<p>Hi CC,
As of now I am applying to about 6 top top BS (all abbreviation) and 1 day school. On this form I have read about the importance of applying to safety schools. I have told my parents this information abd they say that unless it is a school I have heard of then your not applying and I wouldn't pay that much tuition you should just stay at your public school. I want to know of some good safety schools and how to convince my parents to let me apply.</p>
<p>Well, your parents may have a point. If you have a good day school and public school option, applying to just top boarding schools is an okay strategy. However, if I were you, I’d do some research on my own. See if you can find a less selective school that matches who you are, and then present that particular school to your parents, not as a safety but as a great fit for you–a place where you would flourish.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice clasicalmama I will do a see how it goes.</p>
<p>The marketability of a “safety” school is going to depend on how competitive your present local public school is. Unless your public school is a magnet school, or in an affluent neighborhood, I would expect that even a less selective BS will out shine the public school, as an OVERALL PACKAGE.</p>
<p>The term “prep” in “prep school” tells it all. College preparatory BS’s will be 100% filled with kids who are college-bound. There are social development & networking opportunities that no public school can match, especially if the BS has regular sit-down meals with faculty. After 2 years at his BS, GMTson now has an ease and confidence around adults that his day school friends have not developed (his old school friends hang around our home during his school breaks). </p>
<p>Being in a structured environment, where all the kids have mandatory study hall at the same time in the evenings has really honed disciplined study & time management skills. The BS graduates hit the ground running when they go to college and encounter day school kids who are away from home for the first time. </p>
<p>Then there are the facilities. I recently watched GMTson compete in an away game at a less selective BS-- wow, what a beautiful campus & impressive athletics facilities!</p>
<p>On the definition of a “safety school”, don’t mistake a school with a 35% admit rate as a saftey for an insanely-selective school with a 15% admit rate. The less selective BS’s are still capable of awarding generous FA. In fact, you might be a more favorable candidate for FA if your stats lie towards the upper end of the school’s stat range.</p>
<p>The Pomfret School is easy to get into, and an alumnus recently won the Nobel prize. That’ll convince them</p>
<p>Pomfret is not an easy school to get into. I don’t know where you got that impression, but it’s absolutely wrong.</p>
<p><em>relatively</em> easy compared to HADES schools - average ssat 67%</p>
<p>THat’s their criteria? A school “they have heard of”? I would ask them a little more about why that is a valid reason to choose a school. There are plenty of hidden gems out there that do a wonderful job of educating. Brand-name awareness is not a reason to go to a BS or a college.</p>
<p>triangles- Pomfret is a small school compared to others and even with killer stats, it’s not a given you’ll be accepted. Like anywhere else, they’re looking for students who can be easily woven into the fabric of their community. Do you have what it takes to be a Pomfret student? Would you be accepted there? Perhaps, but I wouldn’t rely on information gathered from Boarding School Review or what you’ve read online somewhere.</p>
<p>Schedule an interview, tour the campus and form your own opinions based on that experience. See if what they offer suits you and if you can imagine spending four years of your life there. Afterward, if you want to wave it off as a safety- by all means do.</p>
<p>But I don’t think you will.</p>
<p>Most people I know would be honored to receive an acceptance letter from Pomfret. Most people I know would be honored/delighted to receive a letter from any BS with a 35% acceptance rate… Think about that. It will help you down the road and may make March 10th a more pleasant day.</p>
<p>@surfcity- I hear you! :)</p>
<p>I understand what you were trying to say, Pomfret is a prestigious school and anyone would love to have the opportunity to attend such a school! In fact, I mentioned the school because it’s amazing. I happen to live near Pomfret, so I know a LOT about it first hand, and will not be applying for various reasons (it doesn’t suit me). Many of my friends attend Pomfret and love it! And since an alumnus won the Nobel prize, perhaps it would appeal to the OP, as their parents are interested in name-brand schools that they have heard of.</p>
<p>@PhotographerMom: It might not be easy to get into because of the Tufts’ effect, but where I’m from, the education consultant generally recommends Pomfret to full pay students who might not have the best of stats. And many of them get in, even with 40% SSATs, since they are full pay. When I was going through my school list with him, he even recommended me a “higher” safety because my stats may have been too high (paraphrased from his words!). Pomfret might be a perfect fit for a lot of students, but I don’t think the high-achieving kind belongs there.</p>
<p>Well, if you need substantial FA, no school should be seen as a safety because brand name schools are competitive by nature, and smaller hidden gems may not have the fund to provide you with FA if you’re merely a “good” student.</p>
<p>eluviumz- I think what your consultant told you may have been (somewhat) true 10/15 years ago, but not now. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.</p>
