Statistics From 2012 Andover Admissions

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>As everyone waits for the 9th, I thought I would post some illuminating (and intimidating) facts about last year's admitted students at Andover. I found this on the Andover website.</p>

<ul>
<li>Of the 3130 completed applications, 75% were academically admissible</li>
<li>442 were admitted (14% ratio matched lowest acceptance rate in school history)</li>
<li>median SSAT was 94%</li>
</ul>

<p>Interests/Strengths of Admitted Students:
- 65% played an instrument or had musical ability. Of that 65%, 10% had been identified as being among the top young musicians in the world
- 53% had strong community service/volunteer experience
- 40% were identified by coaches as having varsity potential in athletics
- 27% were class presidents or school leaders
- 23% had acted in school or community productions
- 18% had strong visual arts abilities
- 10% were dancers
- 15% listed Math as their favorite subject
- 10% listed Science as their favorite subject
- 9% listed Math as their favorite subject
- 4% listed Languages as their favorite subject</p>

<p>Geographic & Ethnic Distribution:
- 67 countries were represented in the applicant pool; 24 were represented among the admitted students
- 53 states and territories were represented in the applicant pool; 33 were represented among the admitted students
- of the applicants, 26% (804) listed English as a second language
- of the admitted applicants, 16% identified themselves as Black, Latino or biracial
- of the admitted applicants, 22% identified themselves as Asian or Asian American
- of the admitted applicants, 53% identified themselves as White or Caucasian </p>

<p>Financial Aid:
- Of last years 442 admitted students, 35% (155) received financial aid.
- Among Andover's student body, 13% are in full scholarships. 47% receive financial aid.</p>

2

<p>Well, this makes me feel bad about myself. 94% was the MEDIAN ssat? I play guitar, but I’m nowhere near the top 10%. I’m DEFINITELY not a varsity athlete, and the fact that 10% of admitted students were dancers makes me feel incredibly unremarkable. Oh, and I need full FA. Well, I tried. :(</p>

3

<p>I’m part of the 18% who love visual arts, the 65% who play an instrument, and 10% who dance. However, I am not overly, awe-inspiringly remarkable at these activities; my SSATs barely make the median, and I also need 50+ percent of FA…all of these factors make me feel rather insignificant. <em>exasperated sigh</em></p>

4

<p>@GoldenRatio - I’m totally with you. However, hopefully we will stand out!</p>

5

<p>@ballerina22: Yep, hopefully we will. Hope the the only thing we can now, too…:)</p>

6

<p>added the number of writers to complete Paobs’s list:</p>

<ul>
<li>Of the 3130 completed applications, 75% were academically admissible

<ul>
<li>442 were admitted (14% ratio matched lowest acceptance rate in school history)</li>
<li>median SSAT was 94%</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>Interests/Strengths of Admitted Stude nts:

  • 65% played an instrument or had musical ability. Of that 65%, 10% had been identified as being among the top young musicians in the world
  • 53% had strong community service/volunteer experience
  • 40% were identified by coaches as having varsity potential in athletics
  • 27% were class presidents or school leaders
  • 23% had acted in school or community productions
  • 18% had strong visual arts abilities
  • 10% were dancers
  • 15% listed Math as their favorite subject
  • 10% listed Science as their favorite subject
  • 9% listed Math as their favorite subject
  • 4% listed Languages as their favorite subject
  • 39 students (about 9%) are particularly interested in creative writing</p>

<p>Geographic & Ethnic Distribution:

  • 67 countries were represented in the applicant pool; 24 were represented among the admitted students
  • 53 states and territories were represented in the applicant pool; 33 were represented among the admitted students
  • of the applicants, 26% (804) listed English as a second language
  • of the admitted applicants, 16% identified themselves as Black, Latino or biracial
  • of the admitted applicants, 22% identified themselves as Asian or Asian American
  • of the admitted applicants, 53% identified themselves as White or Caucasian </p>

<p>Financial Aid:

  • Of last years 442 admitted students, 35% (155) received financial aid.
  • Among Andover’s student body, 13% are in full scholarships. 47% receive financial aid.</p>
7

<p>This will certainly be an interesting week for everybody. My advice? Keep calm, carry on, and don’t get discouraged. Try not to get ulcers from worrying this week!</p>

