Imbalance

Prep School Admissions
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<p>@stargirl3: please also read this powerpoint published by the SSAT. see pages 44-45 in particular
<a href=“http://www.ncgs.org/Pdfs/AnnualConference/2013/SSATB_StateOfAdmissionSurvey.pdf”>http://www.ncgs.org/Pdfs/AnnualConference/2013/SSATB_StateOfAdmissionSurvey.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The SSAT sent out a questionnaire to admissions representatives from independent day and boarding schools. Approximately 500 responded back. One of the most interesting aspects is that approx half of the respondents reported that finding full-pay students was one of their biggest challenges.</p>

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<p>True. And both the admissions and development staff depend on current (and past) FP families to help recruit new families as well. </p>

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<p>The OP question was:

</p>

<p>Boarding schools require interviews. Some students appear mature and independent in 8th grade–more than the norm. All the admissions officers our children interviewed with were well aware of the qualities needed to thrive away from home. It isn’t a question of money, because if you look at the lists of accepted students, you’ll see students who need FA who were accepted to multiple schools. You’ll also see full-pay students who were waitlisted everywhere. </p>

<p>For boarding schools and colleges, people obsess about grades, test scores, and money. They don’t give much thought to the important parts of the application which other students and parents don’t see. What were the recommendations like? What were the interviews like? </p>

<p>As parents, we will never know what sort of impression our children make when we’re not in the room. </p>

<p>@Stargirl3, I am sorry that you do not have a clear answer at this point in time. I recommend you leave this board for a time. Try to concentrate on life. Rest, recouperate, and plan to have the best freshman year possible. </p>

<p>If you decide to tackle boarding school admission next year, build a list including schools with admission rates above 30%. Frankly, in my opinion, it would have been quite possible for a good, full-pay applicant to have been waitlisted or rejected from every school on your list. The admissions rates are somewhat deceptive <em>because</em> there are some candidates who appeal to multiple schools, so the 30% admitted include many cross-admits.</p>

<p>Look for schools which include your interests–beyond strong academics. Some schools in the area which should have been on your list include: Lawrence Academy, Ethel Walker, Dana Hall, Worcester Academy, Tabor, Stoneleigh-Burnham, Miss Hall’s School. </p>

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<p>@bsadvisor:</p>

<p>Perhaps I misunderstood, if so, I apologize. This is what troubled me:</p>

<p>“Cate, NMH and Concord have relatively small endowments. Although they may say 30% of the students receive financial aid, I am sure that most of it consists of partial awards and very few offer full scholarships.”</p>

<p>I think that can be said of nearly all the schools. I don’t want applicants to feel as if they can’t get the FA they might need from the hidden gem schools. Too many pin their hopes on the big schools with the huge endowments and so many are disappointed with their M10 results. I just want to remind people that sometimes the lesser known schools can come through with a great deal of FA. And the applicant pool at these schools is often not as crowded. While they may offer fewer full scholarships, an applicant only needs one. I’m not so sure that many HADES schools offer all that many full scholarships either. </p>

<p>“For someone who needs full financial aid, if they include in their application pool less selective schools, great credentials will make you highly desirable on merit alone.”</p>

<p>Sadly, being “highly desirable on merit alone” doesn’t guarantee admission to any school. If it did, I don’t think we’d see so much heartache here every M10.</p>

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<p>IMHO it is impossible to do the math on these things! Keep in mind that ALL students are subsidized at these schools to some degree, even FP students! It’s not the size of the endowment, it’s what they do with it that counts!</p>

<p>@stargirl3 - I know the news is devastating, but keep in mind that when you try again next year (and you will try again, right??), you are doing it with your eyes WIDE open! My suggestion to you is to pick your favorite 2-3 schools where you were waitlisted (no more than that) and then cast that wide net again. </p>

<p>Often when you REAPPLY to a school, the AO will give you feedback on your prior application, tell you specifically what you need to do to increase your chances, etc. You should also ask about applying as a repeat 9th grader! </p>

