<p>suze, the more you inform, the more it sounds like these schools are really not all that different. If you take away the advantage of legacy, who are the schools that shine? No offense, but Groton may be really hurt by the notion of choosing schools based on parents colleges. I'm not saying Groton is not a good school, it's a great school, but legacies especially from Harvard abound. We shall soon find out, I believe it will be only a matter of time that top colleges like Harvard may just trash the whole legacy pogram.</p>
<p>I look forward to that day.</p>
<p>suze raises an interesting point re: where parents went to college. Adcoms may also be looking for some clues as to what is reasonable to expect from an applicant. There might be different expectations for a child whose parents are ivy alums vs. an applicant who is potentially first generation college student. Both students may have great profiles academically, but student 2 may have had greater obstacles.</p>
<p>But admissions are so much more competitive these days. In the past you could get into Harvard on good grades, now you have to do a lot more than have just good grades.</p>
<p>Not as competitive if you are a legacy. Especially a legacy with major $$$$$$. The best case scenario, a legacy with major money who is a URM and stars in three sports. lol Ah, I think I have truly found the one true formula for successful admission to the school of your dreams.</p>
<p>Suze, You seem to know a lot about this subject. Where do you go? What is your brother's first choice and why and what do your parents think? If you had it all to do over again would you still want to go to the school you attend or another? Just trolling for info if it is not too personal.</p>
<p>Prepparent,</p>
<p>Ran across a reprint of this in my local rag (reprint from Washington Post). Takes a big swipe at the "academic rigor" of honors, AP, etc. classes. Even cites an example from Texas (as you like to point out their lack of rigor).</p>
<p>quote:
"A company selling an orange-colored beverage under the label 'orange juice' can get in legal trouble if the beverage contains little or no actual juice," said a February report from the National Center for Educational Accountability, based in Austin. "But there are no consequences for giving credit for Algebra 2 to students who have learned little algebra."</p>
<p>Grade inflation is a well-known issue. Many critics of public schools contend that students nowadays get better grades for less achievement than they used to. Experts also worry about courses that promise mastery in a subject but fail to follow through. Call it course-label inflation.</p>
<p>The educational accountability center's researchers, Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor and Shuling Jian, found course-label inflation particularly harmful to low-income and minority students. They said 60 percent of low-income students, 65 percent of African American students and 57 percent of Hispanic students who had received course credit for geometry or algebra 2 in Texas failed a state exam covering material from geometry and algebra 1. By contrast, the failure rates for non-low-income and white students were 36 and 32 percent, respectively.</p>
<p>end quote</p>
<p>I guess everything is bigger in Texas including the academic fraud in public schools.</p>
<p>goaliedad, that for the info. It is always nice to have third party verification of what one says. It also reveals what I have been saying about teaching to pass a test. The teachers in States like Texas are not happy and are quite stressed. Each teachers pass rate is reviewed. This puts undue stress on the teachers not to teach the subject, but to teach how to pass the test. Yes, grades are an abomination and a joke. The other shame of the Texas system is that each HS can have many valedictorians. These Vals course work can range from the minimum track to multiple AP's with no distinction made between the two.</p>
<p>Catg, I just graduated from Andover. I would absolutely choose it again and wouldn't have changed a thing in the amazing experience I had. My brother wants a smaller school and is applying to SPS, Deerfield and Peddie. Don't know that he has a favorite yet. He loves SPS as we have a cousin there and he's visited a few times but doesn't yet know the other 2 as well.</p>
<p>My parents are happy we've had the opportunity for such great educations. They are probably tired of the bills though! My mom joked that she can actually take a vacation this year as I'm taking a gap year and brother is still in public school!!</p>
<p>On a related topic, for those of you interested...</p>
<p>I was browsing in the Parent's area on a topic related to MIT Admissions (no my D is not that type), there is a very lively discussion going on very similar to this one... that is how all the stuff on the application goes into the admissions decisions. </p>
<p>Same problem - different level.</p>
<p>Interesting to see how MIT (in at least word) says it is trying to tone down the resume building arms race by limiting how many ECs could be listed on the application.</p>
<p>There was also mention that MIT looks at 7xx SAT scores the same as they look at an 800. Something to think about for all of you who are sweating the 93rd percentile vs. 99th percentile on your SSATs.</p>
