<p>It seems after seeing some of the 2006 matriculation numbers that the "best" prep schools in the country are slipping in terms of the number of graduates getting into Ivy League colleges (I understand there are other great schools like Stanford, Duke, MIT, Caltech, Georgetown, etc., but the Ivies are a good measurement). I haven't seen Exeter's numbers (I heard they weren't too great) but Milton Academy sent 28% of graduates to the Ivies (worse than last year, but not bad), Phillips Academy sent 27% (a significant drop). It seems that schools that once sent about 1/3 of graduates to the Ivies are now sending about 1/4 of their students to Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, U Pennsylvania, and Yale. Why is this exactly? Some say it's because access to information about the college application process is more readily available, online applications are bringing more geograhic and economic diversity, etc. The Ivies aren't getting any bigger, so who are filling of these open spots once taken by prep schoolers? Is it international students? Top public school kids? The most shocking example was St. Paul's School. Only 24% of the 2006 graduates are going to Ivy League colleges (SPS usually sends a little over 1/3 and was ranked #1 by prepreview).</p>
<p>The basic problem is, as you said, that the Ivy League colleges aren't getting much bigger, but they are casting a much wider net to find students to admit. Going to a prep school is never a guarantee of admission to a particular highly desirable college, and even less so today than formerly. </p>
<p>But not all prep school students go to prep school to increase their chances of getting into Ivy League colleges. Some go for the prep school experience itself.</p>
<p>The explanation that I hear most often is that colleges are diversyfing just like prep schools started doing. Diversification is much more difficult when more of the spots are taken up by prep school graduates. Just as it is easier from a top kid from North Dakota to get into a top boarding school, it will be easier for a valedictorian from a good public school in North Dakota to get into an ivy. As you said it is also much easier to apply to colleges because of on-line applications. Kids who wouldn't have thought of applying to an ivy now do so just to give it a shot.</p>
<p>Maybe it's not that prep schools and their students are slipping, but that students from the rest of the American education system are getting better. I think that the world's changed, there's perhaps less of a good old boy's feeling. Time for diversity; people aren't going to the same Ivy League school with 50 of their high school classmates. Additionally, a lot of non-prep school students are more motivated, work harder, feel a greater need for a college education (compare 20% college-educated workforce in 1976 to 30% today), and get more from their education than they may have before. The gap's shrinking.</p>
<p>It's strange though that the prep schools are diversifying in all sorts of ways, and yet Ivy League schools still want to look elsewhere to get diversity. Either the Ivies don't recognize that prep schools are changing, or they still feel self-concious about admitting too many students from certain schools because their reputations of exclusivity and a lack of economic, geographic, and ethnic diversity still lingers on (dispite how untrue these stereotypes may be today).</p>
<p>The kid from Smalltown, America who went to prep school and the kid from Smalltown, America are going to have different perspectives, despite being raised in the same place. Besides, the point of diversifying prep schools isn't to keep colleges swarming with a more diverse bunch of prep school students. And as cheesy as it may sound, isn't that part of the American dream, the goals the country was founded on? That you could be disadvantaged or not go to prep school and still be able to make something of yourself, to pull yourself up?</p>
<p>I went to prep school, it was a great experience, but I'm honestly happy that 4% of my college class isn't from my high school or 25% from prep schools.</p>
<p>Just because it was an established norm to fill good schools with prep schoolers doesn't mean it was the best system, and I can't think of anything more natural than change.</p>
<p>Yes. It seems to me that they want to cast a large net to include a very diverse population. Even with increasing diversity at prep schools, top colleges still want diversity in the schools represented. I think they all want to get away from an elitist image. Given their very low acceptance rates and the # of highly qualified students who apply, they can accept students from many different schools. </p>
<p>That said, it seems to me that on average, prep school students are very well prepared for the challenges of a top college. I've heard about 2 disturbing trends in a typical college education which probably applies to ivies to a lesser degree: 1. Around half the students who apply to a full-time 4-year degree granting institution are still trying to graduate after 6 years. 2. The number of transfers has increased significantly. I think boarding students would be more likely to complete the 4 years and probably have more loyalty than most. </p>
<p>I asked a college gc if colleges are responding to these trends by trying to select students who are likely to stay and complete the degree on time. She said that she was not aware of any response to these trends. This surprises me, but I guess Adcoms are not evaluated on retention.</p>
<p>SPS web site says just under 33% received one or more offers to ivy league schools. It is under the news section.</p>
<p>From the SPS website:</p>
<p>The rhetoric is like a broken record or, these days, a CD or iPod left on repeat. But the simple fact is that college admissions continues to get more competitive each year. Numbers of qualified applicants are rising, the Internet age has eased the communication process both to and from potential applicants, both nationally and internationally.</p>
<p>SPS Senior College Adviser Bob Hill (recently appointed Academic Dean) referred to an article he read about the rising number of colleges to which each student is applying these days. "Has the ease of technology made it so that kids are just applying everywhere, not thinking deeply about the process, but just pushing a 'send' button?" he asked.</p>
<p>Despite the now clich</p>
<p>Yes, the numbers are lower overall, 2006 was an especially difficult year. Davida1, I agree with your comment on the ease of applying these days. Imho, it would be more reliable if you used 5 year numbers.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if Exeter has it's numbers posted anywhere?</p>
<p>Ivies are not a good way to judge a schools success in the college game for several reasons. Consider for example those who wish to major in engineering. Would they pick an ivy league engineering education over that of say MIT? </p>
<p>Anyways, here are the numbers from Andover for the elite institutions that came to my mind. Im sure I forgot several, but they would only increase the numbers.</p>
