<p>Do you think there's any trickle down (to BS) of some of the approaches/ways of thinking?</p>
<p>I think the idea expressed here of “shooting lots of arrows” in the “hope of hitting SOMETHING,” applies here as well as in colleges.</p>
<p>It seems like these BSs (and colleges) all want the class with riches in talents, best oboe player, best quarterback etc.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to wanting a well rounded student who was smart and doing a variety of things, but not the best in anything?</p>
<p>RBGG, I know a smart, well-rounded student who was not a superstar in anything but was accepted at both E and A. I don’t believe there was anything unique about that either.</p>
<p>I’ve got one of those too (though he didn’t apply to Andover…). And he was waitlisted at the school where he fit a niche. </p>
<p>So I don’t have the answer to what unwraps the golden ticket to bs…but I don’t think that boarding school applications are as bad as college applications…yet. Perhaps, though, it’s just that bs attracts a narrower pool–as the article points out, many of the students who apply to top colleges don’t meet their minimum quals. I find it very depressing that colleges would actively recruit students they will almost certainly reject, just to lower their acceptance rate, but that’s what it sounds like is happening at some schools. It all seems like a silly game, really.</p>
<p>redbluegoldgreen: Schools want BOTH the superstars and the smart, well-rounded kids. That’s what makes for an interesting, well-rounded incoming class.</p>
<p>I don’t have to worry about the college process this year, but I think articles like that increase parents’ blood pressure. I think this article is an interesting counterpoint: [Can</a> less mean more in college application race? - Boston.com](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/11/16/can_less_mean_more_in_college_application_race/?page=1]Can”>http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/11/16/can_less_mean_more_in_college_application_race/?page=1).</p>
<p>Thanks, P for the good article. It is a good counterpoint.</p>
<p>We’ll likely follow the lead of the college csg office at son’s BS. So I wonder how they will advise? Right now I think they limit the # to 10 which still seems like a lot if you go by this article. Maybe they too are caught up in the hysteria of shooting as many arrows as possible. </p>
<p>Maybe they advise less, but anxious parents still insist on more, so they settle on 10.</p>
<p>Wow, periwinkle, great article. Thanks for that. </p>
<p>The similarities between prep school and elite college applications never ceases to amaze me. The types of essay questions - sometimes the exact same questions - are used in both. </p>
<p>Harvard used to ask students to write about their favorite word (don’t know if they still do) and that was also a question on Exeter’s app last year and I think for many years prior. My son used that choice in his app. It’s gone from this year’s app. </p>
<p>U of Penn used to ask kids to write page 217 of their imagined autobiography. Wasn’t that a choice on Andover’s app last year? </p>
<p>Tufts has questions that asks kids to respond to hypothetical situations. So do most of the prep school apps I have seen. Hotchkiss and St Paul’s come to mind.</p>
<p>No wonder these kids do so well in college admissions - they’ve already been vetted.</p>
<p>The author of the article seems to be amazed that so much is being asked of 17 year olds.
</p>
<p>Based on their application questions, prep schools look for it, or the potential for it, of 13 year olds.</p>
<p>I wonder if applying more schools really does make sense in the current climate. As the admit rate of top colleges is getting super low, and when so many factors are playing in the admission process, a huge number of QUALIFIED applicants are turned down each year. To counter the “random effects”, applying more schools of similar selectivity is considered a way to increase one’s chance to get in one of them. Can you blame people who think so?</p>
<p>I think there’s a limit to what’s humanly possible. [2010</a> Admissions Tally - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010-admissions-tally/]2010”>http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010-admissions-tally/) Last year, Harvard, Stanford and Yale all admitted 7% of applicants. Applying to all three (or 10 very, very selective schools) doesn’t improve your chances. If you can’t do a good job on the application and the other parts of the admissions process, such as grades, because you’re applying to too many schools, it can hurt your chances.</p>