How Many Schools

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>To how many schools should an applicant apply, to have a good chance of admission to boarding schools? I've gathered such a wide range of responses from friends and acquaintances. Online, I've found the answer "4 to 6," which seems to be too few. On the other hand, I just heard of a family which applied to more than 12, which sounds exhausting.</p>

<p>So, I'd appreciate an estimate, for this year's applicants. Also, if the answers could estimate the numbers for each category of applicant, or just a general range of "too few...too many." That is,</p>

<p>Full Pay
Partial FA
Full FA
Gifted Athlete
Academic Star/High SSATs
Development
Musician
Nice Kid, Interviews Well
International</p>

<p>These categories overlap, of course. I may have overlooked a category. The simple Full Pay/FA divide would help, as many posters on this site, or their parents, are looking for FA. Andover, Exeter, and St. Paul's can't take them all.</p>

2

<p>I'm guessing the SSAT one will be pretty much 99% of the kids on CC.
International, it's more like 10% (a guess)
"nice kid, interviews well" it seems like a majority of the students on CC would do an interview well unless some unpredictable catastrophe happened.</p>

<p>I'm applying for 9, which I think is a bit too much even though 5 of them are TSAO. A good number is 7. I had 7. Then I added another school. Scheduled an interview. Then added another TSAO school. Really really really want to go there.
If you really have to, do 8. I don't suggest going over 10 at all, to be honest. 9 is pushing it to me, and I'm considering withdrawing an app from a school, but haven't really decided that yet.
4-6 is the estimate for kids who will have 2 reaches, 2 matches, and 2 safeties (normally this rule also applies to colleges, but i think 6 is way too LOW a number for college lol. prep schools are great, but if you don't get accepted you still have some school out there. colleges, it's much harder to do that, in my opinion)
but my idea is if you do 7, then it's 3 reaches, 3 matches, 1 safety. Having 8 would mean 4 reaches. lol.</p>

3

<p>Whew, what a read. I think I know what you said.</p>

4

<p>I wouldn't say that you can determine a certain number -- for instance, if a kid is good but not great, ok test scores but not in the 90%, needs full aid -- he might apply to all top 10 schools and not get a single acceptance. Same kid applies to 2 matches, 2 low-reaches and 2 high reaches -- probably gets admitted to at least one with good aid.</p>

<p>so -- this is my recommendation for EVERY student:</p>

<p>1 solid safety -- a school you know you are accepted to and will be able to attend and pay for. Might be the local public or private school or a BS where you are pretty much guaranteed to get in and you don't need $ to attend, might be a BS where you get an early acceptance (Conserve is one with early rolling admissions).</p>

<p>1-2 matches -- this is a school where you would be happy to attend. Maybe not your first or second choice, but you really like it much more than your safety. A match is a school with 40% or more acceptance rate and where your stats place you in the top 25%. Legacy, recruited athlete or URM can make a school a match even if your stats are in the top 50%. No school is a match if you need FA -- it would be a low-reach.</p>

<p>1 or more low-reach schools. These are schools you would rather attend than either your match schools or your safety school. If you like your match schools better than the low-reach schools, don't bother to apply. A low-reach school is one where your stats are in the top 25% and the acceptance rate is 30% or more OR your stats are in the top 50% and the acceptance rate is 40% or more. Again -- legacy, recruited athlete or URM can make a high-reach into a low-reach. If you need FA, a school is a low reach only if 35%+ kids are on FA AND your stats are in the top 25% AND the acceptance rate is 40% or higher.</p>

<p>1 or more high reach schools. These are the schools you really, really want to get into -- but admission is tough. Think Exeter, SPS, Andover, etc -- these are high reaches for everyone because the admissions rate is so low and most of the kids applying have excellent stats. FA doesn't really come into play -- most high reach schools offer good FA if they want you. A school is a high reach if the admissions rate is 30% or lower. Any school is a high reach if your stats place you into the bottom 50%, no matter what the admission rate.</p>

<p>Another factor to consider -- the better your interests and talents match the school, the better a match you are. If you are into greek and latin, but the school doesn't offer those classes it might move a low-reach into the high reach category. If you are a great hockey player with tons of community service and debate awards it might move a school from a high-reach to a low-reach if the school is big on hockey, community service and debate.</p>

<p>One caveat for international students -- if you need financial aid, every school is a high-reach.</p>

