Do private high schools research families during the admissions process?

[Anonymous]

We’re preparing for the upcoming admissions cycle, and I know most schools ask basic family information such as parent and sibling names, schools parents and siblings attended, and where parents work as part of the application.

Do schools do research to find families who might have top fancy job titles, families who sits on boards, have connection, etc.?

[Anonymous]

100%

[Anonymous]

yup. looking for good and bad

[Anonymous]

I always wondered this. Are you at a disadvantage if you don’t have any of this and are just a regular family trying to get your kid into a good school?

[Anonymous]

They ask you your job title and employer, and they know your address, and many schools ask where tuition payment requests should be directed (family office, grandparent, trust issuer etc) so it’s fairly easy for them to figure this out without much digging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always wondered this. Are you at a disadvantage if you don’t have any of this and are just a regular family trying to get your kid into a good school?

For high school - no.

[Anonymous]

They definitely research you...but for high school I think it matters much less as long as there aren't red flags.

[Anonymous]

What are red flags?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are red flags?

Arrests. Negative tabloid mentions. Drama. Though some schools care more than others.

[Anonymous]

This is anecdotal, but I will say that although some schools don’t really look into these things for high school admissions, families themselves still care about it.

I was recently at the admitted students day at Poly Prep, and the question, “What do you do for work?” and “Where do you live?” were very common among current parents towards new parents. A friend of mine saw a similar thing happen at Packer.

Granted, Packer tends to attract law and finance types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is anecdotal, but I will say that although some schools don’t really look into these things for high school admissions, families themselves still care about it.

I was recently at the admitted students day at Poly Prep, and the question, “What do you do for work?” and “Where do you live?” were very common among current parents towards new parents. A friend of mine saw a similar thing happen at Packer.

Granted, Packer tends to attract law and finance types.

+1 this, it quickly made us feel like outsiders as a wealthy school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is anecdotal, but I will say that although some schools don’t really look into these things for high school admissions, families themselves still care about it.

I was recently at the admitted students day at Poly Prep, and the question, “What do you do for work?” and “Where do you live?” were very common among current parents towards new parents. A friend of mine saw a similar thing happen at Packer.

Granted, Packer tends to attract law and finance types.

Many are looking to network for their career and live in an area that is easy to meet many professionals in the same industry. I don't think families care about the children being friends as everyone is of similar socioeconomic status.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course. You think these schools just magically end up full of wealthy families?

[Anonymous]

For my child's HS admission, two different schools mentioned that I grew up in NYC/went to a specific TT school, and we hadn't submitted our full application yet with that information. And I don't have my high school on my LinkedIn...so yeah, they Google.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is anecdotal, but I will say that although some schools don’t really look into these things for high school admissions, families themselves still care about it.

I was recently at the admitted students day at Poly Prep, and the question, “What do you do for work?” and “Where do you live?” were very common among current parents towards new parents. A friend of mine saw a similar thing happen at Packer.

Granted, Packer tends to attract law and finance types.

This is how people make small talk in NYC. I think it is very normal. What else are you going to ask someone - their favorite color? Where do you summer out east? To your point, I prefer the "where do you live" over "what do you do for work" as it is a bit less loaded. And the answer tells a lot about someone - "Park Avenue" is a different answer than "Upper East Side".