Sibling admissions

<p>I don't think donating the suggested minimum will help a sibling get in.</p>

<p>That is the suggested minimum?</p>

<p>I mean obviously, every Exeter grad should be paying that... I mean they paid 160,000 to go there... Why not add another 500,000?(Sarcasm galore)</p>

<p>No, but you can bet your suggested minimum that half a million $'s will.</p>

<p>Lol half a Mil is suggested minimum...I doubt that.</p>

<p>I just don't see legacies helping in the boarding school world. In my years of experience working with admissions, I just haven't seen it. A super star kid who the school wants anyway, will get in and people say "oh, his dad went there" but it doesn't seem to add much for a regular kid. Donations don't make a difference iunless they are cornerstone donations. And to the person who asked if the Lville brother who was denied came from an annoying family---quite the opposite, first generation immigrants, hard-working and kind. But they are in NJ which is competitive for Lville.</p>

<p>I knew a kid with SSAT's in the 90s, all A's, good activities whose dad went to Taft and donated a lot to Taft. They told me they didn't bother applying to any other schools, yet they were shocked to get denied. I don't know why he didn't get in, but I hear stories like this often enough that I almost thing that alumni connection works against them! </p>

<p>to those who asked, I work in this field, and that is all I can say about it without getting banned.</p>

<p>It depends on the school. Every school I have known does give some sibling preference. It does not mean that a sibling has a 100% chance of acceptance, but it does give him/her some edge. It can depend on a lot of factors at different schools as to how much of an edge a kid has. The applicant pool, the school's needs, the number of legacy and sibling kids in the pool all will affect sibling preference impact.</p>

<p>I would ccall 500,000 a good enough donation to let them know its possible the money will keep on rollin' in.</p>

<p>In my opinion, accepting a sibling can be important in parental involvement at a school. When you have kids in split schools, you cannot give the time, money or involvement to either school that you can if your kids are in the same school. Parents are usually more involved in their kids' school than they are their alma mater. I know a lot of parents who are alums of the private schools in this area, but their time and attention is taken entirely by the school where their kids are currently attending.</p>

<p>Legacy Seems to Count, At Least At St. Paul's</p>

<p>This is from a Board of Directors meeting. The relevant excerpt, from page five says: </p>

<p>"The St. Paul's Admissions Office had a record 1,100 applicants for the 2007-08 school year, and accepted 22%. Of those accepted, 69% have decided to enroll in the fall, the highest yield in the school's history. Sixty-three percent of students with alumni family relationships -"legacies"-were admitted. "</p>

<p>Wonder how many of the 1,100 applicants had legacy relationships. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.sps.edu/ftpimages/36/download/download_group8956_id258155.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sps.edu/ftpimages/36/download/download_group8956_id258155.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So, legacies have a 63% admissions rate, while general population (including legacies) have a 22% rate. The only way to figure the rate for non-legacy is to know how many of the 1100 were legacies. Doesn't bode well for non-connected students.</p>

<p>Oh dear, now you all have me worried!!!</p>

<p>We're not talking Andover or Exeter here, it's a smallish prep school with lots of competition in the area and while I know they are fiscally sound, the economy must be impacting these schools to some degree. If they've got a known entity (family) and two full paid tuitions coming in the door (plus some, as mentioned - not a ton but a good chunk for the family) I would think they would be eager to accept assuming the student is qualified. It does free up some FA for someone else that needs it. As much as we'd like to think otherwise and as much as they lead us to believe it's not about the money, the reality is that these schools need the full paying families to keep their doors open. </p>

<p>Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see!</p>

<p>You're right. If they didn't need the full-pay students, you wouldn't see articles on the ssatb school website with titles like, "Tired of fishing for full-pay students?" I don't fault the schools for that. They have to keep the doors open and "them that gots" provide the opportunity for FA applicants. I'm grateful for them!</p>

<p>It's reality and I've always known it. My husband and I have made our career choices knowing full well that we would end up giving more than receiving and that we would have to be more creative in finding opportunities for our children. It's OK.</p>

<p>While money may not buy happiness, it often makes things a lot easier!</p>

<p>Good luck to all: full pay and scholarship applicants, legacies and first generation BS students; jocks, math nerds, history nuts, musicians, actors and artists, over and under- represented minorities and generic American mutts. I'm convinced that everyone here will find their own way, whether their family has their own wiki page or not! :)</p>

<p>I do believe that the best schools will cut back in other areas long before they will compromise on student quality* and financial aid. If there really were "sibling legacy," it would be absolutely impossible for "outsiders" to gain admission to the top boarding schools. It's very difficult, but not impossible.</p>

<p>*When I speak of "student quality," I am not asserting that this is something which is open to objective measurement. I would define it as, "the students the school wants to admit."</p>

<p>schools always give sibling legacy a"leg up", even to the point of having different application/admit deadlines. This goes for HADES schools, as well as those in lower tiers. True, some siblings will be rejected from a school,but its rare and generally schools dont want to do that, since it alienates the family. They will also work with a family in which a younger sibling is not up to par to have them tutor, repeat a grade or whatever, where if this was a brand new family, they would just reject them outright</p>

<p>Often, through the influence of genetics and environment, bright nice kids have younger siblings who are also bright nice kids. So, it may be hard to tell what's a sibling effect per se. I know some sibling sets at very competitive schools, but the younger ones seem talented enough to have been admitted on their own merits.</p>

<p>I have heard of someone getting waitlisted at a school there sibling went to....</p>

<p>i think that sibling legacies do help out. I mean, all legacies help, and siblings give a leg-up. But it can also bring a false sense of security, which is what I definitely felt. My brother was at a boarding school, one of HADES...and I received notes from the director of admission on all the letters, and I had good SSAT scores, good recs, a pretty solid application, with more EC's than my brother, and I got waitlisted. But again, I applied for FA while my brother did not :/ So while I think it did help, there are bigger factors...But i think i was waitlisted rather than rejected because of my sibling.</p>

<p>I have seen a couple of cases that younger sibling was rejected
by one ISL BS even though they are full pay students and they are from feeder school last year. That means a siblings can be rejected if they are not qualified. If the siblng is at least average or marginal candidate, sibling can help. Otherwise........</p>

<p>UPDATE: For future reference: For what it’s worth, of all the siblings that I’m aware of that applied this year, all 6 were admitted. No waitlist. No rejections. I’m pretty sure that there is no financial aid for any of them although I can’t say for sure.</p>