<p>As a (very nervous) prep school applicant myself, I just wanted to let everyone reading this post get some possibly new information. I've had my ears open hoping to hear as much as i can about admission before M10... looks like it worked. I have learned that this year (particularly Deerfield) there has been a rise in applications so that means this year could be the most competitive year in many schools history. For many schools this is still speculation though. VERY SCARY, i know right? This is probably due to the economy recovering from the '08 recession but who knows. I'm just going to keep this forum open as a way for people who want to talk about chances, release nerves, or to vent because of/due to this new information. Good luck to all. M10= 16 days away :-SS </p>
<p>The school we applied to said they’ve had a 100% increase in applications this year!!! So normally, they see around 200 applications for 9th grade, whereas this year it’s closer to 400. And they had more students from the current 8th grade class commit to stay for 9th grade than they usually do! So it feels like it’s much more competitive this year. They also said that this year’s Open House day was a record-breaker in attendance!!! :(</p>
<p>bump because i think people should see this </p>
<p>rungirl: You may not get a lot of posts here because, basically, this is just a form of anxiety thread of which there are many floating around right now.</p>
<p>Also you don’t need to bump a thread the next day. Wait until it has fallen off the 1st first page</p>
<p>^^^+1</p>
<p>oh ok then i didnt know… sorry, i was just trying to spread some more information </p>
<p>I agree this year appears to be more competitive than most. Schools we visited mentioned they were receiving record breaking inquires, interviews and applications </p>
<p>I think over the next few years, every year will be a record breaking year. I heard that last year was a record breaking year for Exeter, Andover, and most likely many other schools</p>
<p>Even though they didn’t advertise it as a record year, I can’t imagine Groton’s acceptance rate was ever lower than last year’s 12%.</p>
<p>BS Admissions have been humming for many, many years, Kids. Every year is a banner year. The only time I can remember a fall off was when Jimmy Carter was President. Back then an applicant would interview with the Headmaster ( or in some cases his secretary…) and know if they were accepted (or not) by the time reached the parking lot. Here’s a little BS trivia: Many of those secretaries went on to become the school’s first AO!</p>
<p>Those were the days… </p>
<p>
big whoop…</p>
<p>Don’t get worked up about the increase of applications (unless u are applying from China). The number of domestic applicants is flat to declining. The big increase is from rich kids from China. MORE THAN HALF the applications submitted using the SSAT Standard Application Online come from China alone.<br>
See chart on p.14:
<a href=“http://www.admission.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/0312TrendsInAdmissionInternational72.pdf”>http://www.admission.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/0312TrendsInAdmissionInternational72.pdf</a></p>
<p>The numbers of applicants from China increase exponentially each year, but the top schools still limit the number of int’l kids from any one country. You can breathe normally now…</p>
<p>The schools capitalize on the avalanche of applications from China-- it inflates the perception of prestige/selectivity when the admit rate goes down.</p>
<p>The numbers of applications from China are so extreme that schools have to go to a third party consultant to weed out the phony credentials</p>
<p>click on the video:
<a href=“http://www.vericant.com/”>http://www.vericant.com/</a></p>
<p>
GMT, thanks for the link. Sorry I didn’t read the whole article. Is this mentioned in it? </p>
<p>@Benley, I read it in another article the series, on the SSAT website for admissions professionals. It was an article about the ‘applicant funnel’: how the domestic funnel was shrinking and increasingly BS must look to int’l applicants for revenue.</p>
<p>The size of Asian and Chinese (in particular) presence at even the top boarding schools is really starting to change the culture at these places. Some now have in excess of 40% of the class being Asian/Chinese. Pretty soon instruction will be in Mandarin – the schools have to go for the money and the money is in China. The good news is that if you are a reasonably qualified US non-Asian, you will have a great opportunity to get in.</p>
<p>The selective schools are committed to having int’l geographic diversity; therefore, they limit the representation of any single foreign nationality to ~5% max. </p>
<p>Right-- and, at those selective schools, overall international percentages also remain pretty low (I know Deerfield’s is around 15% or so). NMH, on the other hand, has 25%. It kind of depends where schools can get enough full pay students without dropping their admissions standards. </p>
<p>
Top boarding schools don’t have a larger presence of Asian student population than elite colleges do. And these schools are following the lead of or share the same vision as elite colleges in terms of diversity of student body. So I’d say if it’s “changing the culture” then probably it’s a necessary change. On the other hand, as noted by other posters, the top schools are taking measured steps in expanding the enrollment of students from any one country. Despite the huge number of applications from China, there are only a handful of them on campus, and many of them have experience living and studying in the US. And from my observation, they have integrated reasonably well into the school community fairly quickly.</p>
<p>
Well, for URM, yes, but for non-URM, not so fast. Especially if you are from one of the “major markets” of selective NE boarding schools such as MA, CT, NY and NJ, the competition is still fierce even if you are non-Asian. </p>
<p>Or if you’re FA… I think the competition for full FA this year is fierce as well…</p>