Most Prestigious Private HS In US Suffers Elite College Matriculation Decline, Parents/Admins Reeling
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Anonymous
I think your expectations that Andover will *always* send a certain number of kids to these few elite t10 colleges is pretty misguided. “Only” 6 kids got into Yale omg! It’s going to be different year to year and majority of kids at Andover still have great college acceptances. It’s possible this was just a weaker graduating class. It’s also possible kids are applying more broadly than in the past and didn’t submit as many applications to HYP therefore not as many acceptances. I don’t think the immediate conclusion should be “send your kids to public schools!” (Although personally I’m a big advocate of public education so for most kids I do think public school is better.) but you should choose a high school because it’s a good fit for your kid and will give them a good education and good hs experience, not for the sole purpose of getting into ivies. |
Anonymous
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It's about the parents' connections, not the schools. Uber wealthy well connected parents are still getting their kids in. But with the emphasis on FGLI and athletic recruits at many elite universities and colleges, there simply are fewer open slots. "Regular" wealthy and connected families don't have the advantages they used to.
Nevertheless, Sidwell is still getting kids into Ivies at a far higher rate than the VA and MD magnet schools, despite the latter groups of students having tremendous academic accomplishments and sky-high test scores (plus few parents who use paid college consultants). |
Anonymous
I think the definition of elite college has changed. There are many more schools that are much better fit for results than the usual 5 or 6. |
Anonymous
I think we are missing the other side of the equation... how many applied? All of them? |
Anonymous
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I went to a very competitive high school with decent admissions, but the schools with the most competitive admissions made it clear to us that only so many from one school district much less school could be admitted. It was annoying, but we all know that's reality.
The old boys club of college admissions is going to fall away more and more moving forward. I had a good friend who went to Andover. She was definitely smart, but no smarter than most kids who I attended high school or college with. They are not necessarily better students. They just have parents with a greater emphasis on academic achievement. |
Anonymous
It certainly raises the question though |
Anonymous
Yes, yes it does. Are you a moron or something? |
Anonymous
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It’s because legacy admissions are going down. Five states have banned it and many more have bills to do so. Without legacy admissions, high schools will have to show what value they actually add beyond what family you were born to.
https://www.diverseeducation.com/institutions/article/15737016/legacy-admissions-hit-historic-low-as-more-states-ban-practice-at-us-colleges |
Anonymous
Correction: anyone with kids in any schools knows this. My son’s class is very high achieving & competitive, extremely strong group of students (and parents of the students). My daughter’s class just 2 years younger is more just normal smart but not as high achieving or competitive kids and the parents too are more just normal ppl who have moderate/average degrees of success. Same (public) school but totally different cohorts. |
Anonymous
Wrong! These colleges are having their budgets slashed left and right by the current administration. Being a full pay private school student is now a huge plus. Brown has already started offering seats to waitlisted students. Poor students’ best shot at elite universities is ED, via Questbridge. After that, these schools need to fill their classes with top students who can pay the full cost. |
Anonymous
Kids at Collegiate and Harvard Westlake come from similarly well resourced families with hooks and high stats. They are getting in at higher rates. Andover doesn’t have to worry about lifers who got in when they were 5 and can’t hack it. To get into Andover you need to have a lot going for you, so I don’t understand why you think they’re disadvantaged. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
I don't think you understand the difference between being accepted to a school and matriculating (i.e. enrolling). Based on your sources, we have no idea how many students got into Harvard, we just know how many decided to attend. Maybe the students are down on those schools! |
Anonymous
You shouldn’t generalize. Sidwell is on track to send at least 25% of this year’s graduating class to an Ivy plus. The vast majority of the rest of the students will land at T50 universities or better (even the meh students). Calm down. |
Anonymous
amherst, mit, hopkins, uc colleges…not georgetown, duke, all ivies, stanford, williams, etc. |