<p>Got your attention now, right?</p>
<p>I'm a a parent of a BS student and I've been a fairly active participant for 4 admission cycles. My older daughter's entire process, start to finish, is chronicled here:</p>
<p>I'm writing now specifically to people who are new to the forum. Consider the following advice a public service announcement:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First, there is NO magic formula short of donating a building that will guarantee you admittance to boarding school, especially the most selective ones such as the two named in the title of this thread.</p></li>
<li><p>Second, USE THE SEARCH TOOL (specificaly, "Advanced Search"). Chances are someone has had the same question you have about...well, practically every topic related to boarding school.</p></li>
<li><p>Third, I guess making this thread sticky still doesn't get everyone to read it. Read it.
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/427714-if-youre-new-cc-please-read-before-posting.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/427714-if-youre-new-cc-please-read-before-posting.html</a></p></li>
<li><p>Fourth, the "Chances" threads are pretty much useless. No anonymous internet forum is going to be able to predict your chances for any given school. And reading them may make you feel less confident about your candidacy.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here's the truth: Your chances are not good. At most schools, they are even worse if you are applying for FA. How do I know this? Well if the admit rate is under 20%, that means 80% do not get in. That's 80% of some of the brightest, most accomplished middle schoolers in the country/the world. Think you are a better candidate than 80% of applicants?</p>
<p>If you want want to see how kids with X, Y, Z stats fared in their results, this thread isn't a bad one to read:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1300729-2012-clean-official-boarding-decisions-applicant-stats-ecs.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1300729-2012-clean-official-boarding-decisions-applicant-stats-ecs.html</a></p>
<p>I just scanned the first page and saw this result:
Decision: Accepted at Taft
Decision: Accepted at Lawrenceville
Decision: Waitlisted at Loomis
Decision: Waitlisted at St. Andrews (DE)
Decision: Rejected at Exeter</p>
<p>Which makes you realize just how random things can be. This student was admitted to Lawrenceville and Taft, two very selective schools...yet waitlisted at Loomis and St. Andrew's, which are also fairly selective. So you never know.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Fifth, don't apply to Andover or Exeter because you think it will get you into Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. All you have to do is look at the matriculation lists for those schools on any given year to know that LOTS of their graduates go on to non-Ivy schools.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally...if going to BS is truly important to you and you are not comfortable with your at-home options, it makes a lot of sense to apply to a wide range of schools. Many folks who focus on only the most selective schools are left without any admittances come March 10th.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Best of luck and sorry to be a downer. I just see an influx of new folks to the forum and thought it was a good time to get some thoughts out there in people's minds.</p>