I recently have been worried about my school and the fact that I don’t go to a feeder school. I go to a big public high school. How drastically will this reduce my chances of getting in somewhere like Georgetown or U Chicago?
You’re a sophomore. Get great grades, a strong test score, top notch ECs and develop a rapport with a few teacher recommenders. Control what you can and you’ll get into a great school, whether it’s one of those two or not.
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You can’t do anything about that. Those colleges accept kids from plenty of high schools that aren’t feeder schools. If you must worry about something, worry about stuff you can control. And try not to worry at all. You do your best, plain and simple.
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Please stop looking for things to worry about! The whole “feeder school” thing is wildly overblown in people’s imagination. There are a very small number of schools that can still be called ‘feeder schools’ - and even they are not the sure shot they used to be. The % of students admitted to Georgetown or UChicago who come from schools that could be considered ‘feeder schools’ is so small that it will not be why you don’t get accepted to one of them.
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I agree with the other answers. I do not think that which high school you attend is going to make much difference to your chances of attending Chicago, or Georgetown, or another highly ranked university.
You might want to read the blog “applying sideways” on the MIT admissions website. My understanding of this blog is that the best way to get admitted to a highly ranked university is to do what is right for you, and do it very well. This is also the right way to get accepted to a school that is a good match for you (and is what I and some other family members have done to get into some top schools).
A friend of a daughter went to U.Chicago (from a big public high school). You should understand that Chicago is a very academically demanding university (as is MIT). If you are the #1 top student in your high school, then you would be only average at Chicago or MIT, and you would need to work very hard to do well there.
I went to a relatively mediocre high school. As a freshman at MIT I discovered that my roommate had attended an even worse high school. That did not stop either of us from getting into a top university, nor from graduating four years later. The other students at MIT had come from a very, very, very wide range of high schools, but most had come from big public high schools. I think that you would find the same at Chicago or Georgetown.
You also need to think about what you want in a university, find a university that is a good fit for you, and keep your budget in mind.
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i agree with the sentiment and have made a variety of similar posts. I believe the larger number of matriculates to selective private colleges from selective private high schools are primarily driven by the 3 factors listed below. Once these factors are controlled for, I expect the differences in admit rates for similarly qualified applicants will generally be small enough to the point where it is not clear that the HS name offers any advantage on average. Instead some kids will have better results in the selective private HS with a high concentration of top students and others will have better results at the non-selective public HS without a high concentration of top students. It depends on a variety of factors, such as whether the student excels in the particular HS and takes advantages of the available opportunities/resources.
- There is a high concentration of well qualified students, using relating to the high school being highly selective.
- There is often a high rate of hooked students.
- Kids attending selective, private high schools are far more likely to be interested in and to apply to selective private colleges.
That said, University of Chicago and Georgetown are both anomalies from typical Ivy+ type colleges and may show a strong preference for certain private prep type high schools. I suspect the original poster was aware of this and did not just randomly happen to list these 2 colleges. Some example stats from another thread are quoted below for Harvard-Westlake high school, which is a highly selective HS from which applicants tend to have high stats.
Admit Rates for Unhooked 3.6 to 3.8 GPA Kids at Harvard-Westlake
Chicago – 17/36 = 47% accepted
Georgetown 10/24 = 42% accepted
MIT – <1 per year (too small sample)
Yale – <1 per year (too small sample)
Harvard – <1 per year (too small sample)
Stanford – <1 per year (too small sample)
Princeton – 0 acceptances
The full admit rate by GPA for students without distinction (not ALDC hooked) is below.
Chicago
3.8 to 4.0 GPA – 8/37 = 22% Admit Rate
3.6 to 3.8 GPA – 17/36 = 47% Admit Rate
3.4 to 3.6 GPA – 2/15 = 13% Admit Rate
Georgetown
3.8 to 4.0 GPA – 21/27 – 77% Admit Rate
3.6 to 3.8 GPA – 10/24 = 42% Admit Rate
3.4 to 3.6 GPA – 1/9 = 11% Admit Rate
Of course Chicago and Georgetown both also admit plenty of kids from public schools as well. I haven’t seen specific numbers published, but I’d expect the majority of admits attended public high schools. One certainly does not have to attend a “feeder school” to be admitted.
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I agree, @Data10, and will point out how few students it represents. The headline of a 77/42/11% admit rate (Georgetown)admit makes you think ‘wow’- but that is still just 22 total students- out of a class of 3300+. There has been a lot of talk about UChic seeming to have a soft spot for H-W students, and admit rates of 22/47/13% are eye-opening- but again, just 27 students out of a class of ~2500. Even if there are 50 ‘H-W’-like schools (which is arguable), that’s still just 10% of the class.
