Every spring, college admission rates dominate the headlines: “Duke Admits 4.8% of Regular Decision Applicants,” “Northeastern Acceptance Rate Drops to 5.6% After Record Number of Applicants,” “Yale Admits 2,234 Students, Acceptance Rate Shrinks to 4.46 Percent.” As parents and students clamor for a competitive edge, many are drawn to the disproportionately high admission rates from certain private high schools (like Philips Exeter Academy, St. Paul’s School, and Groton School) and public magnet schools (like Bronx High School of Science, Boston Latin School, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology). Prospective parents call these schools “feeder schools” to the Ivy League and peer institutions. However, the facts and hidden truths behind these feeder schools are a bit more complicated.
FEEDER SCHOOLS: FACTS
Historical Connections
In Preparing for Power: America’s Elite Boarding Schools, Peter W. Cookson, Jr. and Carolyn Hodges Persell outline a historical connection between the admissions offices of highly selective colleges and feeder schools. Generations ago, college and high school representatives would meet to discuss applicants, giving a distinct advantage to students from these schools. In her dissertation, Shaping Elite College Pathways: Mapping the Field of Feeder High Schools in the United States, Kristen Marie Glassener noted that historically, schools like Harvard would also evaluate students from feeder schools in separate committees with higher acceptance rates. While these practices have changed, the fact remains that a disproportionate number of students from certain high schools gain admission to highly selective colleges and universities.
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College Visits and Advocacy Calls
Each fall, admissions officers from colleges around the country travel to high schools to recruit students. Because of their limited time on the road (usually September to November), admissions officers have to make strategic decisions about which schools they will visit. Many admissions officers regularly visit high schools where they receive a high number of applications, and this includes feeder schools. While this face time with admissions officers is not supposed to give students an edge in the admissions process, the admissions officer is naturally more familiar with the high school and friendly with the counselor because they spent time on campus. In the past, counselors at these schools would also call admissions officers shortly before decisions came out to advocate for the students who applied. This additional push for already privileged applicants has been ended at most schools. Brown University even announced this year that they would not take any counselor calls regarding applicants’ chances of admission.
Strong Curriculum, Talented Peers, and Support
Even though feeder schools range from large public high schools like Stuyvesant High School in New York City to small boarding schools like Groton School in MA, they all maintain a strong curriculum and support in the college application process. Feeder schools’ established curriculum, whether IB, AP, or college-level courses, prepare students to be better test-takers and they tend to score higher on the SAT, ACT, and other types of assessments (like AP and IB tests). Students are also surrounded by talented peers who are focused on learning. The peer interaction can help a student develop more intellectualism. Students at feeder schools, particularly private schools, also have access to dedicated college counselors who help them for the college search, prepare them for the college application process and write a strong letter of support. Typically, these counselors have small caseloads (30-40 students) and time to get to know them well.
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FEEDER SCHOOLS: THE HIDDEN TRUTHS
The facts above might lead many parents to run towards the admissions offices of these feeder schools and demand their child receive a place. However, much of the nuance in admissions is lost in these matriculation numbers.
Recruited Student-Athletes
Many of these high schools, particularly private schools, produce a disproportionate number of recruited student athletes at elite colleges and universities. Part of the reason for this is that the high schools themselves either recruited the student-athletes or attracted them to their schools due to their championship-winning programs. The recent Varsity Blues scandal highlighted the easier path to admission that recruited student-athletes encounter. Most recruited student-athletes have lower testing and GPAs than admitted students who were not recruited. While the admissions office needs to deem them “admissible,” the coaches are the ones recruiting these student-athletes. Elite high schools love to tout their overall acceptances to highly selective schools, but the student-athletes don’t represent the typical student at a feeder school and are a special admissions case.
Development and Connections
Another area where students gain an advantage in admissions is by being the child of a generous donor, board member, or alumnus of a highly selective college or university. These wealthy families tend to send their children to public magnet schools or independent schools. Traditionally, these students would receive preference in admissions due to their parents’ support of the college or university. Because many of these feeder schools have many students who fall in this category, once again, their matriculation outcomes may be skewed. The development and legacy preference may be ending (or at least lessening), as the Department of Education launched an investigation on Harvard’s use of development and legacy preference in admissions just this summer and many colleges have announced that they will no longer take legacy into consideration during the admissions process.
Location
Many feeder schools are located near highly selective colleges and universities. There is an unwritten rule that colleges tend to accept a higher percentage of students in their backyard, especially as they are non-tax paying entities. For example, Harvard sees a large number of applications from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (public school) and Buckingham, Browne and Nichols (private school); both schools are located in Cambridge, MA. While Harvard accepts students at a higher rate from these schools due to their proximity, it is important to remember that many Harvard faculty and staff children may be in these applicant pools, a further advantage in admissions that has nothing to do with the school they attend.
TOP TIER TAKE-AWAY
While there are some advantages to attending a feeder school, these mainly lie in access to a strong curriculum, interaction with talented peers, and supportive faculty. Hidden in their large acceptance rates to highly selective colleges and universities are recruited student-athletes, development and legacy children, and children of college faculty and staff. Many of the students would have been accepted to these colleges regardless of which high school they attended, so it is unfair to credit the high school and their possible connections to colleges. Ultimately, where to attend school is a complicated and personal choice, and families shouldn’t be swayed by matriculation lists that weigh heavily on factors outside the school.
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