<p>Dear Blairt,</p>
<p>EVERYONE who applies to Exeter has a high SSAT, a great essay, and amazing extracurriculars, as well as an A average. You're not special. How you got into Exeter? It may not have been your money, but it sure as heck wasn't your charmng personality.</p>
<p>-a current Exonian senior (sharing account with aforementioned "proud mom")</p>
<p>?????????????</p>
<ol>
<li> I'm not rich.</li>
<li> I never said I was special. Or implied it. I'm well aware that I'm not, and wasn't even expecting an acceptance.</li>
<li> I only noted my "stats" to prove that my acceptance wasn't a fluke.</li>
</ol>
<p>I simply noted that my "stats" were in line with other accepted students at AESD (4.0/98 ssat/great essay/blue ribbons), so my acceptance was not an anomaly/a fluke/the product of a 50 mil donation (which never occurred, by the way, see #1). It was the profile of the average accepted student. Baseballmom implied that the reason I got in was because I have "reaped the benefits of privilege" -- you just tell me where all of my family's money is, because I'd like some of it. I can't seem to find it anywhere.</p>
<p>Whereas, she feels that because her son attends a "bad public school" and she's not entirely confident in his essay writing, he should benefit from the costly services of an ed consultant and an essay editor, although he is already benefiting from a very powerful privilege: athletic recruiting.</p>
<p>This is what was clearly implied:</p>
<p>-"stats" in line with other accepted students, bad public school, non-rich parents, no essay editing, entire admissions process executed with no parental assistance, non recruited athlete/non student of color/non celebrity child</p>
<p>= plutocratic</p>
<p>-"stats" unknown, bad public school, non-rich parents, essay editing and ed consultant, heavy parental involvement and assistance, recruited athlete</p>
<p>= meritocratic</p>
<p>I'm locking this thread.</p>
<p>Blairt- an educational consultant does NOT have to be costly. This is NOT the same as "IvyPrep" or the like. It can be an inexpensive and worthwhile process for a family who doesn't have the knowledge many of us on this forum have, or who has a child with a unique situation.</p>
<p>Are you a moderator, D'yer?</p>
<p>I'm simply willing this thread to be locked.</p>
<p>I've been enjoying this flame war you kids have been having, but I hope that the parents reading this don't take Blair as representative of Exeter, because she certainly is not. I'm going to be a four year senior this year, and for the most part I can say Exeter is a stimulating place filled with passionate students and teachers. And although there are a couple of kids that don't know the meaning of humble (see above), the rest are just as humble as they are stimulating.
Regarding a consultant, I agree that they could be very useful in helping you navigate the complicated world of prep schools. That said, I didn't use one and come from a place where boarding school is where you send a misbehaving child; I didn't even know prep schools existed until about 5 months before I applied. Yet, I was accepted at some great schools, including Exeter. What I'm saying is that having a consultant may help, but NOT having one doesn't hurt.</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear that my son is suddenly a recruited athlete! (where did that come from?)</p>
<p>Sad to hear that he's from a bad public school, though...here I was thinking it was mediocre!</p>
<p>I hope they hand out drool buckets and big crayons to the neanderthal admits like my son! LOL</p>
<p>I think that earning 30 blue ribbons in riding does take some monetary input on the parents' part....probably costs just a tad more than an ed-consultant.
