<p>This the college stats for andover this year:
The Phillips Academy Class of 2009 will matriculate at 91 four-year colleges and universities. Top choices, accounting for nearly 43 percent of the class, include Harvard, 18; Yale, 14; Princeton, 13; Stanford, 12; University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, 10 each; Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Duke, 9 each; Johns Hopkins, Middlebury, and New York University, 8 each.</p>
<p>I mean, come on, 18 Harvard 14 Yale 13 Princeton 12 Stanford? That's ridiculous... Is there any Andover grads on cc can post their stats that they had to apply college? I don't understand this, how come a school like HYP each takes more than 20 kids at Andover?</p>
<p>Well considering that Andover is one of the best known boarding schools and the fact that they have soo many students, I would hope that their stats were this good</p>
<p>What’s surprising about this? If the list was BU 22, BC 17, Dickinson 13, Wake Forest 9, Rider 7, Hofstra 7, Delaware 5 etc., then fif would be surprised…</p>
<p>Schools like A, E, Deerfield, etc. are pretty selective in their admission. In a sense these students are already a shortlist of candidates for the top colleges. There is a theory that attending a top boarding school actually hurts rather than helps the college admission. If it’s true then more of these students if spread out in different schools would make their ways to top colleges. Don’t be alarmed by the seemingly big numbers just because they are from the same school.</p>
<p>It only relates to Andover to the extent that Andover concentrates highly talented, accomplished and motivated students in one place. These students would have done just as well with respect to matriculation had they attended podunk high. You must distinguish between causation and correlation: attendance at Andover and matriculation at a highly selective college are correlated, but they are not causally connected. In fact, a student who is not at the very highest level in terms of talent and accomplishment might be better off at a local high school than at Andover. It is easier to shine among average students than among the cream of the crop.</p>
<p>“a student who is not at the very highest level in terms of talent and accomplishment might be better off at a local high school than at Andover.”</p>
<p>Well if this is directed to the prospective applicants, let the school worry about it. They know what they are doing. Believe me if you are not talented and accomplished enough you won’t get in. If you get in, it means you have a fair shot to the top colleges. Of course not all can make it in the end. That’s true everywhere if not more true in schools other than the top tier BS.</p>
<p>I don’t agree that they would do just as well at a public school. Our local public, for instance, offers absolutely no way for an academically centered student to distinguish himself. There is no debate team, no quiz bowl, only a handful of AP’s, no science fair, no robotics team, no orchestra, no math team,…nothing. It doesn’t matter how brilliant or motivated a student may be, not only will they get virtually no opportunity from the high school to develop their talents and ambitions, those talents will likely be looked at as something to be “dealt with” in the face of the struggling kids instead of being valued and nurtured. That’s why they leave and go to schools like Andover.</p>