Anonymous
Post 02/01/2012 08:33     Subject: Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
Bump
Anonymous
Post 01/28/2012 21:05     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
bump
Anonymous
Post 01/23/2012 20:15     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
bump
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2012 10:08     Subject: Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
For those who don't have time to look at the results, here is a short summary of high points. Most people responding are applying to PK or K. About half the people responding are applying to only one school, presumably because there is either a sibling connection or else maybe they are just applying to one most-favored school, and can rely on another school as a fallback option if they are not admitted. For the other half applying to multiple schools, the most common number of applications seems to be 3-4 schools, which makes sense because it allows for 1-2 reaches + 1 likely option + 1 safety. These trends are consistent with what the acceptance survey I set up last March showed.

Good luck to all. May all your mailboxes be stuffed with fat response letters.

Sam2
Anonymous
Post 01/12/2012 22:26     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
bump
Anonymous
Post 01/07/2012 18:17     Subject: Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
Bump.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 18:08     Subject: Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
Another vote for geography breakdown.

Thank you so much for doing this, SAM2. I can't imagine how time consuming this little project is!
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 16:53     Subject: Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
I'd vote for organizing by location: DC, MD, VA. That also helps clarify things in the case of schools that are sometimes confused with each other, such as Green Acres (MD) and Green Hedges (VA) or Grace Episcopal Day School (MD) and Grace Episcopal School (VA).

If a school is in two locations, such as Sidwell, I'd list it where the main or upper school campus is located.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 16:32     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
I also like the idea of breaking out by age range. Some school smight end up in multiple categories, but so be it. I guess you could do it for each specific grade, but that might cause the same identification discomfort you mentioned earlier. For me, I think it would be incredibly interesting and helpful. Aftr all, isn't what everyone wants out of this to see a) which schools are most popular this year and b) how much competition their little one is facing?
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 16:19     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
Organizing by geography seems the least likely way to get people all riled up.
SAM2
Post 01/04/2012 16:17     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
SAM2 wrote:
Anonymous wrote:How should I split up the list?


How about K-8, 4-12, etc?


The problem is they don't all split up the same way. One school might be K-8, but another is PK-3, and another is PK-6, etc. At the other end of the spectrum, one is K-12, another is 4-12, and another is 9-12. I would have trouble figuring out which school goes where.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 16:02     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
SAM2 wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to break out responses based on grade? Knowing 4 people applied to Sidwell isn't helpful if they all could have been in a different grade than what I'm looking at. I seem to recall that was done last year? Thanks for this.


What you're describing is cross-referencing the results. It's definitely possible to do that with a survey, so that people could see (for example) the number of boy applications to PK at Sidwell. But I recall that when I created the original results survey in March 2011. some people were uncomfortable with the idea of cross-referencing, since it might make it possible for others to recognize real life applicants. So when I created this survey, I did not include any cross-referencing.

All that said, while I don't have time to revise this current survey, I'm happy to make adjustments to the March 2012 survey I will create for admissions results. Let me know what level of cross-referencing makes sense to you and how it might be interesting. I'm open to suggestions.

Also, I need your help on another element. The list of schools is already very long, and getting longer with each day. As you can see, the list is so long it overloads Google's chart drawing function on the results page. I was thinking about grouping schools by state (DC vs MD vs VA), but that seems arbitrary. Another approach is to try to group together those that most often compete for students ("Big 10" vs others), but that approach surely will get people agitated because it involves me making judgment calls about which school belongs in which group. How should I split up the list?


How about K-8, 4-12, etc?
SAM2
Post 01/04/2012 15:43     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to break out responses based on grade? Knowing 4 people applied to Sidwell isn't helpful if they all could have been in a different grade than what I'm looking at. I seem to recall that was done last year? Thanks for this.


What you're describing is cross-referencing the results. It's definitely possible to do that with a survey, so that people could see (for example) the number of boy applications to PK at Sidwell. But I recall that when I created the original results survey in March 2011. some people were uncomfortable with the idea of cross-referencing, since it might make it possible for others to recognize real life applicants. So when I created this survey, I did not include any cross-referencing.

All that said, while I don't have time to revise this current survey, I'm happy to make adjustments to the March 2012 survey I will create for admissions results. Let me know what level of cross-referencing makes sense to you and how it might be interesting. I'm open to suggestions.

Also, I need your help on another element. The list of schools is already very long, and getting longer with each day. As you can see, the list is so long it overloads Google's chart drawing function on the results page. I was thinking about grouping schools by state (DC vs MD vs VA), but that seems arbitrary. Another approach is to try to group together those that most often compete for students ("Big 10" vs others), but that approach surely will get people agitated because it involves me making judgment calls about which school belongs in which group. How should I split up the list?
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 15:36     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
can you add Maddux and Green Hedges
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2012 15:32     Subject: Re:Applications to private schools for the 2011-12 cycle
Is there a way to break out responses based on grade? Knowing 4 people applied to Sidwell isn't helpful if they all could have been in a different grade than what I'm looking at. I seem to recall that was done last year? Thanks for this.