Post results if FA need >50%

<p>FA need 70% , SSAT 78%,
Rejected at Lawrence Academy, Putney, Williston,
Waitlisted at Millbrook.
Two more letters to come.</p>

<p>Friend's Daughter:
Applied for 9th grade at Exeter only (was given VERY strong signals that she would be awarded substantial $$$ and thought that it would seem disloyal to apply elsewhere)</p>

<p>FA Need: 50%<br>
ISEE: 99%<br>
SAT: 2200<br>
ACT: 31
(Yes, these are 7th and 8th grade scores)
National Academic awards by the dozen; VERY Strong EC's; Great girl</p>

<p>Rejected: Exeter</p>

<p>Our FA need per SSS = 71.7% of costs (based on average $40K)</p>

<p>FA Award for acceptance #1 = 98%</p>

<p>FA Award for acceptance #2 = 105% (exceeds costs b/c the offer included pay for books, valued @ $1,000 per year as well as transpo expenses to/from home for five trips).</p>

<p>What the ****???</p>

<p>Son rec'd 3 acceptances, 2 rejections, 1 waitlist with 1 decision still outstanding.</p>

<p>Still awaiting FA outcome on a third acceptance b/c I received the decision online.</p>

<p>I was fully prepared to come up w/ the additional ~30%. Actually, I thought with a virtually empty nest on the horizon, I'd pull down a "tabled project" in an aggressive attempt to put together 2+ years tuition obligations while personal finances are relatively "stable" (never know what next year will bring was my theory). Looks like I can now put that energy toward 529 that's been beaten to a bloody pulp.</p>

<p>I will not be querying the FA officers on their decisions.</p>

<p>Wow, nylecoj, congratulations to you!</p>

<p>That is awesome news nylecoj007! I'm an analyzer, and this thread is so interesting from an analytical point of view. I wish more people who were accepted with FA would post their results. </p>

<p>I don't know if my son will want to apply again next year. He was SO excited about going to boarding school (applying was TOTALLY his idea). But he has such an annoyingly (lol...) healthy attitude about it all, and doesn't seem the least bit upset about not getting accepted to E/A. We haven't heard whether he was W'd or R'd at Andover, his top choice, but he hasn't even asked about the mail! So maybe he won't want to apply again next year. </p>

<p>However, if he does, I think this thread could give one a sense of what the FA world is really like out there. For instance, I would love to know whether kids who received full FA from Andover were all Tang Scholars. If there isn't any >75% aid out there anymore other than "Scholar" awards, it's good to know that one who needs that aid must either meet Tang Scholar level criteria or needn't bother applying.</p>

<p>Would we perhaps get more feedback from kids whose parents aren't on CC by posting a second thread like this on the Admissions forum? In order to make sense of the changing landscape, I think it's important to get info from more accepted applicants, many of whom might not frequent the Parents forum. Kaileigh?</p>

<p>I have not posted because we are waiting for the FA info., will post when it arrives.</p>

<p>happykidsmom, with Andover 35% of the incoming students are receiving FA, and only a fraction of them are getting "endowment scholarships" including the 10 Tang schlars. I read someone got a "xxx centennial scholarship" from Andover but don't know how many there are. It is said that there's no additional money for these schlarships other than the need-based FA you receive. In other words it is just telling you where your FA comes from and of course it bears an additional honor. Hope this information helps.</p>

<p>Edit: at least that's my understanding by reading the material coming from the school. Do they assign some kind of scholarship to all FA receipients? I don't know.</p>

<p>D waitlisted at NMH, don't know what the SSS said but expect over 90% FA needed. Very nice letter, with an offer to change her status to admittance if we can find funds from another source by March 17th. Guess this is as good a time as any to go buy a lottery ticket, not something I do more than once a year! </p>

<p>D stats - straight A student past two years, from a top rated public in Massachusetts. Excellent recommendations all around ( so I was told!) good EC's - talented musician- clarinet and piano, and I think good track/cross country potential. Her SSAT's were a mixed bag - quite high in reading, just above avg in verbal, and below in math. </p>

