We are getting ready for applications!

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I haven't posted in a while -- things have been very busy here at our home -- but we are just about to get serious about applications. </p>

<p>My son has pretty much decided on the schools he is applying to:</p>

<p>Fountain Valley
Thacher
Midland
Conserve
Peddie
St. Andrew's Delaware
Putney
Northfield Mount Hermon
Mercersburg</p>

<p>He is a good solid student with a 3.8 GPA in a rigorous middle school program, very active in extracurriculars and has tons of service. Eagle Scout and some other awards including a scholarship to travel to Europe, National Junior Honor Society, etc. </p>

<p>He is interested in a school with a small, close-knit student body and a casual, down to earth group of kids. He does not want a highly competitive school with a pressure cooker atmosphere and he wants to be in the top 25% of his class.</p>

<p>He has a great deal of interest in the outdoors (backpacking, hiking, etc) and wants a school with an emphasis on the environment and sustainability.</p>

<p>He will need significant financial aid to attend.</p>

<p>How does our list look? I know that a few of the schools don't meet his requirements (St. Andrew's has a dress code and Peddie doesn't seem to be big on the environment) but some schools were kept on the list because they have good FA and meet most of his requirements.</p>

<p>SSAT test is scheduled for December 8th, which gives him the January date if he needs to retake it. He is studying a little every day.</p>

<p>We are visiting Fountain Valley, Thacher and Midland next month -- but we aren't doing any other visits. We don't have the time or money, so he is going to request a phone interview. </p>

<p>He will be prepping for interviews and getting ready for the visits.</p>

2

<p>From what you've said about your son's interests and concerns, I think your list looks good! I would say that Peddie and St. Andrew's stick out as different from the rest on your list, but clearly you've kept them there for good reasons.</p>

<p>I have been on the campuses of Putney and NMH, and know something of Fountain Valley (as I already told you back, oh, quite some time ago now!), Thacher and Mercersburg, and I can see why your son is interested in all of them. I'm sure that phone interviews will be adequate for the first pass but once he gets to the stage of deciding between this school or that one, revisits will be key. There are fine points and subtleties to the student experience at each of these schools that he (and you) will want to evaluate first hand, and revisit days are very helpful in this regard.</p>

3

<p>smile dog -- excellent points. Because of our very limited income, we will be visiting the california schools only (plus Fountain Valley since it is local). Our plan is to apply to all the schools (unless one of the east coast schools doesn't allow an application without a visit). Then -- depending on if he gets any acceptances and what the FA is, he would visit the schools. I would definitely not send him to a school that he hasn't visited -- but at least by that time I would know that the money was wisely spent (and I might have a bit more money by then).</p>

<p>Does that make sense? I am guessing that he will be admitted to quite a few of the schools on his list -- probably more than half. If it weren't for the FA, he would be a solid match for all but a couple. The FA, though, will be the issue -- he needs a large award and that is alot harder to come by. I am guessing that most of the schools will drop off his list because of the FA -- leaving him with the choice a couple of schools, which he will then visit. I could be wrong and he could end up with great FA packages at multiple schools.</p>

4

<p>With regards to your SSAT strategy, there is a small problem. You won't have your scores back in time from the December test to get regular signup for the January re-take, so you will have to sign up for both up front.</p>

<p>I'm curious why you are not signed up earlier in the process.</p>

5

<p>hsmomstef -- If you need significant FA, you should look into schools with a large endowment fund. I have two sons are attending boarding schools at the east coast. My older son is a senior at Exeter. Exeter has been very generous for the past 3 years. Their FA package covered about 75% of the cost. My younger son is a freshman at Loomis Chaffee. They awarded my son a scholarship covered 60% of the cost. They called that scholarship instead of financial aid because our household income not quite qualify for aid. If they want you, they will try to work with you. So, don't worry about the cost. I think your son has a good shot at it. He has a attractive profile. I 'm sure many schools would love to have him. Just make sure he has good SSAT scores. I hope you would reconsider your list because most schools you have don't have good endowment fund, perhaps except Thacher. Good luck.</p>

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<p>St. Andrews (thank you, DuPonts!), Mercersburg and Peddie (thanks, Mr Annenberg!) are among the highest endowed schools in the country, both in terms of total and per capita. NMH has well over 100m as well.</p>

7

<p>goaliedad -- maybe we should reconsider the SSAT test dates. The reason he decided on December is that he has other commitments for the October and November dates -- scouts, school play, and a couple of other things that would make those weekends difficult for a test. My thought is that he is taking practice tests at home and studying. I am not sure that taking it a second time would really yield a different result. He is taking his studying seriously. He is not a 99% type test taker, so I am not expecting any super high scores. A possibility that we have considered is testing through an independent counselor in late January if it looks like he could make some improvements in his test score. Should we rearrange the schedule to take the October test -- I think I will take a good look at the dates today and try and fit in the October date. We were really waffling on that decision, but in hindsight taking the test in October and December might be the best strategy. Is January the last date for testing for this admission cycle?</p>

<p>classical826 -- thanks for the info. I do realize that many of the schools on his list don't have the enormous endowments of exeter and andover, but we have seriously considered the top schools (top for both admission's selectivity and endowment) and they just aren't a good match for him for several reasons. Several of the schools on his list are generous with FA (Conserve, Thacher, Peddie, St. Andrew's, Mercersburg, NMH) and with the other schools -- we will just have to see how much they want him. </p>

