<p>9th Grade: 3 schools, all <= 20% Acceptance Rate. Applied for FA.
Outcome: 1 WL, 2 rejections</p>
<p>10th Grade: 7 schools, 4 <= 20%, 2 <= 30%, 1 < 40% Applied for FA.
Outcome: 3 acceptance, 2 WL, 2 rejection No FA.</p>
<p>As far as safety/match/reach: all were safeties/matches in terms of SSAT & grades. But all become reaches with < 20% acceptance, even < 30%.</p>
<p>2 reaches. 1 acceptable. 1 safety. We applied last year. Still too much hassle for the teacher recs. we completed every other apps by Nov but teacher recs mailed out just before the deadline. Some schools were flexible about the deadline for teacher recs as they understand how busy teachers are.</p>
<p>I’m quite concerned about the teacher recs and how to minimize the hassle. Do you think I should ask the teachers to do it online as schools prefer or give them forms on paper? I think my son will apply to 7 or 8 schools with only 3 participating in the SAO, meaning 5 or 6 different forms or entry portals for teachers to deal with. My daughter will probably apply to 4 or 5, with 2 or 3 participating in the SAO. Her teachers will only have to deal with 3 forms and/or entry portals, so I am less concerned. This is at a large public middle school where kids applying to private high schools are not unknown but kids applying to a long list of boarding schools are probably very rare.</p>
<p>Recommendations:<br>
This submit recommendations online thing has happened since my kid (who is now a senior) applied. I agree that more than one entry portal is really a hassle for teachers in all but the smaller schools. If it were me, I think I’d ask them to submit to the portal with the most schools and then then ask them if they’d prefer to submit electronically to the other schools or use one generic pdf form (which I’d print from TABS) with stamped, addressed envelopes. This isn’t gong to reflect in any way on your child, in my opinion, as schools know that middle schools will handle things differently. </p>
<p>Number of applications:
I’ll restate my son’s application stats with more info. He applied to 3 reaches and one safety (safety for acceptance, not fa). Was accepted at 1 reach and the safety, with FA at both, and waitlisted at the other two; based on communication from the admissions offices, I’m certain primarily because of FA. I think that if you’re able to discern which schools are truly the best fit for you child before applying, then applying to fewer school can work fine–may even work better as the Tufts Effect doesn’t come into play and there’s far less hassle with applications. It’s not always easy to do that of course. In retrospect, 3 of the 4 schools were a good fit for my kid; the other we applied to mostly because the children of the family that got us into this boarding school thing went there. </p>
<p>A final thought on reaches:<br>
There are reaches because our kids, who fit the school’s profile perfectly, are applying with thousands of others. And then there are reaches because the school is really, truly a reach for our kids, and the application is just going in in hopes that something will magically make them appeal to admissions despite the lower than average SSATs or grades. I’d want most of the reaches to be in that first category of reaches–and if I needed FA, I think I wouldn’t even bother with applying to schools in the second category.</p>
<p>Check with the schools to see if they will accept printout or xerox of the standard rec. We will be applying using both SSAT and Gateway, but there is probably at least one that is not using either. I think they will accept a hard copy of the standard rec, though. Then the teacher just has to pop a copy in the envelope you provide.</p>
<p>As for the net width. My child will be applying to a lot - at least ten. We do need FA. I have no idea what the SSAT scores will be, but probably between 80 and 90 so I am not really worried there. We started with a serious list of about 30 schools, requested information, and have been whittling it down ever since. The current list is still too big, though. We do have a few visits left, but my child would be happy at a wide range of schools (even though there are three or four that are strong favorites), as getting out of Dodge is one of the main factors and there are so many schools that could provide the right environment.</p>
<p>nadk01: It’s a strategy to apply to as many as possible…but in my opinion, when application get above five or six, you do run the risk of having schools think you’re just applying to get in somewhere with aid rather than caring about that particular school–and the slot may go to the FA kid who seems more attuned to the school’s particular culture. Schools only have X number of dollars to allocate, and I think they want to make sure that the offer goes to someone who they believe sees their school as a top choice. Zeroing in on those strong favorites is a strategy that has worked for FA applicants here on CC in the past. Of course, the more is better strategy has apparently worked too–I wonder if it makes a difference how much FA the student needs and how many reaches vs. safeties…</p>
<p>DD’s list has been whittled down from 18 to 7. I wish she could apply EA to her favorite and we could forget about the rest.</p>
<p>@nadk01: If possible, temper the “get the heck out of Dodge” POV in your interviews and application materials. Two reasons: 1) you don’t want to trash the school child currently attends as it might come of “complain-y” and 2) As classicalmama notes above, it may come off as “any port in a storm”…best of luck.</p>
