Admission process transparency

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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 have made these same comparisons before in other threads, many people have explained why they are different. You are not learning or convincing anyone else. Why do you persist?

Just because you don't have a good argument or don't agree doesn't mean that OP can't make their points. This is a message board where people are supposed to debate and express their thoughts on things after all. You should try it.

Well, empirically, you don't have the right to know. Keep your kid in public if it's too much to get your head around.

This same OP starts dozens of nonsense threads and then argues with everyone until it gets locked or people tire of her. Always some accusation of discrimination and unfairness that makes no sense. My thoughts are that this OP should find a new hobby.

I'm sorry you think it's nonsense to want transparency in the admissions process. It's an exhausting process, and we have the right to know so we don't get so tired applying to all these schools

[Anonymous]

Some of the schools in my city have earlier deadlines for sibling applications and/or a separate 'play-date' visit day for TK/K Sibling applying. So they have a firm picture of how many are applying and how many are admissible before the general population application deadline - yet they won't share any numbers and have applicants taking off from work & pulling kids out of school to apply for a spot that may not be numerically possible.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty well accepted that admissions rate to the most competitive schools are between 5% and 20% depending on the entry year. Maret has in their school profile that theirs is 12% across the school - likely higher in the lower school and lower in the upper school.

It's reasonable to extrapolate that St. Albans, GDS, NCS, Potomac and Sidwell are roughly roughly roughly in the same general ballpark.

Now that you know that, has it changed your strategy on applying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the schools in my city have earlier deadlines for sibling applications and/or a separate 'play-date' visit day for TK/K Sibling applying. So they have a firm picture of how many are applying and how many are admissible before the general population application deadline - yet they won't share any numbers and have applicants taking off from work & pulling kids out of school to apply for a spot that may not be numerically possible.

It would be better for everyone to release that information.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Having a child applying to 9th grade , I can see where OP is coming from.

The admissions process is EXHAUSTING for both the parents and the kids. I have literally been to one school FIVE times already for various admissions events (tours, interview, dropping off DC for a shadow day, athletics event, parent coffee...) and that is just ONE school. DC is applying to six schools and this has been like a full time job. They are applying to six schools just to make sure they can get into one because nothing is guaranteed and we have no idea what the schools really want.

I just wish schools would give some loose guidelines as to what they are looking for for me to know if my child even has a shot at that school. That way we don't waste our time or the admissions teams time.

The problem is that I believe that the performance of the admissions team is based on how many applications they get. They have every incentive to encourage you to apply even though they know your child does not stand a chance.

I'm sorry this thread is getting derailed as it is a good topic. We are also applying to private schools and it is taking up most of my non working time, between the visits and shadow days and essays and applications and the test prep. But what are really the chances of being admitted at this or that school? Deep inside I'm aware there must goals the school is looking for in an incoming class, this % for athletes, this % for black students, this % for other non white students, this % for legacies, so does it really mean out of a hypothetical 30 open seats in an expansion year, we're really competing for one of five seats, not 30? Those would be the true odds.

And of course we're always worried whether we're doing enough during the admissions process. Is just filling out the applications fine or do schools still somehow expect more from us without explicitly saying so? Do they keep records of how often we visit the campus? But other than the open house and shadow day, what else is there?

+1 It's so annoying to be spending so much time on something when you don't even know if what you're doing is helping or what the best way to approach it is.

Welcome to the real world. Have you applied college? fellowships? faculty positions?

I was smart enough to avoid academia, so never applied to fellowships or faculty positions. but I did apply to college, yes. And it was great to have tons of data released by the schools I was applying to about average SAT scores, GPA, admissions rates, race breakdowns, geographic breakdowns, etc. Thanks for proving my point that private schools should do the same!

"smart enough to avoid academia" sounds tasteless. Maybe there are more one one way of "being smart"? This attitude won't get you very far.

My point is for any highly competitive school it is not possible to know what criterion they use per cycle because it might be dynamic.
All you have to realize is after legacy, siblings, big donors, athletes, VIPs, music superstars, there are maybe 1 spot left for 30 excellent candidates.
So get use to it? Maybe it is more productive to figure out how to be happy with where your kids can get in.