8

<p>How selective is andover vs. exeter?</p>

9

<p>Math is listed twice as favorite subjects. A typo perhaps?</p>

10

<p>Sorry for the typo! Second math listing should have been 9% for creative writing. Thanks mom8dad for the catch. One good note about financial aid. Andover, as I understand it, funds 100% of exhibited need among its accepted applicants, so a FA request does not have the impact that it might at other schools. Best of luck to all.</p>

11

<p>Hey I’m an Andover student right now procrastinating an English project. I’d like to address some of these statistics and stereotypes about the kind of kids who get in here. The point of this post is to show that there still is hope for getting in, and plenty of normal kids (ie. me) get in every year. Not everyone here are insane.</p>

<p>All of this info is coming from theasepages:[Phillips</a> Academy -](<a href=“http://www.andover.edu/Admission/WelcomeAdmittedStudents/235Class/Pages/default.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.andover.edu/Admission/WelcomeAdmittedStudents/235Class/Pages/default.aspx) and [Phillips</a> Academy -](<a href=“http://www.andover.edu/Admission/WelcomeAdmittedStudents/235Class/Pages/FunFacts.aspx]Phillips”>http://www.andover.edu/Admission/WelcomeAdmittedStudents/235Class/Pages/FunFacts.aspx)</p>

<p>Let’s read into a few of these statistics a bit.</p>

<p>-75% were academically admissible
Being academically admissible is different from academically desirable. Not all 75% of these candidates are ones they consider as seriously as they do academically desirable candidates (kids with high GPAs and SSAT scores in the 90’s). So, don’t think that 75% of the applicant pool has SSATs in the 90’s, and 4.0 GPAs.</p>

<p>– 65% played an instrument or had musical ability. Of that 65%, 10% had been identified as being among the top young musicians in the world
How do you define “top musicians around the world?” I’d say there are maybe 10 kids who I’d describe as top musicians around the world, not 10% of the admitted musicians. </p>

<p>Point is, don’t stress because you’re not Mozart.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>53% had strong community service/volunteer experience
That’s not what the website said. It said that 53% PARTICIPATED in community service. Hell, I was part of the 53%, and I had pretty minimal community service exp. So, don’t freak out because you haven’t spent all of your Saturdays at hospital saving lives. </p></li>
<li><p>40% were identified by coaches as having varsity potential in athletics
And maybe half of them actually made varsity teams. The cuts from JV to Varsity are brutal. Also, having “varsity potential” doesn’t mean that you’re a serious candidate for a varsity team. This statistic isn’t saying that 40% of the admitted class are incredible athletes–it’s saying that 40% of the admitted class range from incredible athletes to pretty good athletes. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>The point I’m making by tearing apart these statistics is:
-Not all Andover students are insane human beings with perfectly developed talents and passions. Those kids are in the minority.
-It’s not as intimidating as it looks. Andover admits normal kids.</p>

<p>This place isn’t as intimidating as it feels as an applicant. I know this–I applied twice. I thought that this place was filled with kids that were more like machines than teenagers, and did everything perfectly. That’s not the case. Kids here aren’t as intimidating or impressive as those statistics make it sound, and the applicant pool isn’t either. That’s a really good thing.</p>

<p>It means that you can still be a kid when you come here.</p>

12

<p>If the numbers are correct and 35% received financial aid in 2012 while 47% of Andover’s body overall is on (some) financial aid, it does mean financial aid slipped somewhat in 2012…</p>

13

<p>J24601J: thanks for the sane comments. They make sense and are consistent with my observations.</p>

14

<p>Ditto, thanks for the sane comments. Makes me feel better about the upcoming weekend’s potential news.</p>

15

<p>J24601J</p>

<p>Thank you for your post. Makes me feel better that my daughter still could get a FedEx this weekend.</p>

<p>W4N</p>

16

<p>Good luck everyone no matter the outcome. If you gave it your all then you all should be very proud of yourselves. Saturday will not define who you are, your actions and behavior will.</p>

17

<p>@blueboo, that’s from 1968
@AceNtheHole, I agree, we’ve all worked hard, no matter the decision.</p>

18

<p>Why does it say that 15% chose math as their favorite subject and then it says 9% chose math as their favorite subject???</p>

19

<p>abcabc333 It was a typo. I believe it was supposed to be 15% math 9% creative writing.</p>

20

<p>J24601-- Thanks for the post-- it makes me feel better to know that I MIGHT still have a chance-- The music stat really scared me at first :frowning: Thanks!!</p>