Acceptance Rates at Schools
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Anonymous
Not sure why that’s “funny”? Those schools are competing for students so having a similar acceptance rate seems to make sense. |
Anonymous
GDS admits a larger class, and I had the impression that it was slightly easier to be admitted than some of the other top schools. It appeared easier from our K-8 school. Am I wrong? |
Anonymous
Not true. My DC was rejected, not WL, for 9th at Maret. |
Anonymous
I believe GDS enrolls about 50 new 9th graders. I *think* Sidwell & Maret enroll only half as many. |
Anonymous
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Supposedly 30 for Sidwell and Maret for 9th.
To the person who's DC was rejected from Maret-how were test scores? What do you think was the reason for the rejection? |
Anonymous
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People are confusing two very different issues, yield rate (which translates into "applicants admitted per slot") and acceptance rate (which translates into percentage of applicants who are admitted). Even schools with very low acceptance rates routinely admits more than one applicants for every empty slot. I would be shocked if there is more than one or two schools in DC that can afford to admit fewer than two applicants per empty slot.
If you are skeptical of this claim, consider elite college admissions, which is even more overheated than DC private school admissions. You can look up all the statistics yourselves if you doubt me. Even Harvard, which admits fewer than 6% of all applicants (less than half the acceptance rate some posters above claim for Maret and GDS) admits 25% more kids than they have space for, because 15-20% of applicants admitted to Harvard nonetheless choose to go elsewhere each year. Do you really think Sidwell has a higher yield rate than Harvard or Stanford? Doubtful. And w/r/t colleges, those yield rates drop precipitously after half a dozen tippy top schools. Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell -- all highly sought after colleges that in recent years have admitted <10% of applicants -- have *yield rates* that hover around 50%, and they consequently admit roughly two students per slot. Most kids who apply to [any of] Sidwell, Maret, GDS, STA/NCS will apply to several of those schools, and every year there are scores of kids in the DC area who are admitted to multiple top schools. Each of those kids has to choose just one school. So: yes, most top schools still admit ~2 kids for every open space, even when their acceptance rates are 10 or 15%. They know that wait listing a kid is dangerous: it decreases the chances that they will come, and makes them far more likely to accept another offer early. It's simple math. Regardless of how low your *acceptance rate* is, if your average historical yield rate is 50% you need to admit two kids per slot. If it's 25%, you need to admit 4 kids for every slot. If your yield rate is 75%, you can admit 4 kids for every three slots. And so on. |
Anonymous
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I’ve heard yield numbers from our head of school that were MUCH higher than 50%. I’m too flaky to remember the details, but 75+ range
Colleges can afford to have less precision when their classes are 1000-2000, not 70-90. I think the schools here have to work with a smaller admit rate and then work more from the waitlists so they can avoid being over enrolled. That’s not feasible in high school the way it is in colleges. |
Anonymous
| Teacher here. Every school has a good idea of what their yield will be-- it is surprisingly consistent from year-to-year. The person who said that schools will admit between 2-5 (!!) students for each spot-- that's complete nonsense. Every school admits more students than spots in an entry year, but it's a pretty small number-- certainly not double. If you get a lower than expected yield, that's why you have a wait list. |
Anonymous
| If Sidwell /Maret only have ~30 open slots for 9th, you admit 40 and put the rest of the viable candidates you may want on the wait list. There is no problem filling a class given the demand. |
Anonymous
| STA was surprised on the upside last year and overadmitted. I heard rumors of around 85% yield, but not sure if that was for US only or total. |
Anonymous
So I am not one of the posters confusing the difference between rates. I have understood that because GDS has a bigger class than other top schools , it is slightly easier to be admitted (rather than GDS having a proportionately larger applicant pool and admitting at the same rate). So I was surprised that they would cite the same admit rate as Maret. |
Anonymous
I think you are correct. I Think the odds for high school are better than 1 in 8, especially since GDS is not everyone’s cup of tea. |
Anonymous
Might not be your cup of tea, but a lot of people out there really like that tea. I'm a parent of two kids in the upper grades of a top D.C.K-8 independent, and have been hounding 8th grade parents for the past few years about high school admissions. GDS is at the top of most parents' list, if they are staying with independents. And if it's up to the kids, it seems unanimous for GDS. By the time you get to ninth grade admissions, the student has a bigger say and a school that very obviously treats students as full partners in their own education is very attractive. I hear only about GDS from my own two kids whenever high school is brought up. I am constantly dampening expectations though. And there certainly are a range of great options. |
Anonymous
| Not a GDS fan at all. If your family isn’t super liberal and your kid plays sports it’s not a good match. |
Anonymous
For God’s sake, I *have* a 9th grader at GDS. But it is obviously a more polarizing school than Maret. |