I think the senior class is around 300 kids.
Agree with the others:
–The colleges you asked about must be considered reaches for ALL unhooked applicants regardless of what HS they attend. Both colleges accepted under 15% of all applicants for the most recent class.
– Don’t worry about things you can’t change. But yes one can get into a top college from a “non-feeder” HS.
–You are a sophomore – IMO it is too early to be thinking about specific colleges. HS should be an experience in an of itself – a time of learning and growth – not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
–For now I would focus on:
1)Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
2)Studying for standardized tests when the time comes.
3)Continuing your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
4)Enjoying time with your family and friends.
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sorry, to clarify- I was referring to the incoming classes at Georgetown/UChic, not the H-W class
285 kids this year at HWL
18 just committed to UChicago
Do not know how many were accepted from those that applied
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That sounds like a feeder stat to me! That’s a lot!
Feeder schools definitely exist. This was detailed in Mitch Steven’s book “Creating a Class”. This practice has been going on for many years.
Admissions officers at many of these colleges are not paid well. They can often get much higher pay, and steady upward progression at private high schools. Many counselors at private high schools are former admissions officers at Ivy+ colleges.
Counselors at private high schools have phone access to admissions officers at the top colleges. They even have regular teleconferences where candidates are discussed. A well heeled high school counselor can pick up the phone and pitch a student. I’ve personally seen a case where a student was converted from wait list to Z-list at a T5 college due to HS counselor intervention.
These feeder schools often have an unofficial number of students that they’ll accept each year. Typically they will take legacies, URMs, development cases, plus the top ranking students. How many each year varies. But it is usually fairly consistent. At my son’s boarding school they typically matriculated about 15 kids to Princeton each year.
The two colleges you mentioned: UChicago and Georgetown are probably the most well known in terms of relying on feeders. They have a large portion of each class who are from wealthy suburban areas + private schools. But they also accept a lot of students outside of these categories. You still have a chance. Just put your best foot forward, you won’t be at a disadvantage.
This may be less common than the following type of situation:
- Students X, Y, Z go to the (dedicated college) counselor with preliminary lists of HYPS + safety (like Arizona State, Alabama, Mississippi, etc.).
- Based on connections with various highly selective private colleges, counselor has semi-inside knowledge that X, Y, Z have less chance at HYPS than the usual miniscule chance that is normally assumed, but also semi-inside knowledge that (for example) Amherst is looking for students like X, Bowdoin is looking for students like Y, and Columbia is looking for students like Z, and that X, Y, Z chances at A, B, C are significantly higher than stats-based assessments that A, B, C are “reach for everyone” would indicate.
- So the counselor encourages X, Y, Z to apply ED to A, B, C, and helps arrange for the teacher recommendations for each that are optimal for those target colleges.
- If, for example, X, Y get into A, B in ED, they are now going to a highly selective private college instead of a “lowly” (as probably viewed in this type of private high school) public university.
- If, for example, Z does not get into C in ED, the counselor presumably has also encouraged Z to apply to other private colleges that are more selective than the “lowly” public universities but can be considered match or likely (especially with the counselor’s semi-inside knowledge from connections).
- As a result, Z still gets into a highly selective private college (maybe even C in RD, but if not, something that makes them feel better than the safety on the initial list).
In contrast, if X, Y, Z had been at a typical high school with minimal counseling resources, they would all have applied to and gotten rejected from HYPS and gone to colleges like Arizona State, Alabama, Mississippi.
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This is not a debate of if feeder school’s exist. If someone would like to start a separate thread on that, feel free. Move on please.
So, what is this thread about ?
I am confused
Answering the question as posed by the OP. Specifically, “How drastically will this reduce my chances of getting in somewhere like Georgetown or U Chicago?”
I missed that. The title of the thread says feeder schools.
I will get out of this
Student is worried because they are not in a “feeder” school - that they won’t get into a top school.
That’s an uncontrollable - and it’s simply not true. The student can get into any school if they are positioned properly…can does not = will - and that’s the same for any student at any school.
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So my son’s Chicago school used to be a University of Chicago, Northwestern and University of Illinois champaign feeder. They sent like 25 to Chicago and Northwestern and like everyone to UIUC. About less then 200 /class.
This is a public selective enrollment school. Which means 99.6% and above gets you in /looked at.
Saying this. Lots of students from typical Chicago publics and Surburban publics and of course out of state.
If you don’t get in it won’t be because your not at a feeder school. It’s getting harder every year getting into certain colleges. Don’t have favorite schools. But definitely have schools as goals. Also really look at the schools and their culture and fit. Both great schools but the same person applying to UChicago is probably not applying to GT.
Do well in school. Be involved. Do things you like and don’t try to guess what a college wants to see.
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