<p>As far as schools taking on FP students with low SSAT scores- the line forms to the left. ALL schools do this for a variety of reasons. It’s been going on since the beginning of time. </p>
<p>40% is a stretch though… I’ve never heard of a FP BS student getting in anywhere with that score.</p>
<p>Just be advised: They do accept a crop of FP underachievers at Dream Schools, too. So easy with the " I don’t think the high-achieving kind belongs there" line- especially if you’ve never set foot on campus and your info is dated and secondhand.</p>
<p>My info is as dated and secondhand as yours is :). Your kid isn’t even attending a Dream School (Berkshire, correct?), so what makes your opinion more firsthand than mine? </p>
<p>the 40% does happen because the consultant is actually a relative of mine, and he keeps a record of kids going through his service and where they ended up. . .but I don’t know if it’s also because of the diversity factor that kids from where I’m from will bring to the hidden gems. For instance, a girl–a former schoolmate of mine–was accepted by Berkshire 4 years ago without even having to take the SSAT! Another former classmate was accepted into Governor’s Academy with a 42%, taken twice.</p>
<p>My point is that whereas top schools accept full pay/low SSAT scores perhaps for athletic recruiting purposes/filling in the bottom decile, their statistical counterparts at the hidden gems may not be quite accomplished in other areas than the academics. They need to fill an incoming class, too, and the pools of applicants are most likely not the same as those of the brand names.</p>
<p>Secondly, I understand where you’re coming from. My friend at a GLADCHEMMS imparted to me that at his school, the top 15-20% are generally amazing/genius/incredibly accomplished kids that he probably could have found nowhere else, but the intellectual quality of the bottom 10-15% is not quite up to par. However, the fact that the Dream Schools do accept a crop of FP underachievers does not contradict my statement that high achievers will generally fit in better at Dream Schools, where there is a larger proportion of similarly minded kids. Underachievers accepted into Dream Schools will most likely struggle there academically/athletically, and they may have been better off at a less competitive school.</p>
<p>“Dream School” is somewhat subjective. One kid’s Dream School could be another kid’s Nightmare.
eluviumz, please mind your tone – no need to be rude or make personal remarks to PhotoMom. Let’s all please remember that we’re here to offer support to one another!</p>
<p>The purpose of going to a boarding school (at least to my family) is help students become more independent and mature and get education including other aspects of life than college prep such as accountability, integrity and environmental awareness, etc. Public schools in general with limited resources can hardly reach the similar level. </p>
<p>Also at boarding schools, chances are high that you meet friends for life, which was also a good selling point to us. (It doesn’t mean that at public schools you don’t ^^)</p>
<p>While you may end up going to better colleges after public school (many people do!), the quality of education you can get at boarding school should also be a good marketing point. In other words, college matriculation is not the only reason for a boarding school. </p>
<p>One more point. Top boarding schools’ reputation hasn’t been established based solely on their academic excellence. Overall quality and content of their education is another main factor. As such, if your safety school is too much safety, you should consider your parent’s point.</p>
<p>Why playing the word game? You are talking about highly selective schools and less selective schools. Since “selective” in itself is a measure of “input”, which is naturally reflected in the difference of their students’ academic profiles including SSAT scores in schools of different selectivity. If you ask me if the overall quality of the student body of a school with 15% admit rate is substantially different than that of a school with 20% admit rate, I’d say no, but if you are comparing say a school of 15% admit rate and a school of 35%, I’d agree with eluviumz, who made a convincing argument on this.</p>
<p>For the record, I don’t appreciate the way eluviumz referenced photomom’s “dream school”. I think eluviumz could’ve thought of a better way to say his/her info was valid.</p>
<p>Sorry, by “Dream School”, I meant “brand name/highly selective school”. I didn’t think it could be read as a personal attack on PhotographerKid and other kids whose “Dream Schools” might not be the brand names. I apologize for sounding impertinent with my response.</p>
<p>
I find it SHOCKING that this consultant relative of yours is so indiscrete about his/her clients’ business. I was really surprised on that other thread that u knew all the SSAT scores of the Vietnamese kids presently enrolled in many schools. </p>
<p>Really unprofessional. I hope potential clients think twice about using this consultant, as their personal business will be fodder for internet gossip.</p>
<p>I only know the SSAT scores of those whom I know personally because we’re friends and we compared that kind of info with one another when applying. . .</p>
<p>The consultant didn’t say names–the data disclosed to me was more like a NAVIANCE thing for his business. You don’t look at a school’s NAVIANCE and say, “oh, how unprofessional”, right?</p>
<p>GMT, talking about grades and scores or disclosing them to friends may not be such a “taboo” in Asian culture. eluviumz said those kids were his/her friends. As for the consultant relative’s “indiscretion”, I’m not sure if discussions of academic profiles for certain schools’ candidates are the same as disclosing the personal information of their clients.</p>