<p>I just want to say how much I appreciate the time that people make to comment or make suggestions -- it really helps. I am basically working in a vaccuum here, so it is hard to know which way to go.</p>

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<p>You might want to contact the schools that you will be unable to visit to find out if they are traveling anywhere close to you. If you can make it to the more local event, it will demonstrate your strong interest. I don't know how many travel to CO, but at least, it's worth a call. Good Luck! I know you selected & planned this carefully.</p>

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<p>burb parent -- I had already thought of that! several of the schools are visiting -- some are attending school fairs in denver and others are just "visiting" (which I am thinking is some personal visits to the big private pre-prep schools in denver). I am compiling my list of visits now and contacting those admissions offices that don't have visits listed to see if they are coming our way. Denver is only 1 1/2 hours away, so that is definitely doable with some planning.</p>

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<p>The December and January dates work fine for standard admissions due dates as I remember (double check with your schools, though). My point was that you will have to sign up for both in advance not knowing whether or not you will need the January test. I believe you will know the December test scores before the January test date, so if you are satisfied with your December scores, you can always walk away from your January test date.</p>

<p>Having a retake date is a very good idea. You never know when a flu bug or something else is going to ruin your original test date. </p>

<p>I know that in Goaliegirl's case, the November date was the only one we could make due to hockey conflicts. And the only reason we could make the November date was that the tournament she was playing in had her team scheduled to play a late evening Friday game with the Saturday games being in the afternoon and evening. That gave us time to drive 1.5 hours from the tournament to a testing site (a prep school that we weren't even applying to). Of course, with a 8 AM test time, we had to be up very early after a late hockey game. She didn't have a good day at the test (a bit too tired I suspect). The resulting scores did cause some concern with coach we were talking to (at a top-10 school). We didn't end up applying there, but that was only part of the issue.</p>

<p>And actually, no matter when we would have taken the test, we either would have had the long drive in the morning to get to it, or had to stay in a local hotel the night before, because the closest SSAT testing site to us is 175 miles away.</p>

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<p>Actually for Mercersburg, it would be: Thank you Mr. Lenfest! </p>

<p>Gerry Lenfest, formerly head of Lenfest Communications, sold his cable TV business to Comcast for almost $7 billion. He now funds a scholarship for Pennsylvania students who want to attend Mercersburg, the H.F "Gerry" Lenfest Scholarship, and he funded the construction of the Lenfest Library. Something a Mercersburg graduate like myself would know.</p>

<p>Fun is fun is absolutely right. Mercersburg ($200M) and Peddie ($240M) have the 10th and 8th largest endowments respectively of all private boarding schools.</p>

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<p>tokyo -- good information to know, I didn't know about Mercersburb and Lenfest, just that they are good with FA. It looks like a great school.</p>

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<p>If I recall correctly, a very large percentage of kids at St. Andrews reecive FA. Higher than other schools, even, with larger endowments. And I have to say, it's one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. My nephew graduated from there, and I had the opportunity to attend graduation exercises. It just looked like a terrific place. I had truly intended to take my daughter there to look at it for her, but we ended up clustering visits in New England and St. Andrews was just not on our beaten path. (In the end, she had seen enough schools in New England that she liked that we didn't pursue looking at St. Andrews more closely, although St. Andrews would have been more accessible to our home than SPS is! (5 versus 10 hour drives.)</p>

14

<p>hsmomstef: did the Cate School not get on your list for some reason? I thought that looked like a terrific school. I went to BS/prep in Calif. and we always pined for the boys at Cate. Haha.</p>

15

<p>cate is one of those that was on and off the list. we didn't include it on the final list because the FA was not as great as some of the other schools and I had also read some comments about Cate being very rich and elite oriented -- it probably isn't fair to judge the school on a few random comments, but we had to eliminate schools somehow! </p>

<p>since we are planning on visiting Thacher and Midland, I think it would be wise to add a visit to Cate at the same time -- I believe it is very close.</p>

<p>yes -- the FA looks great at St. Andrews. Unfortunately, they have a dress code which my son doesn't like, but he is willing to abide by one if he can go to a school like St. Andrews.</p>

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<p>If your son is really interested in the outdoors, I don't think Mercersburg can be beat. They have an incredible outdoor education program in a very beautiful location. No other school we visited could compare. The academics are excellent from what I can tell. This school has so much going for it and the people there are absolutely great. Your son would probably love it and I've heard that they work hard to be generous with financial aid. Good luck with the process!</p>

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<p>liv&learn -- that is good to know! We have heard a ton of positive things about the schools on his list, so it is good to know that he has some excellent options. It will probably all come down to the FA -- I think his profile is definitely strong enough to get him into many of the schools on his list. In the end, we will have to see who offers him the FA to enable him to go and then do revisits and see where he really feels like he fits. It was hard at first, since most of the schools he is interested in are not the ones normally pursued by the kids on this board -- but we have learned so much over the past year or so!</p>

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<p>Fit is everything. Never lose sight of that and he'll be fine!</p>

19

<p>very true -- fit is everything. The hardest part I have found is remembering that it is his fit and not mine! I see schools that sound fantastic and look great and I would have loved to attend -- and he is totally uninterested. Oh well -- he will be the one spending four years there, not me.</p>

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<p>live&learn I would have to agree with your assessment of Mercersburg. Mercersburg Outdoor Education has done a great deal since its conception. In addition to local outings, they have traveled as far as Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and Zion National Park in Utah. They really do some fantastic stuff.</p>