If a kids receive a greater than 80% need based aid, does it help in elite college admission provided kid is top 10% in prep school, have stellar SAT1 AND SAT2, leadership positions and other awards, based on this article https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/first-person/2017/7/20/15999718/financial-aid-education-meritocracy-income-economic-inequality
Disclaimer: My two kids have received similar 100% need based aid in past two times at elite boarding and Ivy leave college, third one we will know in future
Yes it definitely helps if you qualify for Questbridge or similar programs that serve as feeder routes to elite colleges intended for those with low income.
@preppedparent, fair enough I think you are right for kids who qualify for questbridge. What about say kids with @100 k family income, who are above threshold of questbridge
Not really. You’re asking if the FA decisions of a boarding school somehow entice tippy top adcoms into thinking more highly of an applicant? First off, the really tippy top are need blind and won’t see the parts of the CSS that would indicate how much FA. And if somehow it slipped, some teacher or the GC mentioned it, ime, the NB college would ignore it.
It could be that the kid is special, in the first place. There are some kids taking advantage of advanced programs and it’s impressive (among many other things that can be impressive.) That kid still has to shine in his/her college app. And you know that that’s more than stats and some leadership titles, right?
@lookingforward you mean summer internships where you really work for eminent professors, and not just show off for work but really put time into experiments that are cutting edge, these programs are not where you are psying to enroll in enrichment , but you are receiving grants to do the work, and not one but multiple yaers, does it quality ?
What about when you ate being invited by think tanks for your articles that you have seen and pointed out deficiencies, and get invitation to speak to top people who teach you why as a kid you are wrong and not clearly thinking on second or third level. Why you need to think beyond the oblivious. Does it help? Just curious.
Believe me I am not saying it lightly, I am trying to see what differentiate between yes and no in admission, and how it works in college, and after graduation in work life
As for the article, not sure how it shows prep school fin aid helps in elite college admissions. And it’s an opinion piece by a “recent grad,” not someone with knowledge of admissions. He’s a '17 grad now working as an economist.
I see that and is aware, but when I pose this question, I was wondering if other parents who are in similar situations can chime in. If other prep school parents have similar experience whose kids receive around 80% or higher aid gave similar college results, even after two kids successful college admission, I am not sure what works, that is why I posted this thread
The internships are experiences. Yes, the better experiences usually (not always) go to quite qualified kids. But sometimes, it’s the BS or elite prep that is specifically facilitating this. (And sometimes offering grants to cover expenses.) I’ve seen it- working on that eminent project in a lab, eg, was arranged by the prep. Many times, you can see this effort noted in the School Report. So, we’d need to know more.
But the sort of things you’re noting are the bones, the resume. The kid still has to show the attributes, the personality and the thinking, in the app and any supps. And many kids do get significant research opps, in hs. Or other sorts of opportunities, some highly selective national or international programs.
I just mean you need to understand more abut what the targets look for. You have at least one in an Ivy now, right? So he or she did something right, lots of things.
Two already graduated from Harvard
Our prep school did not do such things, kids wrote 200 cold emails, got few nods, received one internships last year, met few professors in last summer, one offered better reserah this year. Same step was done by older daughters.
It’s good when a kid has initiative. In fact, it’s one of the attributes the TTs look for that matters. And your example sure beats the kids whose efforts are for small things and don’t show much vision, challenge/meaningful effort or oomph.
But your original question was: does her FA at the prep give her some tip? No, not really, not all by itself.
And when you said 100% college aid, I suspected that meant Harvard. They may not put much official emphasis on sibling legacy, but of course it’s a plus.
The tip a great prep can offer in college admissions is how the GC and teachers promote the student. There will be a short list they push for.
Btw, may CC families are at about a 100-130k income level. It;s something that comes out, over time, over a number of posts. Of course, many are full pay and earning much more.
I tend to think (and its just my opinion for certain) that prep school have far more discretion when it comes to how they spend their “grant” dollars and the top colleges and universities (read: all need-based aid like at the Ivys and the NESCAC schools) have more defined guidelines. I have no basis for my statement but its a feeling of mine. I’m totally excluding the specials programs like QB that match students.
QB is the way low income is taken into account (and other similar types of programs). Families who self report low income–not sure this helps getting into elite colleges. It seems that elite colleges rely year after year on their realtionships and feeder programs including those that verify and validate low income applicant standing.
I certainly hope not
The prep school made the decision without knowing the student. This is akin to saying, "if x school offers my kid a scholarship in the EA round, can I put that on my application to Y school in the RD round as an accomplishment? "
And the school would not given FA at this level if the need were not there, so a large part of the “accomplishment” is “family cannot afford to be full pay”.
It sounds like your kid has enough going for him that there is no need to grasp at straws like this. One of his accomplishments is having done well at BS. How he paid for it is irrelevant.