<p>For the “wide net” part, don’t bother with schools that you can’t visit in person because you want to be SURE that the school culture is an EXCELLENT fit (not just “good”). There are many great schools out there beyond ACRONYM and “hidden gems” that are looking for fantastic kids like you to round out their student body!</p>

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<p>@Pops2017 in our experience, it happened exactly how you mentioned above. We receive FA at our current day school and this is a small hidden gem here in NYC…not the big name UES TT school. They have been extremely generous with their FA package and aren’t known for having a huge endowment when comparing them to the other city schools. Then…when applying for HSs, it was the same. The schools we applied to with the larger endowments told us they just didn’t have the funds ( WL or offering acceptance with no FA my DD) but the smallest school came through with a very generous offer. Go figure…I am very happy that we applied to many different schools and didn’t ignore the smaller schools. </p>

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<p>@bsadvisor sarcasm isn’t the way to go. </p>

<p>You wrote, “In the case of smaller schools or any school that has a small endowment, The tuition subsidizes those who can not pay.In other words those who have the funds, pay more so those who don’t can receive financial aid.” </p>

<p>Are you stating this as a fact for boarding schools or any private school? If you meant with any private school I can tell you that is not the case at our 2 day schools. Our schools do not take funds from tuition and put it towards FA. They have their endowments and also many fundraisers specifically geared for their FA fund. There is always a gap for all families and we have an annual fund drive to try and bridge that gap btwn that years tuition and operating costs per student. This has been told and assured by both schools to the families for many years. I can only assume that our school isn’t the only one not using tuition to fund FA. </p>

<p>I’m a parent rep. on the boards of these schools and this specific issue has come up many times throughout the years (been there ten yrs). Many prospective families ask this question (during admissions season) because many have stated that they don’t want their tuition funding FA. </p>

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<p>NYCMomof3, I don’t detect sarcasm in BSadvisor’s reply. Money is fungible.</p>

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<p>For anyone really interested in getting an in-depth picture of finances and FA beyond what is on a school website, the best place to start is a school’s IRS filings (990’s are searchable at guidestar.org). FA is rarely funded solely by endowment draw, but in many cases it is also not directly funded by other students’ tuition. Because of the whole fungibility thing mentioned above, in the end it really does not matter. The school (even the financial folks) can “assign” the source of any line item, and thus honestly state that tuition does not go to FA. In many cases even full tuition from all students would not keep a school running even if no FA was awarded. </p>

<p>You cannot simply look at endowment size, the annual fund, etc. Look at the line items for Westover in 2011 (the latest 990 I could find quickly online) and you will see their total operating expenses and income broken down. </p>

<p>They gave $2,874,794 in grants and aid, and investment income (close to bsavisor’s estimate of current endowment draw) was $1,984,574. Total revenue was $16,376,253, of which $8,840,902 was tuition and other program income, $5,550,777 was contributions and grants, and the rest was the above mentioned $2,874,794 endowment draw or other investment income. What this says to me is that they can easily cover all FA via endowment and contributions and “assign” the tuition income to other expense lines. No matter how it is sliced, there is enough wiggle room to match things up any way you like. Sort of like state lottery money being “dedicated” to education.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that even though it is the “public face” of fundraising, the annual fund drive is rarely the only source of contributions, and in the case of Westover I believe their annual fund goal is currently under $2 million, so there is a lot of giving that is not reflected in the more heavily publicized numbers of the annual drive (they have an engaging thermometer kind of thing showcases on their website). Even though there is a lot of giving that is restricted, often enough is unrestricted so that FA is covered without touching the tuition income.</p>

<p>I did not search for anything on Solebury, so have no numbers there.</p>

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<p>@Perwinkle @bsadvisor
bsadvisor wrote: “So many financial aids experts” #sarcasm</p>

