Which is better? Rejections or acceptances for Andover, Exeter, and those elite boarding schools.

Hey guys, some of you might have been rejected by those schools and some of you might not. This thread is for you to discuss the weaknesses of going to Exeter than your private schools at your state. Is it harder to be accepted by harvard if you are an exeter or Choate student? There are approximately 9 exonians accepted by harvard per year, will you be in the top 9 in Exeter?Is it risky to apply to Exeter and going to Exeter only for Harvard or other ivy league schools admissions, because you may not be guaranteed to be the top 9.

You’d be better off if you applied to Harvard from a cardboard box under I95.

What are you saying here, man? I don’t understand what are you saying?

If you are looking to attend Andover/Exeter/et.al. solely as a way to get into an Ivy League college, then your parents are wasting $200K that can be better spent elsewhere. No boarding school can guarantee admissions to any college. As mentioned many times on this site (often by me), there are many reasons to go to a boarding school, but doing so as an HYPMS strategy is generally folly.

A boarding school may give a student the tools with which to develop him/herself into a viable candidate, but others schools may as well. Colleges admit students, not boarding schools. While the professionals at the schools are ready and willing to assist in the process, they will not, and should not, do the work for the student.

@PhotographerMom you are so correct!! Like in golf, please don’t aim for the “sucker pin”… [-X

If you go to Exeter or Andover or Choate etc you will be competing with your classmates at those schools for IVY and Ivy peer spots. Strategically it is a BAD decision IF your goal is an Ivy and you dont have a major hook to rely on (not that anything is a sure thing)

Agree@Center and Turtle - we know kids from Iowa who attend public school and have better Ivy results

Moving to North Dakota and excelling in the local public school gives you a pretty good shot. Spend the $200,000 you would have spent on BS tuition on college.

So basically people who got into Exeter are already Ivy students, the competitiveness would be much harder and you may have fewer chances to go to an Ivy in Exeter?

@skieurope I got rejected from Exeter, Andover etc this year and got into a school ranks the first in florida and second in pure day schools. Should I reapply next year? I heard that Harvard first looks at the schools you are in then look at the courses you take?I might ended up being not as good in Exeter as in other “worse” schools?

@Andoverguy: “So basically people who got into Exeter are already Ivy students, the competitiveness would be much harder and you may have fewer chances to go to an Ivy in Exeter?”

No not all. Some are. Many are. Some are all the other buckets that PEA wants just like HYP. But only so many can come from one school. Look at all matriculations not just HYP to see where OTHER TOP students go. There are minorities, athletes and legacies in those HYP numbers too (and other like schools) . So the number for regular old 4.0 1600 SATers is smaller than it appears.

@Center sorry, I don’t really understand your comment, correct me if I am wrong. So basically you are saying that going to Exeter will increase my chances going to Ivies?

@Andoverguy No. If your goal is Ivy then you were saved from making it much harder for yourself. Go to a much much lower level private out of the Northeast Or a public NOT in an affluent area. Get straight A’s, ace your tests and do some cool stuff and you will have a much better shot. Exeter or Andover would be a handicap for you.

It doesn’t really matter where you go to high school, it’s what you do when you are there that matters, @Andoverguy

However, Going to a highly competitive high school (like Andover) makes it more difficult to stand out from your peers

@Andoverguy which school in Florida did you get into?

@GrotonKid123 Ransom Everglades School

@GrotonKid123 do you know about this school?

@Andoverguy so you might find it amusing but its not the top 9 Exonians who get into Harvard. That would seem logical in a way, but no…top 9 academically might include a few to Amherst, Berkeley, Columbia, Northwestern etc.
A few kids in my daughter’s class at Choate (she was WL at Harvard) who got into Harvard were not even in the top 15% (Cum Laude) of the school. They had other hooks however.

yea my friend goes to that school

@preppedparent is 100% correct