<p>Harvard Crimson newspaper just published an interesting article discussing top "feeder schools" to Harvard, noting that 5% of students come from only seven schools: Boston Latin, Phillips Andover, Stuyvesant, Noble and Greenough, Phillips Exeter, Trinity in NY and Lexington High School, and discussing factors contributing, including the college counseling offered. </p>
<p>In contrast, 74% of students come from schools where they were the only student admitted.</p>
<p>milliee, at first your account sounded plausible, but it’s really just full of speculation. You really need evidence to back up your claim. Harvard faculty members are as likely to live in Brookline, Belmont, Newton, and surprise, Cambridge as in Lexington. As far as I know, families who are keen on college matriculation and wouldn’t mind high property tax tend to move to the school district from neighboring towns.</p>
<p>Wow, Milliee. Such sweeping generalizations! Do you really believe there are no middle-class or working-class, hard-working, unconnected kids at those private schools who were admitted to Harvard? That it’s ALL all about money and connections? And that it’s only public school kids who “actually” graduate with honors and excel on their own merit?</p>
<p>Sorry but that theory doesn’t hold true for essentially every kid I know admitted to Harvard and its peer schools in recent years.</p>
<p>Milieee, I agree your argument is difficult to defend, particularly since Lexington is a modest Boston suburb compared to Weston or Newton for example. No reason faculty would be more concentrated in Lexington, which is a hike outside town in terrible traffic.</p>
<p>In addition, the image of wealthy privilege at the boarding schools has radically changed in the last 30 years. Over half the students are minorities, and the majority of students receive very substantial financial aid. Legacy plays a very small role these days. </p>
<p>Harvard is actively recruiting minorities and students from underprivileged backgrounds. The prep schools may be a great choice for those students, giving a full ride to any admitted student with family income under 75K.</p>
<p>To me, this is the most remarkable fact. That would mean over 1,200 high schools all over the country and around the world, with each one of them represented at Harvard by arguably its best student. Talk about diversity… it’s mind boggling.</p>
<p>Agree with Valdog. So far the great majority of kids admitted to Ivies from Exeter have been high achieving athletic recruits and first-generation/URM students. Many on significant FA.</p>
<p>As to traffic, Massachusetts Avenue, otherwise known as Route 2, runs through Lexington. A Harvard professor needs to access Cambridge, not Boston, unless he/she teaches at the Medical School. A married professor, with children, is likely to have a spouse who works somewhere other than Harvard. Lexington offers access to Route 2 and 128, ideal for dual-career couples.</p>
<p>Weston has many rich people, and lawyers, but I wouldn’t choose to live there if I had to get to Cambridge on a regular basis. Route 30, which runs through Weston, becomes Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Newton is Route 9, which leads conveniently to Harvard Medical School and the hospital complexes in its immediate area. </p>
<p>According to Google Maps, Lexington, Weston and Newton are all 21 - 22 minutes from Harvard University. However, Weston and Newton depend on the Pike to get there. The Pike is great when there’s no traffic. Getting off the Pike at certain times of day can be…challenging.</p>
<p>In addition, Harvard professors aren’t paid enough to live in Weston.</p>
<p>^^Many of them have secondary income (not through spouses), often much higher than their salary. </p>
<p>Lexington would certainly have Harvard faculty members, but how would you explain Belmont? These towns are similar in many ways but one is a feeder school and the other is not.</p>
<p>Of the 18 Harvard matriculants’ from Andover in 2013, 11 were inducted to the Cum Laude Society. Among the other 7, I know at least 2-3 were recruited athletes, 1 URM and 1 Harvard faculty kid (it’s possible that one individual wears multiple hats). Are there legacy or faculty kids among those 11? You bet, but does it matter as much as it made sound like? Because most of those top students ended up in top colleges - Harvard or otherwise - anyway regardless their “hook status”. Is everyone satisfied with their college outcome? No, but why should they? Look in the college forum of CC. How many top students around the country are disappointed? The complexities of the process hold true everywhere. </p>
<p>Legacy or other connections are tricky to analyze to say the least. I know one H legacy kid got in H and Y, and chose Y. Another Princeton legacy kid chose Stanford over Princeton. So did their legacy status help? Maybe. But does it affect the matriculation stats in this case? Not much. What we see on CC is people tend to wildly magnify one element of the matrix while minimizing others. It’s true that if legacy, faculty kids and other connections/hooks were never considered, there probably would be fewer kids from Andover and the like getting in Harvard, but then you need to look at the small private schools in your neighborhood and the public schools in your affluent suburbs. The 2-3 kids getting in H or the like every year from there could be legacy, URM, and recruited athletes as well. So how would that change?</p>