<p>
[quote]
Dear prospective students and families,</p>
<p>As we approach admission selection season, we reach out to you to clarify an important matter. The Ten Schools Admission Organization (TSAO) is a group of distinguished college preparatory schools that often collaborates in outreach and approaches in admission. At each of our schools, we watch with concern as our students face pressure from colleges to make early and binding college commitments. These and other concerns are valid and we believe place unnecessary stress on students and families.</p>
<p>Please know that the members of the TSAO are dedicated to alleviating similar pressures at the secondary school level.</p>
<p>The TSAO institutions believe in a holistic approach to the secondary school admission process. Academics, extracurriculars, and personal qualities are weighed appropriately as we consider each candidates application. Admission decisions are made by the admission office only, and students and families will be notified no earlier than March 10. We do not support the notion of any member of our school communities asking for commitments from applicants prior to our application or response dates. In turn, we ask families to refrain from requesting any type of early admission decision. Rather than signaling a lack of interest in our applicants, we believe our policies provide the necessary time and space for students to make the best school choice for themselves and their families.</p>
<p>Please feel free to contact any of our offices with questions or concerns.</p>
<p>As always, thank you for your interest in our schools. We look forward to getting to know you and wish you and your family all the best during this exciting time.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Ray Diffley Director of Admission Choate Rosemary Hall
Rachael Beare Dean of Admission and Financial Aid The Hotchkiss School
Jane Fried Assistant Head for Enrollment, Research and Planning; Dean of Admission Phillips Academy
Peter Frew Director of Admissions The Taft School
Patricia Gimbel Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Deerfield Academy
Gregg Maloberti Dean of Admission The Lawrenceville School
Michael Gary Director of Admissions Phillips Exeter Academy
Thomas Eccleston Assistant Headmaster for Admission and External Affairs The Hill School
Erby Mitchell Assistant Head of School for Enrollment The Loomis Chaffee School
Jada Hebra Director of Admissions St. Pauls School
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</p>
<p>I think the ISL schools will soon enter a quiet period, too. Can't find it online.</p>
<p>No, I did not receive that but Choate said not to contact them until March/Feb. I have been in contact with Hotchkiss recently, maybe they just started keeping quiet. Loomis Chaffee I have contacted but they have not responded other than the coaches. Lastly, I have been in contact with Taft, and I still am so I don’t know if they are following this.</p>
<p>I think these sentences are the most important. I’m sure you can contact the schools for information on the application process, but don’t ask them to let you know if you’re accepted before March 10th. The schools won’t ask you to commit to them before March 10th. For example, Choate won’t ask you to sign a binding commitment to attend Choate before March 10th, as that would make it impossible for you to make a choice between Choate and Loomis Chaffee (hypothetically.)</p>
<p>Right, they can’t ask you to make a binding committment, but that doesn’t stop them from calling third parties to see where they are on a student’s preference list. I haven’t heard of any contacting the students directly to see if they are #1 choice or not.</p>
<p>I would guess this letter is directed to student athletes, who perhaps have been getting a bit too much encouragement from school coaches. Perhaps schools have been getting phone calls from parents saying, “Well, this whole application process is a formality, anyway, isn’t it? After all, Coach So-and-So said our child is definitely getting in.” A few phone calls like that, and the letter that went out would make perfect sense.</p>
<p>Well about the athlete thing I don’t think it is necessarily true because I have been in contact with the coaches for quite a while and I still am they email me every week and ask how things are going and what games are coming up and when I am coming to there school again ect…</p>
<p>collaborate - Adcoms from different schools often travel together. The schools on that list agree to abide by a certain set of standards during the admissions process. They don’t pressure students to come to their school if they know there is "competition. They agree to notify students on the same day and have discussion about schools that try to “cheat” the system by mailing letters early to “arrive” on the 10th, etc…</p>
<p>In a sense - they know this is a tough decision for the student and competitive among the schools - so they try to level the playing field by agreeing to play but a set of common rules. (i.e. NO ONE can “imply” you’re “in” before the decision.)</p>
<p>In part it is a validation of the no recruiting during the quiet phase (now). Last year there were some problems, and a couple of schools violated it by thinking that they could solicit though avenues like Facebook. There were also phone calls. Some schools have taken to hiring coaches that are not teachers and whose only tie to the school is the team they coach. But their desires violate the spirit of the TSAO and the ISL. </p>
<p>This is a stressful time and young teens should not feel pressured by anyone. It is tough enough without adding the pressures many of us have seen at the college level. Let kids be kids. I strongly applaud it!</p>