<p>UC Berkeley-4
Brown-13
Columbia-7
Cornell-8
Dartmouth-5
John Hopkins-2
Harvard-19
MIT-9
Princeton-6
Stanford-7
Tufts-3
U Penn-9
US Air Force/Military/Naval Academies-2
Yale-13
Total-107</p>
<p>Thats 107/296, nearly 40% matriculation at top-notch schools. At least one prep-school is still very good in the college game.</p>
<p>An example of change:</p>
<p>Andover College Placement in 2006 (first number), 2002 (second number)</p>
<p>Brown (13), (15)
U Chicago (4), (10)
Columbia (7), (8)
Cornell (8), (17)
Dartmouth (5), (8)
Georgetown (11), (15)
Harvard (19), (11) - an exception
Northwestern (4), (7)
U Pennsylvania (9), (8) - an exception
Princeton (6), (9)
Stanford (7), (7)
Tufts (3), (7)
Wesleyan (5), (5)
Yale (13), (17)</p>
<p>Actually at my prep school all the people I know personally that were accepted to MIT chose Stanford or Princeton instead (in my graduating class). The tech schools/military academies aren't viewed in the same way (generally) by prep school kids and public school kids in terms of prestige. One student in particular wanted to go to Harvard, but was waitlisted and then ended up at Stanford (choosing it over MIT).</p>
<p>I think that you also have to look at the changing populations at the top prep schools. Many more of them today are from different areas of the country than they used to be and may have a preference for a top notch school closer to their home. So the question may not be why Ivy League schools are not choosing top prep students, but why top prep students are not choosing Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>If you look at the bs matrics top to bottom, you'll find that 3/4 of each grad class goes to a top notch uni or LAC. With so many good schools available (soaring endowments ), why limit yourself to the ivies. In addition, I believe that the bs college advisors ask that the students look beyond the ivies. Times have changed and with it being so easy to apply these days by computer, common school apps, etc. it's no wonder why apps have risen and the student population has diversified. All in all a 1/3, 1/4, or even 1/5, accept rate to the ivies is not chopped liver. In our city, the top public high schools matric maybe 2 or 3, maybe 4 students to the ivies with a grad class ~600-700 students.</p>
<p>Things certainly seem much harder than when I attended prep school (way back when - the year shall remain unknown!) - however, that is not to say that you were a shoe-in into the Ivies merely by graduating nor that the environment wasn't ultra competitive (it most certainly was).</p>
<p>The phenomenon taking place at prep schools is merely a reflection of the reality that all graduating HSers face today, which is simply: increased competition. Add to that the trend of diversification and this only adds fuel to the fire.</p>
<p>Bottom line is: if you are an overachiever / standout (academically and otherwise) than prep school offers a tremendous opportunity for intellectual / personal growth (e.g. character building, leadership skills) and can be a powerful backdrop for fostering lifelong friendships / connections / networking. In other words, the Top 10% of the elite prep schools will have no problems.</p>
<p>BUT - and here is the rub, for those who only manage to keep their heads above water (i.e. bottom 15-30%) those individuals will find it increasingly difficult from a matrics perspective. That "bottom" range was probably lower in the past for graduates of elite prep schools, but with the playing field "evening" out, the biggest "losers" from this new reality will be the underachievers.</p>
<p>Now people will say "duh" of course, but the point is that (at least historically) graduating from an elite prep school DID give you a bit of an edge over the average public school graduate (and perhaps still does) - AT THE MARGIN - but now, merely graduating is not good enough.</p>
<p>So, what you are left with is a widening of the "haves" and "have nots" for prep schools graduates - you better be good if you are to leverage everything that prep schools offer - if not, you might find that staying at your local HS may (in the end) have been a better road to take than "the road less traveled".</p>
<p>This is most probably a five year matriculation you've posted. No Boarding School post these Ivy matriculations in a year. Andovers website is down but i've viewed their matriculations many times and this is not a yearly total.</p>
<p>I'm not suggesting that the best prep schools aren't getting a lot of students into top colleges, just that FEWER are getting in than normal (and they definitely are applying, so the argument that prep schoolers are less interested in attending an Ivy than in the past just doesn't hold up). </p>
<p>There was a study on another board that showed that among U.S. college-preparatory boarding schools that showed their matriculation information on <a href="http://www.boardingschoolreview.com%5B/url%5D">www.boardingschoolreview.com</a> (they only list the top ten according to frequency) that the five most popular colleges (in terms of total number of students attending annually) were Harvard (76), Georgetown (75), Cornell (72), Brown (71), and U Pennsylvania (71). That's NOT EXCLUDING the weaker boarding schools. </p>
<p>The reason why counselors are telling them to look elsewhere IS due to competition, but it's suprising that many prep schools haven't risen to the challenge by improving their schools so that the matriculation numbers stay consistent. I never suggested that the reason to go to a top prep school was to get into an Ivy (if you are of that caliber, you probably will have a better chance staying home and going to your local public high school, as many college counselors at elite schools tell their seniors perhaps too late). The best prep schools offer an incredible experience for students that goes far beyond the college admissions process. The benefits of attending a great prep school today (perhaps more than ever) are numerous. Colleges though maybe see that as less true than in the past for a reason that I don't quite understand.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the argument that prep schoolers are less interested in attending an Ivy than in the past just doesn't hold up).
[/quote]
Actually, from talking to my college counselor, this is true according to him. In the past, ivy leagues were usually the end all be all. The students who couldn't get into ivies went to nescac liberal arts schools. Now a days students are looking at schools at a more national scale. There is more interest to go to school outside of the northeast, due to increasing geographical awareness, and just the increasing regional diversity now at prep schools. With fewer kids at boarding school being from the northeast, more students are looking outside the east coast. ivy league interest is still very high, but has definitely gone down. with the increasing economic, personal, and regional diversity at boarding schools now a days, hypdccb aren't the end all be all any more.</p>