<p>So it all comes down to how many schools you like and what category they fall into. You could apply to 1 match, 1 low-reach and 5 high reaches and be very happy with the results. The key is to have those safety/match/low-reach schools in place.</p>

5

<p>ok -- so I did some research and looked at schools and stats, so I have revised my recommendations. Too late to edit -- so here is the corrected post.</p>

<p>1 solid safety -- a school you know you are accepted to and will be able to attend and pay for. Might be the local public or private school or a BS where you are pretty much guaranteed to get in and you don't need $ to attend, might be a BS where you get an early acceptance (Conserve is one with early rolling admissions).</p>

<p>1-2 matches -- this is a school where you would be happy to attend. Maybe not your first or second choice, but you really like it much more than your safety. A match is a school with 50% or more acceptance rate and where your stats place you in the top 25%. Legacy, recruited athlete or URM can make a school a match even if your stats are in the top 50%. No school is a match if you need FA -- it would be a low-reach.</p>

<p>1 or more low-reach schools. These are schools you would rather attend than either your match schools or your safety school. If you like your match schools better than the low-reach schools, don't bother to apply. A low-reach school is one where your stats are in the top 25% and the acceptance rate is 40% or more OR your stats are in the top 50% and the acceptance rate is 50% or more. Again -- legacy, recruited athlete or URM can make a high-reach into a low-reach. If you need FA, a school is a low reach only if 35%+ kids are on FA AND your stats are in the top 25% AND the acceptance rate is 50% or higher.</p>

<p>1 or more high reach schools. These are the schools you really, really want to get into -- but admission is tough. Think Exeter, SPS, Andover, etc -- these are high reaches for everyone because the admissions rate is so low and most of the kids applying have excellent stats. FA doesn't really come into play -- most high reach schools offer good FA if they want you. A school is a high reach if the admissions rate is 30% or lower. Any school is a high reach if your stats place you into the bottom 50%, no matter what the admission rate.</p>

<p>Another factor to consider -- the better your interests and talents match the school, the better a match you are. If you are into greek and latin, but the school doesn't offer those classes it might move a low-reach into the high reach category. If you are a great hockey player with tons of community service and debate awards it might move a school from a high-reach to a low-reach if the school is big on hockey, community service and debate.</p>

<p>One caveat for international students -- if you need financial aid, every school is a high-reach.</p>

6

<p>How much does being a URM actually increase your chances? Does FA actually make it more difficult to be accepted even as a URM? How much legacy does a legacy make?
That asked.... I've been thinking about 8 schools for D. 2 arts, 2 safety, 2 match, 2 reach. Trouble is, I have a hard time figuring out which schools fit into which categories, even with such a detailed explanation as above.</p>

7

<p>it is hard to figure out which category a school fits into. Start by looking into the acceptance rates. I would say that being an URM with excellent stats and EC would move a school from the high-reach to the low reach category except for schools where admission is under 20% or so (those top, top schools). needing FA would probably cancel out that boost.</p>

<p>legacy depends on the school -- at a school with higher acceptance rates, it counts for more. At the top schools, it seems like it gets the student a second look -- and when tied with another kid for an acceptance letter, the legacy will get the letter. </p>

<p>FA definitely makes it more difficult, no matter what. Schools have limited funds and use that money to build the type of class they are looking for. If your D is what they are looking for -- you will get the money to go. In that case, the better her stats/interests and activities fit the school the better your aid will be. </p>

<p>My son applied to 9 schools (filled out 11 applications -- but never sent the last 2, Thacher and Andover, since he decided that they weren't a good fit). He needed full FA, was not a recruited athlete or URM, solid stats but not the top -- ssat was about 75% -- and he had excellent results. He only applied to one top school, St. Paul's, and was waitlisted -- but we realized that it wasn't a good fit.</p>

<p>The key is to make sure that your D would be happy at any of the schools on the list. My son would have been just as happy at his safety as the school he is attending now (NMH) -- the only problem is that it made his final decision more difficult. We never allowed him to have a "favorite" school and we also didn't label the schools as match/reach/etc for him. What I told him was that money was the key factor -- if it wasn't there, he wasn't going.</p>

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<p>bump...for notnim.</p>

9

<p>hsmomstf:</p>

<p>Could you tell us what schools your son applied to? I know that the application process is quixotic, but I am curious since our sone has an 81% on the Nov. SSAT. Thanks.</p>