<p>She will stay on the waitlist, just in case, and I fully expect that she will want to apply again next year for 10th grade. Plans on studying over summer for SSAT's, especially math.</p>

<p>They gave you seven days to come up with 40K ????</p>

<p>It sounds like your daughter was accepted but waitlisted for FA. I'd be pretty happy with that. I know I would love to know the exact reason for my son's WL decision; not to be angry about anything, but just to know. I can live with not being wealthy and all that that entails. I am rich in many other ways. If he was WL for FA reason - I'm OK with that. I'd be pretty pleased, as a matter of fact, to think that they agreed that he would have been a great student there - but they just couldn't pay for him. I am still simply blown away by the generosity of so many of these schools. It goes a long way to dismiss the cynicism that I find creeping up about so many other aspects of society.</p>

<p>This forum does that as well, I might add. I have chatted with so many lovely people here. My "internet friends," as my husband refers to all of you. The support given here is uplifting. Thank you, everyone.</p>

<p>@sadie2 - I've thought about the lottery ticket too!!! Haven't bought one in probably five or six years. Not gonna do it, though. I don't even think it would make much difference at Groton. They rejected plenty of full-pay students. And I don't even know if FA was the reason for the WL. It could easily have been something else.</p>

<p>FA amount needed calculated by SSS: 100%, FA amount WE FEEL WE NEED: 87.5%. SSAT: 91%. Application from Vietnam.</p>

<p>Rejected by Andover, Exeter, Lawrenceville. SO FAR: Accepted at Lake Forest Academy (FA 75%), Emma Willard (Davis Scholarship 98.6%, only have to contribute $550 for tuition and some other fees) and The Putney School (FA 100%, still need to pay for some additional fees).</p>

<p>I hope those figures help you with some calculation...</p>

<p>Here's the latest for my son.</p>

<p>FA>50% (based on SSS)</p>

<p>SSAT = 83%</p>

<p>Accepted: Loomis but waitlisted for FA</p>

<p>Rejected: Exeter, The Hill, SPS, NMH, Hotchkiss</p>

<p>Waitlisted: Deerfield, Governor's</p>

<p>Now what? Governor's letter say's if you come off the waitlist and are accepted they will try to meet demonstrated need. Deerfield doesn't say anything about FA.</p>

<p>Requesting 90% FA, daughter rejected for 9th grade at Exeter despite near perfect exam scores, stellar grades and recs, as well as 8th grade SAT score of 2160 that exceeds Exeter's published graduating class average of 2089. (A paradox posed: Exeter's seniors aren't qualified for 9th grade?) Public promise of a "needs-blind admission" process retracted on March 5. Countless millions of dollars were contributed recently by alumni toward a high-profile "initiative" to admit the best kids regardless of their ability to pay. BEWARE Exeter alums: Your money is being solicited under false pretenses.</p>

<p>Final Verdict:</p>

<p>Peddie: Waitlisted
Lawrenceville: Rejected</p>

<p>Financial Aid needed 75%</p>

<p>I thought there was a chance with Peddie. They seemed to really be excited with the application/interview.</p>

<p><strong>sigh</strong></p>

<p>Neato -
Your right. The acceptance package can be mailed if I come up with the $$.</p>

<p>Watertester: Hi! And, no, I think that Andover did award quite alot of FA in addition to the Tang Scholar $$ (which is PHENOMENAL!). It's just hard to know if they are able to award 75-100% tuition to kids who aren't Tang Scholars. </p>

<p>I don't foresee our financial status changing in the next year or two, so I'm trying to ascertain whether it 's worth the time, effort, $$ and energy to apply again if that's what my son wants. If a school had a break at, say, 50% and said, "We either name this child a XXX Scholar or we can't meet their need," they could still be providing significant amounts of FA to hundreds of students who needed less than 50% aid, but my son wouldn't qualify. </p>

