<p>So far so good. I’ll probably get into most places I apply to based on my stats, but not yet sure will go to BS. I have a very good local magnet option on par with HADES.</p>
<p>RBGG, I haven’t previously posted that I got into Hotchkiss as I’m applying this year. But I like their global curriculum a lot with a lot of opportunities to travel abroad. I am applying to all HADES schools except SPS.</p>
<p>@pulsar: Wow, I’m impressed by the level of your disclosures today. Best of luck with your process!</p>
<p>rbgg: agree with your thoughts. I would add that fit is a two way street. Impossible to know what BS’s are looking for. This year they might need dancers, or a QB, or a math wiz, or someone into politics or theater, or a tuba player, or… You can only try to present yourself in the application process as effectively as possible whether by test scores, application, or interview, and hope that you are one of the missing pieces in the BS’s admission puzzle. As an aside, our experience in the college application process with our older children mirrored the BS application process exactly.</p>
<p>Good luck, pulsar. My daughter would have a blast debating you in class! </p>
<p>It’s hard to leave home when you have a good local (and free) option. I agree about the global curriculum at Hotchkiss. Coupled with the humanities program, one has a fabulous opportunity to gain some real perspective.</p>
<p>Thanks Neato… Good luck to your D too. I love Debate. :)</p>
<p>First impressions can carry a lot of weight. My family felt that we were treated somewhat shabbily at Taft, and crossed it off our son’s list before we even left the parking lot. In contrast, we had very positive impressions of several other schools, including a couple of the “tier one” schools.</p>
<p>I’m with you, Rellielou. People say that prospects shoudn’t be too hasty to judge a school on one visit or one bad interaction. I say that’s all we’ve got to go on. I also say, would they cut my child the same slack?</p>
<p>Okay, one more revisit to the annual fund discussion. Here’s why I’ll write MY check, from Exeter’s website:</p>
<p>Do small gifts really make a difference?</p>
<p>They really do. In fact, more than a quarter of gifts made to Exeter’s Annual Giving Fund are gifts of $100 or less. Last year, these gifts accounted for approximately $359,000 of the total raised. It would take millions of dollars of endowment to generate that amount for the operating budget. The absence of those gifts would certainly have a negative impact on Exeter students and faculty.</p>
<p>That makes me feel downright…connected :)</p>
<p>^^Then I wonder - If every parent reads it, what could be the reason that they wouldn’t donate $10 to the school? Does the school call every family every year to explain this to them? If so why are they so stubborn?</p>
<p>Funny… I’ve never seen that on the Exeter web site, but it absolutely is an important point. We made our first parent donation back in mid-October, prompted only by our own appreciation of what Exeter was already doing so well for our son’s growth. Because we already donated, maybe we’re not being mailed to in the current fund-raising initiative. We liked that Exeter makes it easy to spread a donation over 10-12 months via monthly credit card payments.</p>
<p>It’s not front and center on the website, Mainer–it’s one of those sub, sub, sub pages–here’s the link:</p>
<p>[Phillips</a> Exeter Alumni/ae - Annual Giving Fund Mission](<a href=“http://phillips.exeter.edu/giving/finances.html#smaller_gifts]Phillips”>http://phillips.exeter.edu/giving/finances.html#smaller_gifts)</p>
<p>I think I’d characterize the school as more sensitive than stubborn. </p>
<p>I did a bit of research yesterday on the schools listed in the original post about parental contribution. Didn’t look at them all, but Hotchkiss, SPS and Taft all gave FA to 37% of their student bodiies. Exeter provides FA to 47 percent of its student body. </p>
<p>We’ve already considered that at least 10 percent of the parents aren’t counted because they are alums. And that some FA families at Exeter truly don’t have ANY money to spare (Exeter has been known to buy dress clothes for kids who can’t afford them). Add that 20 percent, more or less, back in, and their contribution rate is right up there with everyone else’s. </p>
<p>I’m going to contribute…and I’m going to appreciate that Exeter doesn’t try to pressure people for whom–yes–even ten dollars means sacrificing something most of us wouldn’t even consider sacrificing, just to make its statistics look better. I see it as an example of Exeter’s own practice of non sibi. But if someone calls me next week, I’ll let you know and eat my words. :)</p>
<p>
Now, isn’t that the truth? And we’ve already seen it in so many ways too!</p>
<p>Classical - crack me up ! Somehow you manage to look at the poor parent participation rates and conclude that it’s because Exeter is MORE “sensitive!” Too funny. I guess people see what they want to see, no matter what.</p>
<p>While there may be an Exeter family or two on such significant aid that a check for $10 is too much, for the vast majority of FA families a check that tiny is “doable.” The issue here is that you struggle to understand the basic idea of why the donation rate is an important marker of the connectedness and loyalty the parents feel toward a School. As your earlier posts note, you don’t see the relationship as a meaningful marker. That mindset is telling.</p>
