Son's Prep School Limiting His Applications to Top Colleges. Is This Standard Practice?

[Anonymous]

I attended a top boarding school and they did this. It makes sense to prevent a small cohort of kids getting all the coveted spots. It also serves a signaling function-- schools know that the student has selected them and only a handful of other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is normal at a top prep school. They have to control this so that everyone has a reasonable shot at top colleges, rather than one person getting that school's "spot" at all of them, and the rest of the deserving kids getting left behind.

Don't colleges track yield? If they only offer one spot and it isn't taken then perhaps the next year they should offer 2? Conversely if the school is limiting kids the yield data will show that if they offer, then the kid will take the spot so the college should offer fewer spots than they did prior to the school's tactics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is normal at a top prep school. They have to control this so that everyone has a reasonable shot at top colleges, rather than one person getting that school's "spot" at all of them, and the rest of the deserving kids getting left behind.

Don't colleges track yield? If they only offer one spot and it isn't taken then perhaps the next year they should offer 2? Conversely if the school is limiting kids the yield data will show that if they offer, then the kid will take the spot so the college should offer fewer spots than they did prior to the school's tactics.

Uh yield management works the opposite way. Universities want to only make offers to kids who will accept if they can. So if your school sends 20 applicants and 10 get in, but only 2 accept, the next year they may only give 2, whereas if your school only presents 2 and says these are your kids from our school and they both are qualified and the school gives them offers and they both accept, the next year, when the school more kids for that school, they are more likely to offer to all that the school sends and will trust the school that they are qualified.

[Anonymous]

+1 this is normal. It leads to greater outcomes for the school overall, even if it limits individuals in their options. It's what you signed up for back when you enrolled your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 this is normal. It leads to greater outcomes for the school overall, even if it limits individuals in their options. It's what you signed up for back when you enrolled your kid.

I dont recall this in the contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He’s going to have to choose among Stanford Princeton mit no matter what if he’s EDing/REAing.

This. And then if he gets in they are saying he can’t apply to others after that, since he could potentially take away acceptance from another classmate, seems reasonable since you would assume he in that scenario got into his top pick from EA! Don’t be greedy!