<p>You know - it’s interesting, because what they’re trying to do is keep schools from “rushing” the process or “hinting”. Many of them are competing for the same students.</p>
<p>But no “contact” doesn’t mean they can’t call and ask for additional information. Some may email and ask if you have any questions (though I doubt the latter since they’re all holed up in “reading” phase right now). It’s not uncommon for you to get contact if they need additional financial forms (IRS schedules, worksheets)</p>
<p>But what they’re trying to do is prevent schools from “jumping” the gun to admit you, or making you feel pressured to take an offer before all the decisions are in.</p>
<p>The problem with any “contact” during this phase is that many read it as a hopeful sign or lean towards that school and that just makes it extremely hard on a kid - especially if that specific school isn’t their first choice.</p>
<p>A consultant told a close friend of ours whose son is a full pay athletic recruit at one of the schools on that letter, that they should hear “any time now” - that was a couple of weeks ago! I explained that they wouldn’t…but they say the school has been in touch with the consultant and it’s as “good as done.” Doesn’t mean they will get an official acceptance sooner though. </p>
<p>I thought it was interesting because in past years I have not seen this - and the schools all agree to March 10 and have for a long time. </p>
<p>It is also interesting that it is from those schools, but in reality almost all schools have the 3/10 notification.</p>
<p>I spoke with 3 of the 4 admissions officers my daughter is applying to just this week to confirm they received updated SSAT scores. They all called me back (so it’s not like they happened to answer the phone), and seemed perfectly fine talking with me. No hints though, so that was a bummer. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve been reflecting on this one today and I think it’s mainly about “maintaining appearances”: these schools KNOW that they are often in direct competition with one another, and they also KNOW that they are regularly ranked by 1) their number of applications received and 2) low admit rates. Every school keeps their actual yield (how many acceptances they have to extend to fill the projected class they need) close to the vest. I read elsewhere on CC that Andover and Thacher (likely for different reasons) are 2 of the highest at 78%…I wonder if it doesn’t drop to as low as 50% for some of the TSAO schools. After all, you can only attend ONE school, and somebody’s going to pick St. Paul’s over Deerfield, Deerfield over Taft, etc…etc… (Cue “Love Stinks”). So I think as much as these schools are competitive with each other to maximize their applications & yield and drive down their admit rates, they’re acknowledging that they’re NOT going to cutthroat each other between Jan 15/Feb 1 and March 10. My take is it’s an acknowledgment that they’ll keep the playing field fair…until revisit days when the gloves can really come off!!</p>
<p>Also recognize that the yields for boarding applicants are generally far lower than for day student applicants (no surprise here). So for Andover last year the yield for boarding applicants was 75%. (and since you mentioned St. Paul’s, 100% boarding, their yield was 74%). No one I know wants to drive down their admit rates. They do have increasing pools of applicants and can only accept so many in a given year.</p>
<p>So, the letters from the AO’s are all well and good, but it seems like they’re doing a lousy job of following through with their own coaching staff. Sure, an invitation to see a game and spend the night at School X isn’t the same as saying “Congrats, you’re in!” - but it’s an attempt to do exactly what the Ten Schools they won’t do: try to influence a candidate’s choice in the weeks leading up to March 10.</p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned, the offending coaches should be reported . . . but who’s going to do it? Certainly not the candidate-athlete who got the invitation! However, a note from the parent to the AO after April 10 might help straighten things out for next year . . .</p>
<p>@TheBig5 - Thacher’s yield is usually between 80% - 82%. The school has the greatest overlap in admissions with Exeter, St. Paul’s, Andover, Deerfield, Groton, and Cate. </p>
<p>Re: The TSAO Letter lists a set of principles that these schools agree to follow. In practice, there are dozens of small leaks, winks and nods that give a tiny percentage of applicants and AO’s a pretty good preview of where each party stands. However, I like to think that most AO’s and most candidates play by the rules.</p>
<p>@Thacher–I’m not a math guy, but I can’t quite figure it out. I would think the overlap between these top top schools would negatively impact their yield numbers more significantly, precisely because the top candidates tend to apply to all (or most) of these institutions, but then have to make the choice to attend only one. Doesn’t that automatically eat into the other schools’ yields? </p>
<p>Feels like I’m missing some piece of the picture here. It looks to me like schools tend to need to FILL just greater than 25% (I’m guessing 27%) of their total enrollment each year, so if you know their yield you can get a rough estimate of how many acceptances they actually extend. But I’m really surprised if any of these schools beyond A/E/ & I guess Thacher are able to get such a high yield out of boarders when some significant portion of the applicant pool is applying to multiple institutions. Any insights?</p>