<p>Hello. Which schools do you think offer the best financial aid?</p>
<p>From what I've seen here..</p>
<p>St. Paul's.</p>
<p>I think Exeter.
It has the largest endownment of the prep school in the US</p>
<p>Elite 8 : Lawrenceville, Choate, Deerfield, Exeter, Hotchkiss, St-Paul's, Andover and Milton.</p>
<p>endownment is not the key, endownment per student is.</p>
<p>Yeah, isn't Groton's endowment larger than Choate's but it has almost 1/3 the students?</p>
<p>exeter - 835,185 per students, as off december 06
groton - 821,022 per student
sps - 765,000 per student, as of feb 8, 07
andover - 573,000 per student, as of june 06, 593,000 as of decmeber</p>
<p>and Exeter is entirely need-blind, wheras SPS is known for accepting.. students from established, well-established families, and rejecting more capable students (as seen on the boards here this year).. same goes for Groton.</p>
<p>Exeter and Andover offer the best FA.</p>
<p>correction:
exeter's published endownment on their website is 806 million
published enrollment is 1030
806M/1030 = 782524 per student
addition
382M/554 = 689711 per student</p>
<p>Exeter's endowment as of 7 December 2006 was $902 million.</p>
<p>Communications Office, "Facts 2006-2007: Phillips Exeter Academy," Exeter, 2006.</p>
<p>stelmaria -- I have been following this board for some time, and I've heard that financial aid is difficult for International applicants. Perhaps people with some experience in this can comment.</p>
<p>In general, the schools with very large endowments can be more generous with financial aid. And yes, endowment per student is a better measure than just endowment. You can go to <a href="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com%5B/url%5D">www.boardingschoolreview.com</a> and search for schools with the largest endowments. You can also search for schools with the largest percent of students on financial aid. However, some schools with small endowments will provide aid to a large number but not provide large amounts. </p>
<p>Many of the schools with large endowments are also among the most competitive in the country. You might look at a school like Mercersburg which has a large endowment, a high percent on financial aid, but is not among the most competitive, although it certainly is competitive. Take a look at some of the all-girls schools like Emma Willard as well.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Is Exeter need-blind?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/147_351.aspx%5B/url%5D">http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/147_351.aspx</a>
"Being a candidate for financial aid places a student in a more competitive situation for admission to the Academy."</p>
<p>Exeter's going to be need-blind for the freshman class entering in 2011, from what I've read. They're not need-blind yet, but need-sensitive (I think that was the phrase they used).</p>
<p>Exeter is not need-blind; my eldest was wait listed there for FA a few years ago. SPS is need-blind. We got a full boat at NMH.</p>
<p>I know that 45% of the accepted student this year received aid. the new FA initiatives (need-blind, more aid, all grants, no loans, all socioeconomic classes) were instilled this year.</p>
<p>stelmaria--I would like to echo burb parent's caution that financial aid is VERY difficult to get for international applicants to prep schools. The combination, grade 12 plus international financial aid is pretty well mission impossible. If nevertheless you wish to pursue it, I would look at competing at a school like St. Andrews-Sewanee which is a bit of a sleeper amongst preps. It allows you to cross register with Sewanee (University of the South) courses. If I were holding your hand ( and as parent of international applicants to US preps and collegesI know whereoff I speak) I would focus on getting into Williams or Princeton from where you are. That's where you want to go anyway and there your odds of getting in with money are comparatively quite good. For the record, Harvard, Princeton, Yale. Williams, Dartmouth are need blind to international applicants. Most other places are not. Since they are looking for students from Eastern Europe, your odds might be quite good.</p>
<p>I know that you cannot say apodictically (as I did) that your chances are zero at the preps but they would have to be vanishingly small. Not worth thinking about, forget it.</p>
<p>Advice?</p>
<p>Get a mentor who knows you and who will write for you. The rector or conrector of your school might be a good choice. Improve your English!!! Spend the summer in England if you have to. You are shooting for International Relations. You had better get an 800 on the CR and Writing part of the SAT.</p>
<p>there waas a girl i came across.. she went to exeter, came from thailand, did her 12th year there.. and got like, all a's (maybe one a-)!! and supposively, she didn't learn math with a calculator growing up, so she must have been very poor (maybe that's how they teach high-level math in thailand, but i doubt it.. a graphing calculator is an integral part of the curriculum). she got into like every ivy. just amazing, considering all of those obstacles and everything. anyway, she's an anamoly, and i don't even know if she got aid.</p>
<p>i will post her site later if i can find it</p>
<p>I know the Thai girl. She got a King's Scholarship to Exeter (not financial aid). </p>
<p>By the way, high level math in Thailand is taught WITH graphing calculators, except for the really smart people who CHOOSE to do mental math without calculators.</p>
<p>The point is not whether it is possible for a truly exceptional intenational student to get a scholarship to a prep but whether stelmaria should be playing the admissions lottery at a prep rather than mount a strong application to Williams/Princeton where she really wants to go. From an admissions with full financial aid perspective, from my experience for what it is worth, her chances at Exeter or St. Paul's, let alone Groton, would have to be almost zero. Her chances at Princeton or Williams, provided she mounts a strong application are not zero. They are in fact pretty good. The key is to focus on what would make her a desireable 'diversity' candidate i.e., on what her presence would add to the strength of the student body. Again, her first job is to focus on how the system works and how she can mount the strongest possible application. This applies to the preps as well as the colleges. Financial Aid realities effectively limits Stelmaria to a handful of colleges --Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Williams--all of them in her particular case easier to get into with money than Exeter.</p>
<p>I just went to this:
<a href="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/48%5B/url%5D">http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/48</a>
and it gave stats on Emma Willard vs. boarding school average. You can do it with pretty much and boarding school if you just go straight to <a href="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com%5B/url%5D">www.boardingschoolreview.com</a> and then choose your school...
you'll know what I mean when you go there. It tells you what that school usually gives out for financial aid. I found it really cool</p>