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<p>I never thought @SevenDad would be the one to bring the hashtag to CC! :)</p>

<p>Yeah, that’s sarcasm. I hope.</p>

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<p>@bsadvisor: You obviously don’t feel that other posters have the experience you are outlining (and I guess are implicitly claiming), so again, #sarcasm.</p>

<p>Here’s a suggestion: Why not use all your experience as a “bsadvisor” and take stargirl3 on as a pro-bono client? NOT SARCASM!</p>

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<p>bsadvisor: I have been curious. ARE you a financial aid person at a boarding school? I thought maybe you are, but then again maybe just an accountant… Or based on your name are you an educational consultant? I ask because if we knew more about why you offer the opinions you do, it might be easier to accept your advice. I have been confused by your posts…</p>

<p>As for the advice to Stargirl3, I am not sure I understand your motivations. You seem to have singled her out for some reason. I find her posts to be on topic, and she is supportive of all her fellow posters. In the year she has been posting, I have not heard her be nasty to anyone. Furthermore, UNLIKE many of the other recent posters (post M10) she seems to have done considerable homework on the schools to which she chose to apply. Can you explain why she is being advised to spend her free time elsewhere, when all of us (you included) are free to spend time on these boards as we see fit? Just not understanding the advice I guess. </p>

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<p>Thanks @bsadvisor for the clarification!</p>

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<p>Not every middle school is rigorous, and I sincerely doubt that a Catholic school would be an appropriate choice for Stargirl, if that’s the only suggestion you have for her. A lot of posting can be squeezed into the odd corners of life (I’m waiting at the orthodontist right now), and it’s a much more productive spare-time activity than many things teens spend their time on. And the chances at any school, despite “stats,” talent, and personality, are clearly appallingly slim without money, as we and Stargirl3 had been warned.</p>

<p>And I find it inappropriate to criticize a child under the cloak of anonymity and “authority.”</p>

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<p>@stargirl3 you seem to have several great talents. However I’m wondering if its just a matter of marketing yourself appropriately. Instead of flaunting your broad range of skills, instead would it be better to focus on one? Perhaps the writing?</p>

<p>In a sea of endlessly qualified applicants you need to create your own hook so that admissions officers pull you out of the pool. What about your writing would captivate the adcoms? Have you entered or won any writing competitions? Have you published anything? Have you approached any publishers about your works? You need to show that you are exceptional (not just above average).</p>

<p>There is hardly any difference between you and the kids who were accepted. I think that with a bit of repolishing and rebranding you can be successful next year. Best of luck.</p>

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<p>@twinsmama: I think you articulated some of what I was trying to say. This board works best when all the help and advice is kind and supportive in nature. We are all researching the things we need to know and I, myself, try to give back good advice as a form of “payback” for help I have received from others over the time I have been here.</p>

<p>I have read a lot of threads and comments in the past few months that were decidedly adversarial in nature – in addition, there seem to be many posters that jump on CC, do very little “back reading” to see what information is already here, and then criticize other posters comments and questions. I guess I would like to see a return to civility and inclusive helpfulness… I think your point about having plenty of free time in between obligations is a good one. </p>

<p>As to Stargirl spending too much time here and not enough on EC’s and academics? I suggest that maybe she is already doing all that an STILL has free time. Suggesting that a boarding school student wouldn’t have time is a bit irrelevant as she is yet to find a place. I enjoy her posts, and I look forward to the day she doesn’t have the time to post any more – that would mean she is off at boarding school! :)</p>

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<p>No. No. No. Inappropriate would be someone crowing about their child’s FULL FA (twice) on a thread started by an amazing kid waitlisted for FULL FA ( less than two weeks ago). </p>

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<p>I love you guys. </p>

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<p>bsadvisor: with respect, you don’t know your child – not if he/she is living in 2014 and has a cellphone and access to the Internet. Do not delude yourself. Go out to dinner sometime and note your child focusing on his/her cellphone conversations instead of you.</p>