Selective College Admissions At Prep Schools

<p>Newmassdad, the article about the young man who graduated from Groton and did not get into his top choices was really making the point that there are kids in these prepschools that have contacts and hooks that will have an advantage over those who do not. Although the young man was an excellent student, and he did end up getting into top 25 schools, he was not, from what I could see ********* type material anyways. The article was pulling up kids with celeberity, development, hooks that were getting into schools with lower stats than this kid, but this would happen at any school with the same situation. Comparing him with the general population applying to HPY, he was not a true standout, nor was he at Groton. The point being made, was that there were kids with lower academic stats who got in over him. Doesn't that happen anywhere? You see it with URMs, athletes, special hooks, legacies, employee kids all of the time. It is not a statistical process once you get past a certain point when it comes to elite college admissions. No big surprise.</p>

<p>I remember the Wall St. journal article. It featured a Korean student (from New Jersey?) attending Groton. I had mixed feelings. It seemed to point out that elite c. admissions were unfair (I seem to remember maybe David Halberstams daughter doing well from Groton, likewise for other children of well known people); on the other hand, the parents came off as sounding like they felt they paid for something they didn't receive. Their son ended up at some place like Carnegie Mellon, so it was very hard to work up much sympathy for them. Come to think of it, they all came across as 'icky'.</p>

<p>Newmassdad, the problem is that at top NE prep schools, the majority of kids are not from NE. I was rather surprised to find that my CA daughter would not have the geographical edge I thought, CA is highly represented at the top preps. Also true of many States outside of NE and many Countries too.</p>

<p>"Good point momsdream, but the whole situation leaves me with a lot of questions. Yes, my children are mixed race, but they are affluent. They are the children of 2 parents who hold ivy undergrad and grad degrees. If we throw in an elite prep school, do you really think they'll be given any leg up?"</p>

<p>I guess I don't understand the college book. Does it really give you that level of detail about the applicants? It specifies their family incomes, parent's educations, etc? I wouldn't assume that every URM you see getting in is from a poor family or one where parents aren't educated, especially when you are browsing the books supplied by elite prep schools in New England. </p>

<p>I don't know......IMHO, trying to get down to that level of detail on what kids got amitted here or there is overkill. In the words of my son....."Chill" Krimum. :)</p>

<p>The "College Book" is a looseleaf binder with a page for each college where anyone in the last 3-5 years has applied from that school. It is set up to show all kinds of info. The one I view gives the month of appllication, sex of applicant, major,quintile using a prep school chart, SAT1 scores, avg SAT2 scores, #AP exams, whether they have recruited athlete status, legacy, performing arts hook, "special connection" implying development or celebrity or high connection status, 1st generation to college, URM status,applying for financial aid, outreach program national recognition in something (a list is provided of what they consider belongs in that category). It is in chart form with little codes, so it takes a few minutes to decipher. The WSJ got their hands on Groton's College Book when they wrote that article on how being connected could help you get into the top schools even if the academic profile is not tops. </p>

<p>I find the book very helpful in many ways. First of all, it gives you a reality check after you look at the College Matriculation List and see all those kids going to HPY. When you take out all of the things that your kid is not, it tempers the picture a bit. Then when you see kids who have applied to those schools and did NOT get in and what their profiles are, it really lets you know where your kid stands. It also gives you an idea on what colleges are more generous with interpreting the grades from the school, and which are not. For instance, since the NYU data involves about 100 kids, you can pretty much get a picture of what is and isn't going to fly from this particular school. I could see that getting in with a low gpa is not likely whereas some LACs are downright generous. I could see that for whatever reason BC is more generous with the males, and there is a very clear trend that getting those apps out early is important. So when you are planning your college list, you have some more specific data to use. No, it is not perfect, but it helps. For those needing financial aid, you can see some schools do not seem needblind, and are stingy on aid, and there are some honeypots sitting out there that have merit aid for kids from that school. The school also gives juniors a binder with the names and school addresses and phone #s of all the kids still in college, so you can contact them and talk about the school, meet them when you visit, and even stay with them if invited. Pretty sweet, I think. So you don't have to assume every URM is poor--if the kid is URM and is not applying for aid , but is applying to expensive schools, I think it is safe to assume he is not from a disadvantaged family. It does not distinguish ethnic groups other than URM.</p>

<p>I had the same misconception Bobby100, turns out neither of our CA daughters will get a geography boost! Darn!!</p>