St. Albans acceptance rate = 25 to 30%?

[Anonymous]

For it to be valid you would have to include the kids that are in 8th going to 9th. If you include them the acceptance rate is much higher... practically 95%.

[Anonymous]

Because no one wants to waste time applying to a school with a negligible change of acceptance. If some schools are truly ultra selective, it makes no sense to waste time and energy and put your kid through the ringer only to be rejected and have to go public.

While I agree that acceptance rate may be nice to know, I'm not sure that it's all that helpful. As another poster mentions above, percentages are the result of many variables -- there are a lot of self selection that goes on, for example. We were told by more than one person during the application stage to forget Maret because their acceptance rate is so low, even if the candidate is deemed highly qualified. We chose to apply anyway and DC was extended an offer, although we declined.

[Anonymous]

I’m the Georgia poster from another thread, and, as a math person, I agree, the lack of data can be frustrating. However, as others have pointed out, I think it’s a lot more complicated than a college admission rate (which itself is far from telling the whole story for any particular kid).

The school we ended up at also has a 25% admission rate listed in one of those publications. But, I know for a fact the school has a tremendous expansion in 6th grade and almost no expansion any other year except 7th. So, the 8th graders applying have a much lower chance. But then, I also know there is a local “feeder” K-8 that takes up almost 1/3 of the 6 grade entries and almost all the 7th grade expansion. So your odds applying from that school are closer to 50%, whereas your odds as a non expansion year kid from elsewhere are almost zero.

The number of kids we are talking about is also much smaller than most universities. So, by the time you find your kid’s “admission pool” (let’s say - female, 6th grade, non feeder kid, no athlete) you may only really be competing for 2 or 3 spots - so the odds have a huge fluctuation year to year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the Georgia poster from another thread, and, as a math person, I agree, the lack of data can be frustrating. However, as others have pointed out, I think it’s a lot more complicated than a college admission rate (which itself is far from telling the whole story for any particular kid).

The school we ended up at also has a 25% admission rate listed in one of those publications. But, I know for a fact the school has a tremendous expansion in 6th grade and almost no expansion any other year except 7th. So, the 8th graders applying have a much lower chance. But then, I also know there is a local “feeder” K-8 that takes up almost 1/3 of the 6 grade entries and almost all the 7th grade expansion. So your odds applying from that school are closer to 50%, whereas your odds as a non expansion year kid from elsewhere are almost zero.

The number of kids we are talking about is also much smaller than most universities. So, by the time you find your kid’s “admission pool” (let’s say - female, 6th grade, non feeder kid, no athlete) you may only really be competing for 2 or 3 spots - so the odds have a huge fluctuation year to year.

probably

You could say the same for Catholic school. They have more feeders. But if you don't count the kids coming from feeder schools the acceptance rate is probably close to 25%.

[Anonymous]

STA is more selective now. Sorry, old boy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia’s acceptance is around 7%. Cornell 12%. St Albans’s college acceptance isn’ t that great. A good student might get into Kenyon or UChicago.

40 out of 80 or so went so went to Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, Columbia and Penn last year. 7 alone went to Yale. Sorry, so wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir boys have an accept rate of 8O+% at 4th grade. That’s going to skew the numbers some.

If you have a NCS kid, will it be easier for her sibling to get into St. Albans? Does it treat as a sibling? Thanks.

Yes. They may not tell you that flat out, but I have seen this exact scenario play out too many times to think it's just coincidental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does acceptance rate to a private school even matter? All that should matter is whether it's the right school for your kid--and if he's able to get in, great!

Because no one wants to waste time applying to a school with a negligible change of acceptance. If some schools are truly ultra selective, it makes no sense to waste time and energy and put your kid through the ringer only to be rejected and have to go public.

If you consider making an application to a private school "putting your kid through the ringer," then good luck to you and your child in life. The application process is nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia’s acceptance is around 7%. Cornell 12%. St Albans’s college acceptance isn’ t that great. A good student might get into Kenyon or UChicago.

What a ignorant comp too - Kenyon’s acceptance rate has been 28-38% the last few years and Chicago’s has been 7 to 9 %.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Think about it this way:

Andover's acceptance rate is 13%. They pull from all over the country and the world, and are one of the most coveted private high schools.

Aside from some kindergarten classes, where there are simply very few slots, I can't imagine day schools in this area--even the best ones--having an acceptance rate that is that much lower than a top independent boarding school.

My guess is that you have a few schools that hover around 15-25%, and then the rest are significantly higher.

That's fine; acceptance rate is simply NOT a proxy for excellence. UChicago had a very high acceptance rate before they started accepting the Common App, simply because they had a self-selecting applicant pool. As soon as they started taking the Common App, their acceptance rate plummeted and people started talking about how great the school is. The school didn't change; the number of applications did.

OP here. I'm not interested in acceptance rates because of prestige, but for practical planning for my children. And while acceptance rates are fuzzy predictors at best, the difference between a 7% acceptance rate and a 30% rate are huge when it comes to figuring out where my dc can realistically go to school.

If you think STA would be a good fit for your son, then you should apply and see if you are admitted. If you don’t apply, you have zero percent change of being accepted. If you are adamant that your DC must go to private school (Public is not an option), then I recommend applying to at least 5 schools with varying degrees of selectivity. Do not apply only to STA, Sidwell, GDS, Landon and Potomac. They are all pretty tough for 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

I don't have skin in this game, but it seemed more selective. I assume there are bottlenecks at certain grade levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I don't have skin in this game, but it seemed more selective. I assume there are bottlenecks at certain grade levels.

Only because it's smaller than schools like Sidwell, GDS and Potomac. They only have something like 50 - 60 kids per grade, until high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Columbia’s acceptance is around 7%. Cornell 12%. St Albans’s college acceptance isn’ t that great. A good student might get into Kenyon or UChicago.

40 out of 80 or so went so went to Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, Columbia and Penn last year. 7 alone went to Yale. Sorry, so wrong.

This is a bold face lie! Don't believe the hype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Columbia’s acceptance is around 7%. Cornell 12%. St Albans’s college acceptance isn’ t that great. A good student might get into Kenyon or UChicago.

40 out of 80 or so went so went to Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, Columbia and Penn last year. 7 alone went to Yale. Sorry, so wrong.

This is a bold face lie! Don't believe the hype.

Don’t know about 40/80, but the top 25% at STA get into Ivies, Stanford, MIT. The next 25% go to SLACs, UCB, UCLA, UVA. The bottom 59% go to strong schools - think Top 50 — but not necessarily the most competitive schools.

The last several years, the top 25% at STA and NCS have done better at college placement than the top 25% at Sidwell or GDS. some will argue that this is due to a legacy and wealth factor, but those are also present at GDS and Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Non-Beauvoir admission at 4th grade is very competitive. There are only about 10-15 spots available.

The competition for 7th high and for 9th fierce. Both in the single digits. The demand for private education has risen while the space available in each entry class has not.