<p>Hmm, the matriculation data sees to be close to correct but they are a bit off here and there but it is relatively sound - but notice even Hotchkiss’s own website does not release the matriculation data year by year so i find that HIGHLY suspect - if Hotchkiss parents can’t figure out the yearly matriculation how can that site? But I noticed a number of mistakes on the page. For instance the endowment is way off - that figure has not changed in ages. The SAT score is also off that figure has not changed for the past two years at least. I mean all that info you would suspect is easier to come by than average SSAT scores. I would be interrested to find out where they get their info anyone know ?</p>
<p>kafka, it is my understanding that the schools themselves put the info on bsr. do you know differently? just check at the bottom of the page and it says when it was last updated. this varies widely from school to school.</p>
<p>just checked and it seems Hotchkiss was just updated.</p>
<p>Hmm, perhaps you are right i am calling the schoool to find out more. I will get back to you when i get more information. I have to say I am shocked if the data is true and i don’t know what to say, if true i’m really in a bind and will probably retire from CC indefinantly or at the very least for a year or so when I leave Hotchkiss and know my own college fate.</p>
<p>Ha it would be funny if it was just a typo and they meant to type 93 % instead of 83 but something tells me that is not what happened. I am very very shocked here. Just as you guys are. It is a weekend now so no one is in the office but I will call on monday and get the full facts.</p>
<p>why would anything put you in a bind? relax! and let us know what you find out.</p>
<p>This apparent change in average SSAT scores at Hotchkiss is troublesome, if true. When my son applied to Hotchkiss last winter and accepted its offer this spring, one of the many great things we liked about the school was the high level of SSAT scores for its entering students. As I recall, this average score was in the 93%; no other HADES GMC school had a higher score that we could find. (Note: My son did nothing to bring down that average.) If this average at Hotchkiss has now dropped to 83%, then this school could be removing itself, by its own foolish election, from the ranks of the very top BS’s in the country, I fear. I truly hope that this 83% for the average SSAT percentile at Hotchkiss is a hoax or an error.</p>
<p>toombs, relax also. St. Pauls ssat scores move around also. i remember a few years ago it was around 92 and then dipped into the mid 80s. i would rather have great kids than just great test takers. give the schools the benefit of the doubt that they know what they are doing.</p>
<p>catg, high SSAT scores (and high scores on other standard tests such as SAT, SATII, AP, etc.) and great kids are not mutually exclusive. They should go hand-in-hand at the great prep schools. If a boarding school can’t have great test scores and great kids, then I doubt that it can be called a great boarding school. I can get great kids and nice test scores here. Why pay $45K for something I can get locally at a private day school at less than half the price and without losing the great company of my child for three years? Seeing that I have already enrolled my son in Hotchkiss, I am now reduced to hoping, instead of firmly believing, that my boy is going to one of the greatest boarding schools in the country.</p>
<p>i think you should still firmly believe. I doubt you could tell much difference in a 93 scoring kid from an 82. It is still cream of the top. I wouldn’t think twice about it. best of luck with your kid.</p>
<p>ummm, chill.</p>
<p>Theres really no difference between 95 and 85…</p>
<p>mpicz got a 60-something on his SSATs the first time, and… i think was, 98 the second time? he was rejected at andover/exeter, and got in SPS (i might be missing a school here…) but SPS was the only school that wasn’t updated on his huge 2nd-SSAT improvement, meaning a/e rejected him while they knew he got a 98, and SPS accepted him while they thought he got 60-something…
i’m not sure if that made any sense, but moral of this story is: SSATs don’t matter all that much… 83 as opposed to 93? eh. mpicz said himself, that the huge improvement in his SSAT score was attributed to only a bit more preparation, and a lot more luck. or something like that.</p>
<p>Don’t really want to get into this discussion, but just FYI, I believe mpicz is a strong athelete and URM. SPS might’ve just had a spot for him in a sports team. Doesn’t mean he is not strong academically also but to just give a fuller picture here. It’s easy to be misled by an individual case on CC. That’s why I think statistics on the average scores, acceptance rate, etc. do help you to evaluate your chance realistically.</p>
<p>I know personally that my younger brother who applied to Boarding schools last yr improved his score by a lot. But whoever mpicz is, he probably was exagerating a little. Im sure he went from not studying at all to working his tail off, when you score in the 60s you kind of feel your chances of boarding schools slipping away I would think…</p>
<p>Either way between 80-99, the school realizes you can do the work. Although I’ve heard of a 52% kid getting into Exeter, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Fact of the matter is you have to bring more to the table than a score, theyd ather take the well rounded 85, then a one dimensional 99. And by saying that Im not insinuating that a 99 means your not well rounded. Looking at numbers can give you a general sense of thing, but feeling scared because the average SSAT dropped is ridiculous. I know at Deerfield I had friends with 65’s 70’s some 99’s, you really couldn’t tell the difference.</p>
<p>So if the SSAT doesn’t mean much of anything, why do all of the quality BS’s require it? If an 83% is the same as an 93%, then why can’t a 73% or even a 53% mean the same as a 93%? Answer: SSAT scores mean something. Because they mean something, the higher the score, the better. </p>
<p>Should the SSAT mean anything? Answer: Yes indeed. Without it, there is no common measuring stick among all BS applicants. In fact, of all of the items required by a BS, maybe it should be the most important requirement: it is uniform to all. </p>
<p>According to many selective colleges, the uniform tests of SAT’s and SAT II’s are twice as important as grades. (See Michelle Hernandez’s “A is for Admissions”.) Why do superlative colleges, such as Dartmounth for example, value SAT tests more than anything else they receive from applicants? Because they are the great equalizer.</p>
<p>Right now, the SSAT is the BS equalizer. If the SSAT is not that equalizer, then BS’s need to find that leveler. Until then, the SSAT is the best way to measure all students against one standard, and the BS’s should give this measurement its due weight. If a BS refuses to use this or some other common standard to grade students, then this BS should drop any appearance that it is seeking the best students in the world and that it is conducting this search in a discernable, fair and measurable fashion. </p>
<p>I don’t need any more folks misleading me and then taking my money. The federal government is doing a fine enough job here already. It doesn’t need any help.</p>
<p>Get a grip.</p>
<p>um…
please dont assume that just because a kid is a recruited athlete or urm that test scores will be lower. im both, and from a low income background, but i definitely did not have low test scores. I was in the 96th percentile, and i am sure that most other kids were too, if not higher.</p>
<p>and i also read A is for Admissions, by hernandez, and she did not say that test scores were twice as important as grades. she said that they could possibly be more important if the college did not recognize your high school…</p>
<p>I have quite a fine grip on things here, fun is fun. If you think all is fine, well good for you. But I now have some concerns about a school to which I have given my son and my money and about which I had no issues previously. I’m not alone. Even kafkareborn, who is the very voice and heart of Hotchkiss on CC, is “very very shocked” about this possible drop in SSAT scores from 93% to 83%. So, fun is fun, unless you are a student at Hotchkiss, a parent of such a student, or an alum of this school, your views here on getting grips or chilling out really don’t mean squat, especially on this Hotchkiss thread…in my humble opinion. If you are one of the following, however, I’ll weigh your advice with all due respect.</p>