[Anonymous]

The schools created the current system and they maintain it. They decide who they admit based on whatever criteria they want to use.

Filling out an application and going to an interview aren’t difficult or time-consuming.

Now if the parents decide to make this into a huge project in which they examine every school with a microscope, get input from many sources, hire consultants, use test prep companies, etc, etc., well that’s on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty well accepted that admissions rate to the most competitive schools are between 5% and 20% depending on the entry year. Maret has in their school profile that theirs is 12% across the school - likely higher in the lower school and lower in the upper school.

It's reasonable to extrapolate that St. Albans, GDS, NCS, Potomac and Sidwell are roughly roughly roughly in the same general ballpark.

Now that you know that, has it changed your strategy on applying?

Unfortunately data such as “roughly roughly in the same ballpark” of what is “widely known” is not helpful and is literally just made up guesses

[Anonymous]

Well, no, it's not. As I said, Maret publishes the data on their school profile that they send to colleges, so can we at least accept that that is correct?

[Anonymous]

If you can accept that, then ask if the others on the list (GDS, STA, NCS and SFS) are more competitive, less competitive or about the same based on what you know. Most would conclude that they are in the same general neck of the woods.

[Anonymous]

Omg. I can’t believe this thread continues. There will be no transparency because they’re not obligated to. It’s not in their business interest. End of story. Start a new thread OP to irritate everyone. We know it’s coming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Omg. I can’t believe this thread continues. There will be no transparency because they’re not obligated to. It’s not in their business interest. End of story. Start a new thread OP to irritate everyone. We know it’s coming.

No one is forcing you to read this. Just ignore it if it irritates you so much. Not healthy for you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty well accepted that admissions rate to the most competitive schools are between 5% and 20% depending on the entry year. Maret has in their school profile that theirs is 12% across the school - likely higher in the lower school and lower in the upper school.

It's reasonable to extrapolate that St. Albans, GDS, NCS, Potomac and Sidwell are roughly roughly roughly in the same general ballpark.

Now that you know that, has it changed your strategy on applying?

Unfortunately data such as “roughly roughly in the same ballpark” of what is “widely known” is not helpful and is literally just made up guesses

It's worse than that.

The 5% or 10% or 20% are Averages.

That might be useful if all the applicants were equal. But they are not. Some are advantaged and the rates of admission for these applicants is higher than the average. Which means that the rates of admission for those who are not advantaged is lower than the mean percent.

Examples of advantage include siblings, legacies, faculty kids, athletes, academic stars, graduates of "feeder" schools, full pay, kids of the rich and famous, and URMs. The more of these boxes you DC checks, the higher the probability they will be admitted. Admission of these kids isn't automatic, but as a group their rates of admission are higher than average.

The good news for applicants without even one of these advantages is that the number of applicants is:

1. Reported by the Admissions Office which is incented to make the number as high as possible.
2. The result of an energetic campaign to drive up the number of applications through Open Houses, Admissions presentations at feeder schools, and the efforts of alumni, current parents, coaches, and other boosters of the school.

This effort isn't targeted at highly-qualified applicants. The idea is to get as many applications as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can accept that, then ask if the others on the list (GDS, STA, NCS and SFS) are more competitive, less competitive or about the same based on what you know. Most would conclude that they are in the same general neck of the woods.

What’s closer, “the same general neck of the woods” or something that is “roughly roughly in the same general ballpark”? Given how scientific these are, I’m amazed I can’t figure it out

[Anonymous]

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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?

Are you enjoying it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can accept that, then ask if the others on the list (GDS, STA, NCS and SFS) are more competitive, less competitive or about the same based on what you know. Most would conclude that they are in the same general neck of the woods.

What’s closer, “the same general neck of the woods” or something that is “roughly roughly in the same general ballpark”? Given how scientific these are, I’m amazed I can’t figure it out

What’s amazing is that you think the schools care if you can figure it out. They do not.