<p>Oh, really? I could very well be wrong, sorry.</p>
<p>@mrnephew Andover is indeed need-blind. SAS ended need-blind this go-round.</p>
<p>My bad, then. I got confused, because I knew one need-blind school ended it’s need-blindness this year, though it was Andover. Sorry, @pdl100 .</p>
<p>Anyway, even though they claim it, I’m still a bit skeptical.</p>
<p>Just because they don’t look at your financial situation doesn’t mean that it won’t affect the decision. </p>
<p>They use a completely different company to filter out FA needs. Andover accepts their kids without ever seeing the aid needs and then doles out aid as they can. So you don’t get the uber-competitive FA pool until after you’ve been accepted.</p>
<p>I know, but even that doesn’t mean that needing money will not affect your decision. If they don’t know that you’re poor, how can you compare to someone with three times the income who has had so many more opportunities?</p>
<p>Sorry to chime awkwardly in here, but they still see what school you went to and where you’re from. They know that a kid who goes to a great NYC private school (or, truthfully, any private school or a very good public school) will have more opportunities than someone who goes to public school in Mississippi.</p>
<p>And from that knowledge, they can to some extent figure out if you need FA, though of course they can’t know for sure.</p>
<p>(And I haven’t read this whole thread, so I’m sorry if what is stated above in my previous post is completely irrelevant and off base.)</p>
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<p>I completely agree and was thinking the same thing.</p>
<p>And the schools place a lot of emphasis on potential- that kid who goes to Sail Caribbean every summer and attends a prestigious Manhattan day school might not have as much potential as the kid who attends public school in Alaska and can’t travel. It’s about how you will take advantage of the education and use it, not about where you’re coming from.</p>
<p>What if you’re a poor kid in a middle-class town that is surrounded by wealthy communities? Don’t you think that seeing a kid like this who is qualified, they’d assume (s)he comes from money? I think the schools fully intend to look at potential, but it seems like they group people by their town’s average income.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if potential plays that big of a role. Potential is really boom or bust, which really isn’t the style of BS’s. To me, they seem like they’d prefer the safer option, even if “potential” isn’t as high.</p>
<p>I think that they actually take potential into heavy consideration, in the sense of “what will this student contribute to x school?” If the student has the potential to become a published author, or a distinguished politician, or a famous athelete/actor/singer/dancer, or whatever else, the admissions people have to think of that. It’s a little story for them to tell. Student x had no chance of becoming an NFL player (or whatever else) until he came to x school. The production of distinguished people is very, very important to them, because it helps their notable alumni list.</p>
<p>Sorry to sound so cynical of the admissions people, but just thinking realistically, they really are looking out for the school and its place.</p>
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<p>Andover itself, of course!</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to hijack OP so I will be starting another thread shortly.</p>
<p>Yup, @greyeyedgoddess you’re right, but there’s really no way to “judge” potential. It’s a crapshoot, really, I mean, there’s a handful of players talented enough for the pros every year, and I just think that the AO’s would prefer established and safer options. </p>
<p>Obviously if student x runs a 4.2 40 time and has never played football, but is 6-4 and 230 pounds of solid muscle, the AO’s would pick like that, but how would they judge who has potential to be a famous author?</p>
<p>I guess I’ll show them they didn’t judge correctly the first (or second, in one case) time. B-) </p>
<p>You @stargirl3 are (officially) the one who got away. The schools got it wrong and they’ll be lucky if you give them another chance to redeem themselves. </p>
<p>Well, for the author thing, if an applicant had taken shots at writing (or even written) a full novel, or had written award-winning short stories, then yes, an AO can take guesses that he/she might become an author.</p>
<p>But yes, they are going to go with safer choices than a kid who might have a great “hook” but gets mediocre grades and is overall less qualified than the bulk of the applicants.</p>
<p>(Sorry to the OP for the tangent, by the way :P)</p>
<p>I’ve written award-winning short stories! Never first place, but I have potential. If my awards follow their upward trend, I should have a shot at the highest level of regional recognition next year. But again, it must be easier for someone with money to get published, so potential turns into resources.</p>
<p>Also, what if the award-winning short story writer has great grades and decent (by their standards) test scores? Here’s the catch: they’re poor.</p>
<p>I want to distant myself from this conversation because as much as I love you all and appreciate your encouragement, I want stargirl to be taken out of the picture. Let’s look at characteristics of someone who you don’t (virtually) know. They’re below the poverty line, living in a middle-class town in New England,. They participate in after-school clubs and are the worst player on town sports teams. They can’t afford test prep and don’t qualify for special programs. Their school knows nothing about high school placement. They are smart and work hard, win awards, and are admired by their teachers. Does this kid have a chance? If you ask the school, I’m sure they’d say yes. </p>
<p>What I want to know is how many free lunch kids apply and how many get in.</p>
<p>This rant is over. For now.</p>
<p>Yup, that’s pretty much what I was saying. Now I’ll let OP get back to the responses.</p>
<p>:)</p>