I have read this board long enough to know to expand my school search. I’ve found a lot of schools I really like. We are apply to more than I expected. Long term virtual school malaise + reading this board + 9 million chance me for Exeter threads have me deeply freaked out about acceptances. I have found a number of schools that I like but I can’t tell how to assess what is safe. I am already applying to a lot of schools is it just acceptance rates? Right now we are applying to Exeter, Andover, Groton, Choate, Hotchkiss, Lwerenceville, George, and Thacher.
Must have Latin, Excellent arts, prefer crew, wrestling, dance. We are a pretty liberal family. Not interested in a boy’s school or the South. He is also interested in film, creative writing, etc.
I’m looking at Peddie, Loomis Chafee,Deerfield as another school. They seem to have slightly higher acceptance rates but how do I know what safe. Also, no disrespect meant with the word safe. I just came upon the schools later in my search. They look great.
Peddie, Loomis Chaffe, and Deerfield have higher admissions rates but they are still not “safety schools”, and they are hard to get into. You would be looking at schools with an acceptance rate of 50%+ if you want a true safe option. I would suggest going on to the Boarding School Review website and searching for schools through there- they have tons of criteria you can use to narrow down schools. Keep in mind these schools tend to be smaller (200-400 students).
Adding more schools in the high teens and lower 20’s (admission rates) doesn’t really add safety. (Side note: DA had one of the lowest admit rates of all schools last year, IIRC, maybe even single digits? but low teens at the most – so definitely not a safety.)
I like the advice above directionally, but with a tweak. Rather than thinking about adding “one safety” school with really high admit rate (who might well sense that they are a safety and thus not offer admission), I’d say that if you add 2-3 schools that have admission rates in the 30’s-40’s, you might be considered somewhat “safe” – meaning you would have a good chance of getting into at least one of them, assuming test scores are at or above their averages and you select them for true fit.
Falling in love early on with a few schools with higher admit rates is an excellent idea. It removes much of the stress of M10, knowing that you have an excellent chance of being at least somewhere that you truly love.
Thank you. That makes sense. I’m just really burnt out. Not having the chance to see schools in person makes it really hard to be particularly excited about anything in particular. It really like an abstract exercise. We, he, have had small connections to specific people but otherwise…
To the OP - sorry to disappoint you, but DA is not a “Safety” school - unless you are a nationally ranked lax guy or amazing hockey player. Further, if you are not academically competitive and driven, you will not have a good transition. Almost everyone we know at The HADES are self driven and competitive Not sure where you are getting your information. Plus, there are many factors involved in admissions - so craft your list and cast a wide net. A few years ago, Loomis rejected several kids we heard from. Also, be aware that schools sometimes ask you to list schools and even rank them - this happened to us.
My standard advice for those in this situation is to go to boardingschoolreview.com and use the advanced search to put in your “must-haves” for schools. Then, look at those schools that meet your criteria but have a much (much) higher acceptance rate.
None of the schools you mentioned are anywhere near safety schools. And the net you are casting is not very wide. It is just a deep net within a very selective small pool.
There are many schools that have very challenging academics with a high acceptance rate for various reasons - geography, lesser marketing, newer (you know only 100 years old or so…lol), some of them with higher average SATs than acronym schools and better placement for colleges.
We applied to many of the same schools you mentioned with DS…and he had spectacular stats. We had a very dreary M10. Although he landed in the place perfect for him, I would not recommend “risking” that because we were very close to having a very bad experience. I would not want anyone to make the same mistakes we made our first time around.
None of the schools mentioned are “safe” Most of the applicants will be similar in attainment/stats and even specialties, like sports to your own child. You can cast a wide net and apply to many schools or do some hard work ( and it is really time consuming) to find a fit your son likes and then apply on that basis. I think schools know what kids will fit them. The trick is to find a school that is a good fit that your child can also get an acceptance from.
Most schools have Latin(but not all have advanced classes each year), excellent art, wrestling and dance. There are not that many schools with crew. Nearly all boarding schools are liberal leaning or will have students who are liberal.
I’d check to see which schools have students winning awards in the arts ( national scholastic art awards) and latin ( NLE). Top achievers in these categories often means the arts and Latin ( or French or other) is solid. You can also check to see which schools have strong crew teams ( I know of only one). Some kids who crew also do it via other teams outside of school.
@mssweeteaa , although you are mostly right, Loomis does not have a higher admission rate anymore. I spoke with an AO, and they said their overall acceptance rate dropped to 18%.