Safeties?

Prep School Admissions
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<p>More importantly: why choose ANY school based on a recommendation from people who don’t know you. I am sure you won’t like my advice but here it is anyway.</p>

<ol>
<li>Do a basic search on Boarding School Review based on what YOU (and only you) want from a school.</li>
<li>Visit the web sites of each school on YOUR list and spend 1-4 hours on EACH web site getting to “know” more about each school.</li>
<li>Apply to your final list.</li>
</ol>

<p>As has been said before: no school mentioned on this board is a definite “shoo-in”. There are way too many variables to be able to assume a yes on M10.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

22

<p>Northfield amount Hermon as a safety smh…</p>

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<p>A true safety has a 100% acceptance rate /:slight_smile: </p>

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<p>It’s been a while since I’ve chimed in on threads like this, but my POV is unchanged:</p>

<p>ASK YOURSELF IF YOU ARE A “TOP NOTCH” CANDIDATE BEFORE SELECTING SCHOOLS.</p>

<p>And be extremely honest with yourself. I’ve said this before, but I think many prospective kids and their parents are deluded about junior’s chances at the most selective boarding school/the boarding schools most frequently discussed here. There are more than 5 amazing schools out there, people!</p>

<p>On a related note, I also think that many prospective kids and parents are mistaken in thinking that only the “top notch” (quotes totally intentional) schools can rise to the meet the needs of your average bright student.</p>

<p>A few years ago, I chronicled my older daughter’s search/visit/apply/matriculate process, and I’ll share some facts from that long-winded story:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Daughter has always been strong standardized test taker – was one wrong answer away from a 2400 on SSAT. Her prep? Me buying her a book and saying “Take a practice test or two under timed conditions and review any areas that you got wrong.” No flash cards, paid tutors or prep courses, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Daughter was on honor roll all 3 years of middle school – at a private middle school known to many of the “top notch” boarding schools. Fairly good, but not outstanding ECs. Fluent enough in French to get placed into Level 3 her frosh year. Average multi-sport athlete. Average player of musical instrument. </p></li>
<li><p>Daughter applied to 3 schools (we had a strong back up locally) and was accepted at 2. Accepted at St. Andrew’s (DE) and St. Paul’s (NH…and the “S” in the HADES acronym that people toss around here). REJECTED at Choate.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I’m sharing all of this with the newbs not as some braggy rant, but as a cautionary tale. I urge kids to think about how their app profile might stack up to my daughter’s app profile from 3 years ago. Keep in mind that she was REJECTED (not even wait listed) at a school many regard as “top notch” and ACCEPTED at another. Same kid, same stats. Your takeaway from this should be that A) Even strong applicants can get rejected, and B) Different schools have different needs/holes to fill in a given year.</p>

<p>She ended up choosing St. Andrew’s, a school that’s off-the-radar for most prospective parents (despite my and Charger78’s best efforts!). And it’s been a great experience so far, for all of us. </p>

<p>Oh, forgot to mention that she needed some FA to make this all happen. In case you care to read the whole step-by-step saga:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-parents/1174214-one-family’s-bs-search-and-application-process-—-start-to-finish-p1.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-parents/1174214-one-family’s-bs-search-and-application-process-—-start-to-finish-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>If u are not willing to actually attend the school, then it’s not a safety. </p>

<p>Every April, it’s the same thing:<br>

</p>

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<p>If you’re nationally ranked in a team sport boarding schools play, your SSAT scores are above 80%, your parents are full pay, you attend a pre-prep with good relations to BS, and your pre-prep advisors are sanguine about your chances, then, maybeyou can talk about safeties.</p>

<p>For anyone else, it’s not predictable. There are no guarantees. In particular, as SevenDad has generously pointed out in his story, high test scores are only ONE part of an application. I also don’t think every school is trying to get as high a test score average as possible, or at least, if your child’s testing in the 99th percentile in everything, a school with average test scores in the mid-60s might not be more interested in your child than a similar child with test scores in the low 80s. It depends on the child’s and the family’s attitudes toward the school. An affable, all-round nice kid, who’s willing to play team sports might be easier to place than a high-testing child who’s good at music. </p>

<p>I urge families to broaden their search beyond the few famous names. If your child stands out at a good boarding school, he or she will have lots of options for college. The schools are very good at developing talent and offering opportunities. But don’t apply to schools which you wouldn’t send your child to. Imagine before applying, “ok, what if this were the only school, come March 10th?” If you wouldn’t send your child, don’t apply. </p>

<p>And for all that, if you need financial aid, there are no safeties.</p>

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<p>@ionlyliketheweb‌ You probably need to decide what’s most important to you in your search. You are looking for three things: smaller size, higher admission numbers, and a music program. Which is most important?</p>

<p>Also, what made you decide on 700? BSR has their cutoffs at <200, 200-400, and 400+. </p>

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<p>That’s a lot of applications, mein Got! 40!!! Who are THOSE kids??!!!</p>

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<p>^^^PhotoMom meant it in the sense that even with stellar stats that qualify them for the most selective schools, uber students apply to many schools – from number 1 to number 40 – not 40 applications.</p>

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<p>Or hyperbole.</p>

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<p>@mrnephew- Do the OP a favor and list which (Top 40 ) schools are cakewalk schools and why. </p>

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<p>Did you just completely misunderstand?</p>

<p>I meant the applying to ALL 40 schools might a have been hyperbole, I’m not sure where you got that from to be honest. </p>

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<p>Maybe it’s not hyperbole. I didn’t realize when AO’s told me to cast a broad net because of our FA needs they meant 10, 12, or possibly 15 schools. Since failure (staying here) is not a good option for the kid in any way, that meant I kept adding schools. The current list is a mind numbing 30, and my full time job this last month has been filling out paperwork and tracking down application stuff- and we’re using two common apps to simplify things.I wish we’d started the application process in March instead of October, but BS wasn’t even on our radar before then.</p>

<p>I can see some of the grinding, joyless, prestige seekers hiring someone to push their kids to apply to all 40, just to name drop who they declined. A scary thought. </p>

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<p>Scary thought for sure. 40 applications would be enough to kill a child. </p>

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<p>30 applications is about enough to kill me.</p>