Admission process transparency

[Anonymous]

I know several families who feel burned out by the admissions process and by being rejected multiple times by elite schools without really understanding the difference between their children and the admitted applicants. Is the system truly working, or is there room to improve transparency? Even if the process is highly competitive, I would feel much better if there were hard data to back up the rejection decisions. Do you have the same impression?

[Anonymous]

No I don’t, stop with the troll threads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No I don’t, stop with the troll threads.

Well, as far as I know you are trolling and not participating in this thread in good faith. Too bad.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No I don’t, stop with the troll threads.

Well, as far as I know you are trolling and not participating in this thread in good faith. Too bad.

This is going to be another long mess like your legacy admissions thread, everyone will tell you that private schools don’t have to be transparent then you’ll say it would be better for society and insult everyone who disagrees with you. Don’t you have anything better to do today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

This is the answer. Every season, there are multiple usually entitled posters who demand data and transparency, as if it is their right. It emphatically is not.

And that’s so frustrating to people who are accustomed to getting everything they want that it drives down crazy — so we see thread like this annually

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

This is the answer. Every season, there are multiple usually entitled posters who demand data and transparency, as if it is their right. It emphatically is not.

And that’s so frustrating to people who are accustomed to getting everything they want that it drives down crazy — so we see thread like this annually

Amen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

That is true in theory, except that private schools receive significant tax exemptions. For example, non-profit organizations also receive tax exemptions, but in return they must publicly disclose data about their operations. Likewise, when you rent an apartment, the landlord cannot reject your application based on opaque reasons, and the applicant has the right to ask for and obtain information. How can anyone be protected against racial discrimination in school admissions if the system remains so opaque?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

That is true in theory, except that private schools receive significant tax exemptions. For example, non-profit organizations also receive tax exemptions, but in return they must publicly disclose data about their operations. Likewise, when you rent an apartment, the landlord cannot reject your application based on opaque reasons, and the applicant has the right to ask for and obtain information. How can anyone be protected against racial discrimination in school admissions if the system remains so opaque?

You can sue them and allege claims of racial discrimination, just as you would a landlord who you believe rejected you based on your race. Why are you so entitled that you think private schools need to live up to some heightened standard so you can be less anxious about applying for admission for your little snowflakes?

[Anonymous]

The Admissions decisions at these schools is much more subjective than many know. The school is attempting to put together a class that satisfies the disparate needs of the interests on campus.

Publishing the data will only make their jobs harder and take the Admissions process in a direction they are not interested in taking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

That is true in theory, except that private schools receive significant tax exemptions. For example, non-profit organizations also receive tax exemptions, but in return they must publicly disclose data about their operations. Likewise, when you rent an apartment, the landlord cannot reject your application based on opaque reasons, and the applicant has the right to ask for and obtain information. How can anyone be protected against racial discrimination in school admissions if the system remains so opaque?

You can sue them and allege claims of racial discrimination, just as you would a landlord who you believe rejected you based on your race. Why are you so entitled that you think private schools need to live up to some heightened standard so you can be less anxious about applying for admission for your little snowflakes?

Not entitled at all. Already happened with college admissions. And guess what the Supreme Court found out? Google it. You might find the answer surprising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter in that it’s a private school that you are applying to that has the right to share however little or much it chooses. They are not receiving any kind of federal funds, so no disclosure requirement.

It would be great if they published data, but they don’t and they won’t. Because their class sizes are so much smaller than even the smallest college, data can be misleading as well.

In a nutshell, they feel like they are doing a good job of building classes. The parents agree enough to keep their kids in the schools. And prospective parents agree enough that most of them have many times the number of applications than they have spots. It’s working for the only constituencies that matter and is unlikely to change.

There are enough private schools to land somewhere. People get upset about being rejected from Sidwell, STA/NCS, GDS, Maret, Potomac, and the more competitive schools then want to demand transparency.

Go where your DC is wanted. Forget the rest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Admissions decisions at these schools is much more subjective than many know. The school is attempting to put together a class that satisfies the disparate needs of the interests on campus.

Publishing the data will only make their jobs harder and take the Admissions process in a direction they are not interested in taking.

Yeah, but we deserve to know. Just like how, when you apply to a job, the company sends you the statistics about how many applicants to your position there were, what the race and age of the applicants were, what qualifications were best suited to moving forward in the hiring process, getting to the interview stage, etc. I don't know why private schools get away with being so opaque when everyone else has to be so open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Admissions decisions at these schools is much more subjective than many know. The school is attempting to put together a class that satisfies the disparate needs of the interests on campus.

Publishing the data will only make their jobs harder and take the Admissions process in a direction they are not interested in taking.

I guess that’s my point. Since it is very subjective there is a lot of room discrimination for race, religion, income, gender, and political opinion. I can understand that it would be more work for schools to disclose their admission criteria. But as a whole the process will be more robust, fair, and transparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Admissions decisions at these schools is much more subjective than many know. The school is attempting to put together a class that satisfies the disparate needs of the interests on campus.

Publishing the data will only make their jobs harder and take the Admissions process in a direction they are not interested in taking.

Yeah, but we deserve to know. Just like how, when you apply to a job, the company sends you the statistics about how many applicants to your position there were, what the race and age of the applicants were, what qualifications were best suited to moving forward in the hiring process, getting to the interview stage, etc. I don't know why private schools get away with being so opaque when everyone else has to be so open.

+1. That’s precisely my point.