important factors

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>after a talk with an admissions officier, who's my floor fac, this is how he rates the importance, and it's more or less true for all the top schools</p>

<p>Transcript, Grades - Very important</p>

<p>Personal Character and Experience (aka essay) - Very Important</p>

<p>Interview- Important (If avalible)</p>

<p>SSAT - more than Important, but less than very important</p>

<p>Extra Curricular - Important</p>

<p>Fit- Important</p>

<p>Demonstrated Interest - Considered (he says more so in lower tier schools, but not as much at a top school; he said yield is almost guaranteed at school of this calibre, so demonstrated interest really is just a little pull, however, if you somehow made an admission officerr like you a lot, that's a different story because every admission officer has his say in the committee and can turn things around if they want to)</p>

<p>Demographic representation - Considered</p>

<p>special talents- Considered</p>

<p>Special circumstances - considered</p>

<p>racial representation - considered</p>

<p>Uncommon factors
Legacy - weak pull
Legacy with money - strong pull
Developmental non-legacies- weak to moderate pull
Athlete- weak to strong pull depending on the coach</p>

<p>He also noted that no matter how all the top schools like to downplay the importance of SSAT in the leaflets for propaganda reasons, it is still an important factor because believe it or not, all the top BS like Andover, Exeter, SPS, Deerfield, Choate, Hotchkiss, Milton and Groton compare with each other each year and "compete" ...they wont take someone with low SSAT unless they genuinely like the kid (why pull down the SSAT average when there are so many 99percentiles applying) (He pointed out that 93percentile average is not real, in reality it is much higher considering all the legacies, athletes and developmental cases that generally have much lower SSATs)</p>

<p>he also noted, if they wanted they could simply accept all 98%+ applicants last year because there are more numbers of 98%+ applicants than places avalible, but they do look at personal character, essays and other factors., so to people who bombed the SSATs, it's a crap shot, but not all hope is lost</p>

2

<p>Very insightful - thanks for asking!</p>

3

<p>wow.. and i thought the interview was most important.</p>

4

<p>wow- thanks alot for bringing that up bearcats. man, that makes me feel pretty nervous right now. cuz i know that if i somehow manage to get in somewhere, itll be because of the essay/interview/personal experience thing. </p>

<p>hey what about if applicant A was perfect, lotsalotsa EC's perfect grades, everything is perfect but ur not quite sure if theres anything underneath
vs.
Applicant B who has mediocre EC's, mediocre grades, but uthink they might have something special to offer, ie the diamond in the rough. </p>

<p>haha but then again there are those among us who have both the best of A and B... :D AHHH >.<</p>

5

<p>And bearcat what does this mean for the Statistical analysis you did for my D???? I hope it still holds... or maybe not....</p>

6

<p>Nice post.</p>

7

<p>I actually ask about your D, didnt mention specifics, just mentioned the experiences and stuff, and he said whenever they receive application from someone with this kind of unique background, they pay special attention and would be more willing to look past the numbers.. and he said he will try to recognize "that particular app" that I was talking about in the pile</p>

8

<p>bump. very informative.</p>

9

<p>Yes, I think is very helpful and informative, too.</p>

10

<p>It's important to remember that this onformation only applies to the "top" schools.</p>

11

<p>Any insight on what is most important for the tier2 or 3 schools</p>

12

<p>Sorry that this is an off topic question, but do you consider an 80 on the ssat enough for Choate, Hotchkiss, and Taft?</p>

13

<p>I would think that the interview would also help determine personal character and experience.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
Any insight on what is most important for the tier2 or 3 schools

[/quote]

I would say these factors are fairly universal.</p>

15

<p>Agree these factors are pretty much universal, but the weight awarded seems a little bit "off." </p>

<p>At most schs (especially top shcs) urm status is more than "considered." And, if an applicant can select an essay topic that has noting to do w/ his/her character - - is the essay of less value? How does the school judge "fit?" And if grades are more important than standardized test scores, is there no equalizer for students w/ more modest grades but who attend very rigorous schools? And sports - - what's the balance b/w "important" as and EC and the amount of "pull?"</p>