<p>Because my son wants to be a day student and not board, his net can only be so wide. We are going back and forth about the logic of applying to safeties. </p>
<p>In his case, it’s really all about Exeter. Always has been. He wanted to apply to Andover as well, but we are just outside day radius. But even if he had, his heart is at Exeter. </p>
<p>We do have a decent local option, which one might argue is comparable to other day options in the area. In fact, if he does end up applying to other area schools, and is admitted, it’s likely that he would still opt to stay at his local public and reapply to Exeter next year.</p>
<p>So now I am wondering whether the strategy of applying to these other schools “just to see what happens” is a good one. As we are new to this process, I am curious to learn more about ‘Tufts Effect’ and other ways that his applying to other schools could impair his chances at Exeter.</p>
<p>@classicalmama - That is true, and we have discussed it as we winnow. However, I am curious how any one school will know the number of schools we are applying to. We are not hiding anything, and are open that we are looking at more than a couple as we educate ourselves, but neither are we sharing with them a copy of our ranked list.</p>
<p>@SevenDad - The get out of Dodge attitude is not part of the interview, and that was just a tongue in cheek extemporization as I quickly typed. A throwaway comment on a forum should not to be mistaken for the way we would actually present things to a school. </p>
<p>The child is actually very happy and thriving at the current school, but it is only a middle school and not an option for high school. We actually speak very highly of our local school system in our interviews, but stress how the options truly are limited and present it as a strength that our child is seeking more challenging and broad horizons. We present very differently in an interview and when we are applying versus on an anonymous forum.</p>
<p>nadk01….just know that sometimes a sentiment can come across, no matter how you think you’re presenting.</p>
<p>Schools will ask where else you are applying.</p>
<p>@SevenDad - </p>
<p>I’ll certainly agree with that. It certainly is a delicate balancing act. Child #1 wants to go to boarding school no matter what, even though we know she would be successful at our local school. I guess all we can do is try our best to articulate to each school why we feel it is a good match and what it is we appreciate about the programming and culture. We also can’t hide that we are aware admission to any one school is difficult, and boarding school in general is just as important in our calculus as is any particular school. I think it is honest and healthy to say that a particular school is very attractive and she would like to come here, but her sense of identity and success is not going to hinge on admittance and we are confident she’ll do fine at another similarly good school. There are risks no matter how you frame or approach it, I suppose.</p>
<p>About them asking where else you are applying: I wonder about how that will affect our son’s chances at the less-prestigious-but-still-amazing schools. I wouldn’t want them to think he wouldn’t go there if accepted because he is not applying to any school he wouldn’t love to go to. However, they are of different types and sizes, and it is hard to tell at this stage which would be best for him if he had the choice of all of them.</p>
<p>I see no reason why you can’t tell them SOME of where you are applying… and say you are undecided on the final list…</p>
<p>@ twinsmama – </p>
<p>We have not once been asked where else we are applying. Where we are looking and visiting, yes, but not applying. This is an important distinction. We have honestly answered that we are looking broadly, and it gives a chance to discuss the whole process and what we are looking for in a school. We then will name the child’s top one or two choice, saying something along the lines of “we know really like School A and School B, but really are in the middle of the search process now and trying to figure out exactly where we will apply.” We will then steer the conversation back to the specifics about the current school that attract us, and why we think it is going to be on our application list. We will say something like “Your school attracts us for the same reasons – it seems your Harkeness Tables also have a nice oak varnish with tastefully upholstered chars for the students to Harknessize from…” and the discussion rarely comes back to where else we are looking.</p>
<p>At the end of every visit, and again in the thank you email, our child stresses what she likes about the school and if it is still on the list say she looks forward to the application process or that she can see herself liking it there or something like that. No promises, and about the same level of commitment you can read into all the admissions officers who say “It was great to speak with you. I look forward to reading your application…”</p>
<p>I remember several schools had ‘where else are you applying?’ question on their application forms.</p>
<p>Back to stat,</p>
<p>Applied 9 with FA</p>
<p>Rejected 5
Waitlisted 2
Accepted w/o FA 2 </p>
<p>Staying at LPS</p>
<p>8-9 applications are quite manageable with a good organization system.</p>