African American males are favored in admissions of both BS and college. Of course, they still have to be minimally qualified and their chances are even better in BS if they have athletic abilities and are good kids, based on recommendations and interviews.
I think other URMs have less of a hook, unless their URM status is obvious in appearance or cultural background.
I can. As I said upthread, each school is free (where not prohibited by law) from making its own determination of what bump, if any, URM will get. As I’ve also said in other threads, URM is not the golden ticket; an otherwise qualified URM can be denied because admissions is just so competitive.
They are indeed. They are also aware that a URM applicant that lives in Beverly Hills with 2 parents as physicians is not in the same bucket as a URM growing up with a single mother working 3 jobs and living in affordable housing in Bed-Sty.
For BS, there’s also the consideration for the balance per gender per grade. It’s possible (and I am speculating) that there happens to be an over representation of an otherwise URM in a certain subpool (for example, female, Hispanic, full pay, from a certain geographic area…) for a particular year.
For what it is worth I have noticed (not that this is rocket science) that there are a great many URMs that fill other buckets. Many black students are also athletes. There also seems to be many black male students who are also gay. As @skieurope notes : “They are also aware that a URM applicant that lives in Beverly Hills with 2 parents as physicians is not in the same bucket as a URM growing up with a single mother working 3 jobs and living in affordable housing in Bed-Sty.” Unfortunately the latter are rarely applying to BS. At PEA a significant number of black students we have encountered are from very middle class backgrounds and/or have families that are here by way of Africa or the Caribbean (their parents still have accents). They really don’t seem to be getting many kids that are really growing up in very very rough circumstances. In other words a hispanic or black applicant from a disadvantaged background is likely to have a better shot than an URM from a middle class or otherwise background. Financial aid is not definitive because SO many people apply for aid that are really quite comfortable and do get some aid.
““They are also aware that a URM applicant that lives in Beverly Hills with 2 parents as physicians is not in the same bucket as a URM growing up with a single mother working 3 jobs and living in affordable housing in Bed-Sty.” Unfortunately the latter are rarely applying to BS.”
You might be surprised. I know a few every year just a one school. Prep for Prep and ABC, as two examples, have a long history of servicing these types of students and decades of established relationships with top boarding schools. That doesn’t mean that thousands are applying yearly but there is a steady and measured flow that has been working for quite awhile.
@doschicos yes i am familiar with Prep for Prep. Many of those kids do go to BS but many more go to local private
I think when my son applied, we dranked the CC koolaid here that being an URM was a hook. We thought he had a strong application. His interviews went very well. He ended up submitting SSAT scores of 93%, great grades(his school did not have GPA’s) lot’s of EC when his middle school did not offer EC’s. He is a varsity starter as a freshman in his sport. We needed some FA so he cast a very wide net. He was denied or waitlisted at almost every school he applied to.
As well as white, Latino, Asian, etc. And before anybody asks, being gay is not a hook. 
“I think when my son applied, we dranked the CC koolaid here that being an URM was a hook.”
I totally understand where you are coming from. That’s why I think the “URM” appellation is of very limited value, as not all URMs are equal so to speak in the eyes of admissions offices.
Most of the boarding school applications I’ve seen (including the Gateway to Prep and other common apps) ask for “country of family’s origin” in addition to self identification as “African American, African, Mexican/Chicano, White, Puerto Rican, etc.” I do not think they are asking for country of origin for no reason. Like I said upthread there is a world of difference between Argentina and Honduras, just to pick two very different “URM” identifications.
I know Puerto Rican’s and Mexicans of every race and every rung on the socioeconomic ladder. I don’t think one should read that much into questions about national origin. Perhaps they just want diversity there, too… And I certainly don’t think there is a preference for those who need FA… We have zero evidence of that.
Finally, i see no evidence of URM being a hook based on what highly qualified URMs have posted here about rejections and waitlists. I see no evidence when I visit most schools either: If it were a hook, there would be more of them.
Boarding schools want what colleges want. Colleges want low SES and first generation as much if not more than URMs these days. BSs will/have followed suit.
I know that is what they say. But I don’t see the evidence that it is a priority at most schools. It goes way beyond admissions: You have to invest in having supports in place for them, faculty they can relate to, and other students who are comfortable bridging between different groups (and sensitive to socioeconomic differences).
@monica20 Did your friend only apply to exeter?
I’ve been reading this thread for a while and just wanted to chime in with how I view the whole URM thing. I do believe that URM can give you a bump, but it is ignorant to believe that somebody got in solely due to their URM status. I think that URM does help because it’s something that the majority of applicants don’t have, and can’t have unless they already posses that status. But people who complain about not getting in because a URM stole their spot are just being naive. Your spot wasn’t even in the same category as a URM!!! My belief is that they make “pools”. FP white male, FA Asian female, etc. And the fact is that since there are less URMs, there is less competition. I was in the FP white male pool, but little Janice may be in the FA female URM pool. I am not totally see how they set up these groupings, but I have heard other people say the same things. You are not competing against URMs, URMs are competing against other URMs. Still, there aren’t so little URMs applying that it’s easy. Don’t believe for a second that URMs are stealing your spots, or that it’s significantly easier for them. The truth is that more and more URMs are applying as schools drift farther and farther away from the rich white New England family stereotype. The URM pool is still extremely competitive, and getting more competitive every year (just like every other pool).
It’s competitive for everybody, even the ** Congolese tuba player who also is a world champ in squash while living in a small abode in their native village **
Another thing: schools love to admit kids who will make their matriculation list look better. Colleges love minorities. But let me restate: URM is never a golden ticket (never) never never never (never).
Note: I have no idea why anybody would assume that being gay is a hook. That doesn’t really make sense to me… it is a type of diversity, but I don’t think that schools are gonna be putting in their view book “15% of students are LGBTQ+!” Just because I’m not sure that that’s something that people go actively searching for in a bs (as far as I know). Not even remotely trying to imply that it’s a bad thing or that schools shouldn’t be proud of that, but sexuality/gender identity demographics usually aren’t advertised by schools.
@skieurope there seems to be a concerted initiative regarding the LGTB world. It wouldnt surprise me at all if it is a hook at PEA. Exeter seems t have designated that group/s as the next big thing to focus on so they are…
@Center I 100% believe that identifying as LGBTQ+ could develop into a hook, although it may take a few years. Who knows? Maybe PEA has been intentionally admitting LGBT students for the past 25 years and we are just slow!
“Exeter seems t have designated that group/s as the next big thing to focus”
In what sense? What points to that?
First, we have to define what a hook is. A hook is not a guarantee of admission. It is a significant edge. To use a college example, Yale may reject most of their legacies, but if they admitted 45% of legacies and 7% of the general applicant pool, that’s still a a huge hook.
Second, the plural of anecdote is not data. If you want to know whether something is truly a hook or prove the negative, for college or BS: you either need the adcoms going off script or someone to do a study, the way Espenshade did for colleges and race.
I’m biracial, and a 50-50 URM/ORM mix. It’s interesting because I was only waitlisted and never rejected. Maybe my statuses canceled out? Haha.
@doschicos their communication to student/parent body. Letters, tweets, speakers, courses and new school policies.