<p>I can completely see how schools might have felt it was necessary to change the rules after-the-fact this year. Everyone was caught off-guard by the economic downturn. However, they should have plenty of time between now and next application season to formulate a feasible FA plan that they can see through to Decision Day, rather than changing the rules after applications have been submitted. I hope that schools will respect applicants enough to be transparent about their true FA tenets so that thousands of students don't, once again, apply into a system that was never truly available to them.</p>

<p>These schools give millions of dollars every year to outstanding students who, without significant FA, could never dream of getting the quality of education these institutions are able to provide. There is something to be said for giving smaller amounts of aid to as many students as possible, rather than giving more aid to a fewer number of students. Given the circumstances, I'm pretty sure I would have done exactly what the schools seem to have done this year. But, before I let our entire family become invested in this process again, I want to know that my son has a good shot of receiving the gift of FA. Under the FA tenets that we applied under, he did. When the rules changed, he evidently didn't.</p>

<p>To answer the question about "named" scholarships, my kids have gone to two different big New England boarding schools over the span of several years with the gift of significant financial aid. While they didn't have a scholarship with extras like the "Tang", their regular financial aid was from "named scholarships." Every January they had to write a thank you note to the family or foundation who provided the scholarship, with details about their grades and activities. This is a task they they took/take very seriously. One year one of my kids actually received a phone call from the donor!</p>

<p>Biohelpmom, that is really cool that they let the kids know who their patron is. I'm sure there are a lot of kids who would like to write a thank you note to the person responsible for their gift, but don't know who it is. I remember one Christmas morning, when he was little bitty, I saw him looking rather sad. I thought that maybe he had been really wishing for something and he didn't get it. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "I wish I could give Santa a hug and tell him thank you." So I told him he could hug me instead. I imagine there are plenty of kids who felt the same way on Tuesday.</p>

<p>Here's our update:</p>

<p>FA >50%, SSAT >90 (mid)</p>

<p>Accepted: Hotchkiss w/FA amount that is needed!!!
Taft w/ FA, but leaving a gap</p>

<p>Waitlist: Deerfield, Andover, Lawrenceville</p>

<p>Rejected: Exeter, Choate</p>

<p>Happykidsmom, yes, I think we should consider moving this to the page where kids answer. I think that FA has played such a big part in decisions that it's historically important to get a grip on what happened this year. Many people are reading this post, but not posting.
I am such a novice at this that I would love it if you would figure it out? Should it be a master list like the other one, but just for FA applicants? What stats should be listed. Go with it...please!!!!</p>

<p>Now, I have to admit that once we got a couple acceptances, I wasn't as quick to come back to this site. I started wondering if the w/l schools might figure out who we are and leave S on the w/l because of it. Then I worried that Hotchkiss would figure out who I am and not like having a post that says they were the only ones to want S enough to give all the needed aid. How's that for crazy thinking? Hotchkiss did the right thing and I love them for it! I hope everybody knows that they came up with the needed money for a good candidate and didn't gap the aid! </p>

<p>Yay Hotchkiss!!!! A school you can totally trust!!! Now I hope they do read this and figure out who I am!!! Go Bearcats!</p>

<p>Remember that all of the schools have long term associations with organizations like Prep For Prep and ABC, which send them a significant number of kids who need a full aid package every year. So there are indeed many kids getting this type of aid. I do think the big packages are more likely to go to kids providing diversity.</p>

<p>Also keep in mind that despite the economy, the top schools continued to have record numbers of applicants. This could change next year, so it would be worth reapplying IMO.</p>

<p>There will always be very high stats kids who don't get in for many reasons. Kaileigh, your daughter struck a cord at Hotchkiss. It doesn't mean the other schools are not trust worthy. This is the reason to apply widely, one school will see what another does not.</p>

<p>hmom 5 </p>

<p>As I reread my post, I can see where my words might not have been well chosen. I was not trying to say that other schools are not trust-worthy. If anyone took it that way then please know that is not what was intended. I only meant that, based on what I'm reading on other posts, need-blind seems to have gone by the wayside for many schools this year. </p>

<p>You are absolutely correct that we cast a wider net to find the right match and make a connection.</p>