I'd love to be a fly on the wall during admissions decision meetings

[Anonymous]

One thing that did change last year mostly in college admissions was the ability to pay full price. As the economy bottomed out this became more important for private colleges and prep schools than it had been in the past.

[Anonymous]

PP 12:02 here, responding to the question about my prior reference to "interesting international families." Although there are indeed many international families in DC, they are not the majority of the admissions pool so an international background can still be seen as a "plus" factor from a diversity standpoint (albeit a modest one). My word "interesting" is inexact, but remember schools are looking to bring in students that will add to the educational experience of all and there is a lot of interest in global education. For upper school admissions, if the student had been educated abroad for some years (and looked to have the tools to do well), our admissions committee thought they might bring some interesting perspective to their classmates. This is less of a focus for Pre-K or K admissions, of course -- there it was generally a view that a broad cross-section of families, including some with international ties, contacts, perspective, can enrich the overall composition of the class. But there wasn't a list of "boring" countries that didn't count! ("Oh, dear me, Latvia? How dull.")

I can imagine most countries are more exciting than NW D. C. by my book.

[Anonymous]

hysterical above

[Anonymous]

Question for people with admissions experience, did the schools where you were have a specific hard number of acceptances in mind when they started the file review? (Eg, "We're looking to accept 30 kids for 20 slots.") Or was it more free-form than that?

[Anonymous]

To the wonderful PPs with trure admissions experience: Many thanks. Could I ask a question about a topic that we have seen a lot of in this forum?

Do you see a large number of super high WPPSIs (99 percentile and higher)?

Are most of the accepted students at the top schools in the 90th percentile and above range?

Does it matter much whether an applicant is 96 relative to say 98?

[Anonymous]

That sounds interesting pp -- your kids should do fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the wonderful PPs with trure admissions experience: Many thanks. Could I ask a question about a topic that we have seen a lot of in this forum?

Do you see a large number of super high WPPSIs (99 percentile and higher)?

Are most of the accepted students at the top schools in the 90th percentile and above range?

Does it matter much whether an applicant is 96 relative to say 98?

There are a lot of kids with super high WPPSIs as well as kids with lower scores. Schools are composing a class, so it is an art and science. My DC is at a "top" school and I would hazard to guess, based on conversations, that all the kids are 99.9+ kids. I know a few DC who are absolutely wonderful and the moms candidly shared their scores in the early months of the school year. Both had scores in 80s. I couldn't imagine these kids not being in the class - they are real gems. I think that is why a lot of folks will say the WPPSI is just a snapshot of one day in the kid's life. Many of these ADs strike me as quite skilled in figuring out the school's needs and how these DCs and families will meet them.

[Anonymous]

PP_ did you mean to say that "based on conversations, that NOT all kids are 99.9 +"....?

[Anonymous]

Yes, would 20:25 please clarify? One word makes a big difference!

[Anonymous]

Not the PP, but I think she was saying that she was assuming they were all 99% and was surprised to learn that they weren't.

[Anonymous]

Yes 20:25, could you please clarify?

[Anonymous]

What is so unclear? She said a couple of kids had scores in the 80s. Seems pretty obvious that she meant to add the NOT.

[Anonymous]

Hi, it is poster 12:02, aka the FAI (Former Admissions Insider)! It depends on the school, but even at the so called "top" schools not every child is a 99% on the WPPSI, although yes, many are in the 90s. My own impression was that 96 vs. 98 was not seen as incredibly dispositive. Admissions committee members are very aware that there are all kinds of variables for the WPPSI and any with long-time experience at a school can cite enough kids from outside the 99.9 range who have excelled to underscore this view that it is hard to predict for this early age range. In terms of why sometimes it "feels" like everyone (else's) kids had 99.9%, it reminded me of going back to one of my high school reunions years ago. I was struck by how many people seemed to have happy marriages and great jobs, and then realized for the most part people only attended if they felt happy and confident at that moment in their lives. I was single at the time but liked my job, and joked around with my best friend from high school that when others were introducing their spouses and pulling out the adorable baby pictures I could come back with: "and have you met my fascinating job?" So, with apologies for belaboring the analogy, I think folks whose young 'uns have 99.9% WPPSI scores may be a bit more likely to talk about WPPSI, test scores, in general, etc., leading to a bit of skewed perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for people with admissions experience, did the schools where you were have a specific hard number of acceptances in mind when they started the file review? (Eg, "We're looking to accept 30 kids for 20 slots.") Or was it more free-form than that?

12:02 with a belated response to 6:05's post. I would say yes, in my experience there was a target number (or a fairly small range) of acceptances in mind when the file review starts. Basically, schools are dealing with two issues: year size (eg number in the ninth grade); and total school enrollment. Year size is most important for class sizes within the grade, and total school enrollment is important for revenue (in terms of having enough enrollment) and in respecting any ceilings imposed by the facilities or external agreements such as neighborhood zoning or even fire codes. Schools can and do track their "yield" (percentage of admitted kids who attend) over a multi-year period (maybe 3 years) and they use the yield percentage to come up with a range of acceptances which they will try to adhere to in the admissions season. There is some "give" on an individual level up to a point, but, for example, if there was an unusually high yield one year the overall school enrollment picture may mean that the school offers somewhat fewer acceptances the following year both to adjust to a potential sea change in the yield and to pay attention to overall school enrollment numbers. Mostly, though, my sense is that the yields stay relatively predictable, although things like a poor economy (or maybe having the president's kids at your school!!) will cause the admissions types to scratch their heads as they try to forecast.

[Anonymous]

Everyone on these boards talks about WPPSI scores, would one of the FAIs care to share what sort of range you saw for WISC scores (around 4th grade entry point). Are most of these also in the high 90s or do you see a greater range (say 85 - 99).