<p>The jist I'm getting is that MIT is trying to get beyond the scorecard, look at the whole student, and try to get a mixture of "people" with the right stuff, not just resume packers.</p>
<p>One other note... This whole worry about admissions reminds me about a series of TV Commercials for Star Kist tuna, where "Charlie" the Tuna is always trying to make himself more attractive to the Star Kist fisherman by taking up some contrived upper crust activity to show that he has "good taste". The announcer would always end up reminding Charlie that Star Kist doesn't want tuna with "good taste" but tuna that "tastes good".</p>
<p>Charlie was always looking to improve his image as opposed to making the most of himself.</p>
<p>I think anyone here who tries to make the most of opportunities available to them and can articulate that and an eagerness to try a bigger challenge on an application and an interview will be a much more valuable candidate to any school than the spotless resume of the priveleged child who has had every opportunity provided for them.</p>
<p>And even if you don't get admitted (I know this is at the back of your minds), if your focus is on your SSAT percentile, GPA, # of ECs, etc. you will leave the process wondering what was wrong with your application at the top schools. If you concentrate on the making the most of the opportunities available to you, you will leave the process knowing that you've done your best and have no shame in going to the best school (hopefully the best fit) that you can get admitted to, knowing that you will continue the fight.</p>
<p>suze, congratulations on graduating from Andover. out of curiousity, where will you be attending college?</p>
<p>I'm doing a gap year and then going to Dartmouth. For those worried about college admission, I was also accepted at Yale and Princeton.</p>
<p>wow, congrats again. what will you be doing for your gap year (if you dont mind me asking) and also why Dartmouth (which is an excellent choice) but what made you choose it over Y or P?</p>
<p>I spent the summer teaching english in China. I'm working at an investment bank for a few months to make $$, then I'm going to India and Indonesia to do volunteer work and will be in Europe next summer having fun.</p>
<p>I chose Dartmouth for so many reasons. The language program was key as was the skiing and outdoor life in general. I'm a legacy and have known the college all my life. Hanover is the ideal college town to me. It just feels like home.</p>
<p>that's great stuff suze, good luck in all of your endeavors.</p>
<p>Recent discussion on some of the other threads about SSAT prep and scores reminded me of this thread. We have been through 4 interviews so far with my daughter and have last 2 tomorrow. At every school we have asked the admissions rep about how they evaluate all the inputs into the admissions package. At all four schools so far the impression we have left with is that SSAT is one of the least important factors. Most of the admissions reps were tactful about it, but at least one was pretty direct. Consistent with the stories of high 90s applicants not getting in, while based on the averages there are clearly people getting in with much lower scores. On the opposite side, the message we are getting is that teacher recs are very important. If the schools are looking for qualitative evaluations of the candidates it would seem like this (and the interviews) are where they are going to get it. And these opinions are from other educators with extended exposure to the applicants. Athletic hook (which my daughter has) has been interesting. There have been schools where it has felt like it carried very little weight and others where it felt like it could have a real material affect on the application review process. Getting the coach's attention though and getting the benefit of that hook can be a fair amount of work though.</p>
<p>biiffgar, I concur with your assessment. Please see Number 1 entry. I believe boarding schools are much more holistic than most colleges. However, similar to colleges, they are building diverse communities. Having all 95 plus students at your school, may not make a diverse community.</p>
<p>I thought I would bump this up. Please see number 1 entry.</p>
<p>bifgnar, recently my D and niece had interviews at a school your D is looking at as a possibility. My N plays club volleyball and while on her tour the volleyball coach went looking for her to introduce himself and meet her. Of course this made her feel good about the school. While in the admissions office there was a lot of talk of sports, especially girls hockey. They must have a highly rated girls hockey team.</p>
<p>A good girl's hockey program was one of the factors we used in sorting schools. Definitely not the only one though as hockey can go away (injury, injury, loss of interest, etc.). Most all of the schools we visited are top 10 Division 1 programs consistently. There are some great Division 2 programs out there also. In fact one of the best is a day school where she could stay home. She is considering putting an application in there also. Hockey (and other sports) can be big focuses at some of these schools. I think it was on a different thread that somebody used the word "cult" or something like that to describe hockey at Pomfret (one of my daughter's top two choices of schools).</p>