Just a question....blairt keeps saying that baseballmom's son is a recruited athlete. Is he? I might have missed that, but I thought she was asking for schools with a strong baseball program/good pitching coach. I felt that she has a son who is certainly serious about the sport, but I don't know if she came right out and said he was recruited, or even recruitable.</p>
<p>gRower-- I know several former Exonians and a couple of current ones and they are impressive human beings overall and certainly intelligent and well-educated. You're fortunate to be part of that exalted community! Good for you.</p>
<p>Thank you for your on-topic comments regarding a consultant. We're still on the fence since we don't need much help with school choice and that seems to be the main service provided.</p>
<p>Keylyme...in my dreams! :)</p>
<p>I was under the impression that he was just as good at the sport as his family seems invested in the activity (ie the username "baseballmom"). They seem very into his baseball career -- obviously, he's not terrible at it. And in the baseball thread, it was noted that he will need professional instruction at prep school to further develop his pitch. It doesn't sound like a hobby to me.</p>
<p>And on the public school note, that's how you justified using an ed consultant.. because his teachers and whatnot just aren't experienced with the process. If it's just a "decent" school, well, that's another mark you have on me. My school was most definitely "bad" -- muy bad indeed. And I edited my own essays and got in. It can be done.. it has been done by many before me.</p>
<p>Again, if I were rich.. I wouldn't have done so much legwork.. my parents could have hired someone. I've spent upwards of a couple thousand hours reading old brochures, current brochures, alumni biographies, Times archives, education studies, private school laws, the sociological aspects of education.. as well as pouring over my essays for hours and re-editing and re-editing and re-editing. Thousands of hours. It consumed my life for a year straight. Education research became a hobby.. I now know all of these useless random facts and figures from all sorts of schools from reading so much.. the number of buildings at Thacher, the pieces at Andover's gallery, the course descriptions for half of the courses at Exeter, Irving's experience at Exeter, King Abdullah's speech at Deerfield, the SPS's dean's salary, ....all this crap nobody needs to know. AT all. I've spent so much time on this.. I could have been writing or riding or studying. But, I now really know that I found my fit, and learned a lot about education in the process. That's why it's important to do it on your own.. it's "you" that way... you don't get to miss out.</p>
<p>well said blairt</p>
<p>Also, the reason I think my essays were so good was because they really, really captured my thought process, by showing, not telling -- something i have trouble with in my writing. That's exactly what an app essay should be like, and I was struggling with it before, because I wanted to "tell" them everything. It just came out perfectly.. one of those essays you think of while in the shower, then write as soon as you get out and it's basically finished 20 minutes later.. one of those that just "comes to you".. and then you edit each little detail later on of course. It was just very natural. I got to mention a cause important to me, my favorite book, and life experience/perspective was demonstrated in the theme of the essay. It was everything I wanted from an app essay, and until then, I was having a lot of trouble with it.</p>
<p>My other essays were a bit more off topic. Tabor's was really good (took a very weird approach and went on for 3 pages), but didn't say anything about me. Taft's was an essay I wrote in 8th grade, revised to fit the prompt. SPS's was hilariously jumbled because of a computer error (submitted app on computer)... whole paragraphs were omitted on that one, and sentences were cut off. Choate's.. one of my faves, but a bit disconnected from my personality.. though I liked that one too. Exeter was so on the mark, the more I read it, the more I am convinced that the essay alone is what got me in..</p>
<p>Also.. some of the points on the exeter essay which make it so "me" would have def. been omitted by a reviewer... it wasn't the "safest" of essays, because, well, i took a very different approach.</p>
<p>Well, now that Blair seems to be done describing in laborious detail about how awesome she is, let's get back to the topic.
BaseballMom - Your predicament is understandable. I guess it's just a matter of where you wish to spend your money, because I really think that if your son belongs at Exeter (lord knows we could use some talent in baseball) he will get accepted with or without a consultant. It's really a cost/benefit analysis situation as compared to one where not having a consultant would be detrimental to your son's admission experience.</p>
<p>gRower--Exeter would be a big reach for him. Our plan is to apply to 2-3 matches. I've received several pms from those familiar with the ed consultant process that indicate school selection is primary. </p>
<p>We're familiar enough with the NE preps to have narrowed down our choices to 3 - 5 schools already, so we'll have to weigh benefit vs. cost of hiring a third party to oversee the app process.</p>
<p>This is our second time around. Our D went through the application process in the early 2000's. She is a writer/artist type and son is more of an inventor/hands-on type, so his approach to the application process will be unique. If he could submit engineering diagrams of his ideas rather than essays, we'd be all set!</p>
<p>Oh, the utility of IP addresses.</p>
<p>Well, baseballmom, I think you might have lead for an essay there. If he has one where you get one topic to talk about anything of importance, he could talk about an engineering diagram, how he came up with it, his interest in it, and then attach it. That would be great.</p>
<p>I'm actually scared now.</p>
<p>Wow, this turned into quite a heated post. I just want to give one more thought since I am an educational consultant. Blair is wrong about a few things. First, regarding the essays: Most kids applying to boarding school are NOT applying to the Exeter's of the world. The reason they are going to boarding school in the first place is because of poor results in their current school, or some issue. Not only do I review the essays, I call the admissions officers and we talk about the essay, their writing skill, what level they are at, etc. The number of kids applying to schools like Exeter is in the minority. Consultants aren't trying to help package kids, to cheat, or anything other than help them to find a better situation for themselves.</p>
<p>Second, I think it is impossible to research boarding schools on yoru own and have a true educated view. Websites and brochures are designed by PR firms. To find out what a school is really like, or what type of student succeeds there, you should talk to students who attend, parents of students, consultants and counselors who visit schools each year, etc. especially for the schools that aren't in the top 10---they often promote themselves as having the type of kids who they wish they had. </p>
<p>I'd encourage you all to look carefully and don't believe everything on the internet---get out and visit schools, talk to people, ask the hard questions.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>