<p>My way of looking at this is: a higher percentage of Exeter parents are less connected/loyal to the School than at other Tier 1 boarding schools. That makes sense to me given the size, ambitions and culture of Exeter. It is not bad, just noteworthy. It is very much like a big University with a big endowment: easy to conclude that “the school doesn’t need the money.” Luckily, there are still a majority of parents who love Exeter and will donate what they can, however small. New parents like Mainer95 can look for volunteer opportunities to help raise awareness of why even small donations are important, which is the way to get Exeter back in the hunt.</p>
<p>This is my first year on the Parent Fund Committee at my child’s school. Contributing to the Parent Fund really does make a difference. Tuition only covers 70% of the actual costs of educating each student. Gifts make up the remaining 30%. These gifts are unrestricted and therefore quite flexible. The trustees and administration can use it to support the School’s highest priorities and immediate needs. It is remarkable powerful; it would take the income from an additional $32 million in endowment to replace what donors contribute to the school each year. The Parent Fund directly supports students and faculty - it doesn’t build new buildings. Those are funded through major gifts. Parent participation not only show support to teachers, etc. but it helps when securing a major gift. We as parents need to help ensure that our children’s institutions remain strong. </p>
<p>Parents reach out to parents and in our fundraising efforts. Parents on the committee make the calls. It provides a way for parents to talk to other parents and feel connected and up to date on new initiatives. Having parents talk to parents increases the interest in participation and interest in what the school is today and will be tomorrow. Every dollar counts.</p>
<p>I still think that the different parent participation rates have something to do with the way parent fund drive is organized at different schools. Do families receive the solicitations in the mail every year？How many follow-up calls are made? Who makes the call - parents, students,…? Is participation with even the smallest dollar amount emphasized enough? I just don’t believe if Exeter parents are told to donate $10 to just boost the participation rate, many of them wouldn’t. If they are that dissatisfied with the school, why would they still keep their kids there?</p>
<p>All that sounds very principled, but the facts remain that </p>
<p>Exeter’s doing very well financially;</p>
<p>Parents, alums, and students on this board and at the school express continual loyalty , love, and connectedness for/to the school;</p>
<p>Instead of seeing the way that parents express their non-monetary support of Exeter as a sign of their connectedness, you see us (me) as “making excuses” for a lack of financial support–the “true” measure; </p>
<p>The only people complaining about Exeter’s faceless insititutionalism and parental dissatisfaction are people who aren’t actually affiliated with the school. </p>
<hr>
<p>Now when it comes to alums, I’m completely on board with you. Exeter alums–particularly those who received aid as students (which is all of them)–do, I think, have a responsibility to support the school, financially and otherwise. And Exeter alums are constantly on campus, donating, talking to students in class and at assembly, teaching them, running the school, etc.–all indications are that they take that responsibility seriously. </p>
<p>Many parents, though, are already showing their loyalty to the school by sacrificing to send their kids there. That extra $100, for example, pales next to the fact that my family won’t take a vacation outside the annual family reunion for the next four years. You really, really don’t understand financial sacrifice and connectedness to a school if you don’t understand the sacrifice many, many families are already making. Could they give the extra 10? Sure. Would it prove something that hasn’t already been proved? Doubt it…except to those on CC who want to look for the “ugly” side of Exeter. So go ahead. Poke away.</p>
<p>Exeter is no slouch in the brains department, so it’s a stretch to think it can’t organize parent participation/donation drives successfully. Also, not giving to the School cannot be construed as “dissatisfaction.” More likely, there is a high percentage of Exeter parents who don’t believe it’s necessary or important, parents who do not automatically make the connection “that every vote counts” with the health of the School. </p>
<p>It’s my view that there is always a certain percentage of parents at ALL boarding schools that see their institution more as a vendor of education, a provider of services, an opportunity for the child to establish a network, a social status marker, a guarantor of outcomes…more than a family or a community, a me/me/me view instead of an us/us/us view. It makes sense that the larger schools like Exeter would struggle with this attitude more than the smaller schools. It’s just that Exeter doesn’t perform as well as its larger peers.</p>
<p>okay Classical - agree to disagree. I do think Exeter is a GREAT school that does almost everything else better than the rest.</p>
<p>Parlabane, When Exeter picks FA students they will be looking at their future potential to contribute back to the school in a big way hopefully, not for their parent’s $10 contribution. There are many ways to be connected to a school than writing a check for $10 such as volunteering for the school, educating new applicants about Exeter on CC like C’mama and Neato, showing up at games and concerts, and a variety of other ways. Sure $10 is important but that’s not the only way to be connected to a school. Factory/Size has nothing to do with connectedness as a similar sized Andover is more connected using your metric of parent $ contribution.</p>