As high school seniors across the nation faced harsher college decisions than ever before last week, Phillips Academy students generally evaded the national trend. Decisions for most colleges were released on March 31, and Andover’s seniors saw major reversals of fortune at Harvard and Princeton, alongside a generally upward trend. In fact, the acceptance rate for PA students increased in general, despite exceptionally low admittance rates at Bowdoin, Brown, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Harvard and Yale, all traditionally favorites of Andover’s applicants. But the upward trend for Phillips students was bucked at Harvard College, where only eight students were accepted this year after 24 were admitted last year. This reversal at Harvard, though, was coupled with an inverse shift at Princeton University, where 22 Andover students were accepted, after only eight had been selected in the prior year. According to John Anderson, Director of College Counseling, in a compilation of data from approximately 30 of the most popular schools among PA seniors, more students received letters of acceptances this year in comparison to past years. Anderson said, “If we compare this year’s number of kids who applied to schools to those of previous years, most colleges accepted more students. In general, at the most competitive colleges we had more acceptances.” While colleges reported record numbers of applicants, Anderson felt that the reliability of Andover students made them stand out. “My sense is that these schools took a look at the pool at Andover and thought that they were a strong group of applicants and felt comfortable admitting them,” Anderson said. Veda Eswarappa ’08 felt that the dependability of PA students helped their chances of acceptance. She said, “Andover does have a lot of motivated, well-rounded kids that are willing to attend these schools.” Among the schools posting record low acceptance rates, Harvard College accepted only 7.1 percent of its total applicants. Not far behind were Yale College and Columbia College, offering 8.3 percent and 8.7 percent of applicants, respectively. In addition, Brown University and Dartmouth College admitted 13 percent of all applicants, while Bowdoin College and Georgetown University admitted 18 percent. Another trend for this year’s seniors was a decrease in acceptances at medium-sized universities in urban areas. Anderson cited George Washington University, Tulane University, Vanderbilt University and on a smaller scale, Cornell University, as schools where fewer PA students were accepted in comparison to previous years. Anderson described some of the admissions fluctuations as a result of institutional policies, where each year every school will have a particular type of student it is looking to admit. For example, he described a situation where the impending graduation of a top musician or star athlete would influence the admission of a student that could fill those voids. James Rockas ’08 said, “I think that with these policies, you’re allowing people to get in who wouldn’t normally have gotten in, which I think is fine since many of these people do something unusual.” In an attempt to increase economic diversity among its student body this year, Harvard placed an emphasis on the socioeconomic status of its applicants. “One of those institutional policies expressed by Harvard this year was to increase the number of students from a lower income bracket,” Anderson said. Hanson Causbie ’08 acknowledged what he felt was a practical use of institutional policies. “Colleges are trying to put together the most diverse student body…I think that the use of [institutional policies] makes sense,” he said. Harvard’s decision to emphasize an applicant’s economic status came in light of a landmark financial aid initiative announced in early December. Although he did not cite particular schools, Anderson felt that the emphasis placed on the financial status of applicants became a general trend among colleges this year. But he also said that nationwide trends transcended issues of diversity. “With more kids graduating high school, there are a greater percentage of those kids applying to college,” he said. Anderson continued, “One of the responses to heightened competition is the decision to apply to more colleges. What I think students should do is revert to the average eight applications and really focus on the college admission process.” “So, rather than take the lottery approach, students need to follow a strategy that calls for more focus. While it is a very important decision, I think it’s really important for students to keep the college admission process in perspective,” Anderson said.
