit more and have a higher acceptance rate. </p>
<p>I spoke with my son’s AO and he said that they turned away “so many really great kids.” I don’t doubt it.</p>
<p>Wow, what a thoughtless comment for a school representative to make. And I mean that literally, he should have thought before he spoke. He should have given a reason, hopefully a legitimate one (ie; incomplete app) right then and there as to why 500 applications were not read. Obviously, that admission didn’t affect the outcome of his audience at the moment, but if my dd had applied to Exeter and was not accepted, I would continually wonder if she was one of those 500. I would assume that the application fee gets your application read, at very least. I am sure kids on this board will wonder the same thing.
What a pr blunder.
zp</p>
<p>An admit rate of lower than 20% is still VERY low. They indeed had to turn down many strong applicants, even the legacy kids lik ExieitMIT’s daughter. Besides, if the admit rate is caulculated based on preliminary applications like some other schools do it’d be 16.3%.</p>
<p>zuzu, Didn’t catch your post when I responded. Yes, I think that’s a legitimate concern, but I guess he assumed the audience knew that an application was not read was because it was either incomplete or late? “low numbers” cannot be a reason. An application with low numbers and therefore was excluded from consideration at the first glance should still be considered read.</p>
<p>zp, I’m not sure what he meant. Until clarification, I would assume that those not read were late. </p>
<p>As for impressions? Son fell right into place. Isn’t it funny? I had some kind of bias against Exeter, I admit. We toured it simply because it was such a good academic fit. I think both my son and I were surprised at what a personal fit it was as well. Neither of us expected him to be admitted.</p>
<p>At the risk of using a cliche, Exeter “is what it is.” It either works for you or it doesn’t. There was no dog and pony show at the revisit. They didn’t trot out the performing groups for the parents or bring in special alum to speak. We appreciated that. They let the kids experience a normal day and let the parents ask questions in both panel format and in small groups by department. </p>
<p>Before son was admitted, I found Exeter (and Andover) to be guilty of the “hard sell.” It was refreshing that that was not present during the revisit. </p>
<p>Mr. Gary said something to the students at both the beginning and the end that I did appreciate. He reassured the students that they would NOT have been admitted if they didn’t think they were ready, if they didn’t think they could handle it. I’m sure every student (and many parents) have had their doubts about this. I know that my own son had wondered. Now that he has sat in on classes he is much more confident. He was tired a 4:00, when it was over and mentioned that the students weren’t even done yet, “…and they get up and do it all over again tomorrow. Must be GREAT!” </p>
<p>Ask me this time next year if it’s still “Great.” :)</p>
<p>In defense of the Adcom mentioned on this thread - </p>
<p>He’s a friend. He’s also a dad. So he knows what parents and students are going through. I think it’s awful that someone tries to be honest in a closed group of admitted students only to see the words posted on a public discussion board where speculation runs amuck and lots of paranoid people will use the thread to read other “things” into the comment.</p>
<p>Just as it is with MIT - Exeter and all boarding schools in general have a lot of students who start an application but don’t finish. Either because of cost, or the student started the application but didn’t have parent permission (so no fee was paid), or the applications were late. I ran into parents during our interview rounds who told me their daughter was rejected from every school because her public school sent the recommendations after the deadline.</p>
<p>Since you can start applications on line at many schools, a lot of people do that to explore the school and get the viewbooks.</p>
<p>So 500 incomplete applications out of 3,000 sounds about right. I do know, that they don’t “dismiss” an application based on a low score. MIT doesn’t. Some brilliant students have test anxiety or just bomb standardized scores in general. I’m pretty sure they read every complete application that is submitted.</p>
<p>So let’s not raise anxiety among students who apply, are rejected, then wonder if they were in the pool that wasn’t read. It’s not true.</p>
<p>And let’s cut the Adcom some slack. They have a terribly hard job. This is the only thread where I’ve seen people use someone’s real name to discuss a visit and a specific comment.</p>
<p>I’m crying foul on that one. And remember - this is a public board. It’s pretty easy to identify people from their posts and match them to the kid. </p>
<p>First semester kicked my proverbial ‘you know what’, but by second semester I had my second wind, and by MIT, I was ready to step into the rigor with no adjustment period.</p>
<p>Let me know how it goes for him. If he likes it now - he’ll like it even better once he gets into the groove.</p>
<p>Exie, you’re right. I should have been more clear in my post that I didn’t know what he meant. But it was strange and I do want to know what he meant. I don’t suspect anything sinister. It just left me scratching my head. I will assume that some were late or somehow incomplete. But do you think they read apps from kids with ssat’s below 50? I don’t pretend to know, so it’s a serious question.</p>
<p>I cut these people an enormous amount of slack. I don’t know how they do it, to be honest with you. It must be horribly difficult.</p>