Is Class of 2026 An Outlier Year for College Admissions?

Applying to College
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Re: whether colleges don’t like elite private schools anymore, there’s a lot to unpack on that idea. Below is my assessment, and I will be curious to look at the data over the past 5 years - once this year’s dust settles.

My kid goes to an elite private high school, and the trend toward less favored status in college admissions has been apparent for a while, even before he got there. The past couple years the trend has sped up.

From what people are saying, it is a national trend, not just our school. The mantra over in the cc prep school forum is “don’t send your kid to a boarding school for the purpose of getting into an ivy”. It is really good advice. People find it impossible to be true, though, buying into the lore that all it takes is a phone call and little Buffy is in at Harvard. That stuff doesn’t happen anymore.

It is super important to know that the prep schools got the memo along with the colleges - diversity matters. They admit a lot more extremely talented students from marginalized backgrounds than they used to. Those kids deservedly get into premier colleges. The athletes get recruited. The legacies have a leg up. The spikey-rock stars have a great shot. High performing stem girls have a leg up. There are plenty of prep school kids that will continue to get into the Ivies.

The unhooked kids who would have gotten the tip because of the name of the high school? That is what doesn’t happen anymore. Talented high performing students without a hook may instead end up at a tier down with merit awards (nothing to gripe about there). If families refuse to acknowledge the new admissions landscape the results could be devastating.

As is often said over in the prep school forum- colleges accept people not high schools. Being from a prep school itself isn’t what makes a person stand out in a crowd. There has to be something else.

For the class of 2022, the landscape has changed a lot since they applied to their high schools. Well rounded used to be the way to go, and many planned their high school life accordingly. Now it is all about the spike, and the well-rounded kids have an extra challenge. If you think about it, with grade inflation, gobs of applications and TO, colleges need a spike or a unique backstory to tell applicants apart. I get it. The pendulum will swing in the other direction someday.

In the meantime, as a parent of an unhooked, well-rounded kid who was disappointed this round but still has great options, I am truly grateful. There are worse things than learning you are strong enough to get through life not turning out like you envisioned - better to learn that lesson early. Not getting into an elite school is a less awful way of learning it than other options. We don’t live in Ukraine. I do think the pandemic has helped kiddo put this college stuff in perspective, too. Heck, because he was at a boarding school, he actually got to be in school in person far more than most. That’s real privilege.

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Why

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We were told this year by a veteran tutor that our highly selective state flagship prefers public school students, partly because accepted private school students often go elsewhere.

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hi, I am a junior at a competitive high school in NYC. I am looking for a good private boarding school still accepting transfer students for senior year. My mom will likely accept a new job in Europe. So we are scrambling to find good options for my senior year. Her company will provide tuition remission up to 35k. I feel very uncertain about the coming college application season. Any advice will be very appreciated.

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What testing does is it provides independent validation of the GPA. Without it, a high GPA could just reflect grade inflation and/or less rigor in the instruction/assessment…

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Yes, in addition AP testing also validates schools with scores 4’s and 5’s v. schools with kids receiving A’s for the class and getting 1-3’s.

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You should email the schools and inquire. Peddie has taken the ocasional 12th grader though it’s not common. In your circumstance schools may consider it. Non entry years seem to have more of a rolling admissions.

If you are open to being a repeat Jr you might have more opportunities. This is the more common scenario for kids who discover BS late.

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It’s very difficult to attend a US based boarding school for just Senior year. You might be able to repeat and do both Junior and Senior year. This is a common boarding school thing.

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I agree with this. At our school kids barely survive AP Physics C and only the stringed students take it, but they all get 4 or 5s in the end…

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There has been a push in recent years to broaden the number of places colleges pull from, as evidenced by the controversial “adversity score” or “adversity index.”

Although the College Board adversity score has been shelved for now (I believe), I have wondered if some colleges have started to consider zip code of students (and the median household incomes of those zip codes) in making decisions. For instance, it occurred to me that after filling part of the class with largely high-income ED applicants, some schools could choose to give the edge to the lower-income applicant in comparing two equally qualified applicants in the RD round where, in the past, the edge always went to the high school with the proven track record.

I have absolutely no evidence for this, but it would help explain results at competitive high schools using Naviance that are inconsistent with prior years.

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Ours do as well. Anyone receiving a 3 in an AP, would be reviewed before being allowed to take another. It’s expected the students learn the material. The AP grade does not count towards the grade. Most kids in these classes are receiving A’s though AP Physics C and some advanced math classes might have kids who are getting some high B’s. ( How do I know this? This is listed on school info, whereby classes are broken down by grade)

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There are probably better threads on CC just for private schools.

Many of the best academic programs do not admit just for senior year.

There is at least one top arts boarding school that will admit seniors but applications are usuallly due fall of junior year.

I think it may be hard to find a private boarding school tho at is top top at this point but there may be a school in the upper middle range.

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40% of the entire HS class got into one or more of those schools listed? How big is the class size?

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Kids need to understand that failure is an important part of eventual success. We learn from failure and improve our process. Life is a series of “at bats”. Strive to make your swing as excellent as possible, and eventually you’ll be net from luck and hit the home run…

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Almost 40% of the Princeton class of 2025 came from private schools.

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Low 100s. Public.

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That is relatively low, since the class of 2025 includes the 200 who deferred from 2024 due to covid. Deferrals are disproportionately athletes and affluent.

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Yes, agreed. But it helps to know what game you’re playing. When the rules change mid-stream sometimes you have to change gears.

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try williston northampton, mecersburg, governors, suffield academy.

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Congratulations to McGill. My D got in this year too.

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