Most Prestigious Private HS In US Suffers Elite College Matriculation Decline, Parents/Admins Reeling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Phillips Academy Andover, the most elite prep school in America only got 4 kids into Harvard in 2025. In the class of 2023 12 kids got into Harvard. Similar trends are at other top schools with only 6 getting into Yale in 2025 and 12 getting in 2023. Only 4 matriculated to Penn in 2025 compared to 7 in 2023. Only 13 got into UChicago, compared to 21 getting into UChicago in 2023. The trend holds across most elite schools such as Northwestern, Duke, etc.

There seems to be serious anti-elite trends in college admissions. They clearly see these kids as "privileged" and are holding it against them. In this new era, you might just be better off sending your kid to public school.

https://d2e3a5v56wj8r4.cloudfront.net/files/CCO_Profile_2024-2025.pdf

https://d2e3a5v56wj8r4.cloudfront.net/files/SchoolProfile2023-2024.pdf

It is not the most elite prestigious school in the US - there are many that fit that description. Collegiate and Blearly in NYC have always been at the top fyi. They send 20-25 percent to ivies

[Anonymous]

The suffering is real. Tragic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Phillips Academy Andover, the most elite prep school in America only got 4 kids into Harvard in 2025. In the class of 2023 12 kids got into Harvard. Similar trends are at other top schools with only 6 getting into Yale in 2025 and 12 getting in 2023. Only 4 matriculated to Penn in 2025 compared to 7 in 2023. Only 13 got into UChicago, compared to 21 getting into UChicago in 2023. The trend holds across most elite schools such as Northwestern, Duke, etc.

There seems to be serious anti-elite trends in college admissions. They clearly see these kids as "privileged" and are holding it against them. In this new era, you might just be better off sending your kid to public school.

https://d2e3a5v56wj8r4.cloudfront.net/files/CCO_Profile_2024-2025.pdf

https://d2e3a5v56wj8r4.cloudfront.net/files/SchoolProfile2023-2024.pdf

It is not the most elite prestigious school in the US - there are many that fit that description. Collegiate and Blearly in NYC have always been at the top fyi. They send 20-25 percent to ivies

I will add - many kids are NOT applying to Ivies or at least not as many. My kid had stats and a good chance to get into an Ivy via a hook and they would not apply to an Ivy or to another top 10 school they had a good chance at getting into. Kids' priorities have changed and many Ivies are deemed as not fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The goal isn't to get your kid into a top college, rube.

Of course, but would you knowingly disadvantage your kid in college admissions?

Nothing in OP's post substantiates that claim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No longer getting the enormous advantage they used to get is not the same thing as being at a disadvantage. Private school graduates are still disproportionately represented in elite colleges.

Exactly.

And you can't draw any conclusions just looking at the admission results from a single year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"College placement shouldn't be the goal of private school anyway."

Well, that's going to come as a surprise to many of the posters on this forum.

That appears to be their principal reason. And they are entitled to have that opinion.

These are people whose world is all about credentials. And Washington has a lot of them in Law, lobbying and Government.

And suggesting to them that going to an Ivy isn't all that important will strike them as ridiculous.

The rest of us, and what seems like the rest of the country, is perfectly happy with their kids attending a good college. They understand through experience and observation that where you went to college says little about you important.

If that is the reason you send your kid to private school, ur doing it wrong.

[Anonymous]

Well, our local very good but non-elite/top tier public has had an incredible showing at Ivies, Stanford, etc. this admissions cycle. So maybe the tides really are turning.

[Anonymous]

Great! Isn't the purpose of going to elite schools to network with the rich? Now, when my kids don't get into Harvard and have to go to "lesser" schools, at least they will get to hobnob with the kids from elite private schools!

But seriously, admissions offices are always saying that they have many times as many qualified applicants as they can accept. So all those superqualified kids rejected from Harvard are going to Dartmouth, and all those rejected from Dartmouth are going to Vanderbilt, or whatever. Yes, there's a difference between the education you get at a top 10 school and, say, Florida State, but moving 10 or 20 spots up or down the ranking list is not going to significantly change the opportunities available to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The goal isn't to get your kid into a top college, rube.

Of course, but would you knowingly disadvantage your kid in college admissions?

Nothing in OP's post substantiates that claim.

The college placement from Andover is well below expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure you realize this, but getting admitted to Andover is already like getting admitted to an elite college. The student body looks nothing like the population at large or even a public school.

Due to the admissions process, this is already a population of kids that look like the Harvard study body.

So yes, their admissions to college is at a real disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The goal isn't to get your kid into a top college, rube.

Of course, but would you knowingly disadvantage your kid in college admissions?

Nothing in OP's post substantiates that claim.

The college placement from Andover is well below expected.

That in no way suggests that going to Andover disadvantaged these particular students.

[Anonymous]

A lot of those kids on financial aid at boarding schools are not middle class even—they’re upper middle class. It’s just that boarding schools are very expensive. On the college application those financial aid kids may have no low income boost.

[Anonymous]

Well, maybe with this new administration and a swing towards a more conservative culture, things will revert to previous status quo.

Which would be unfortunate, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No longer getting the enormous advantage they used to get is not the same thing as being at a disadvantage. Private school graduates are still disproportionately represented in elite colleges.

probably due to legacies.

[Anonymous]

This could easily be a cohort issue. Anyone with kids in private schools knows that some cohorts are just stronger than others. There's no real rhyme or reason to it, just sometimes you have a very very strong group of kids who press each other higher, and sometimes you have a more normal group of kids.