Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS President bassett@nais

1. The Placement Game Patrick F. Bassett, NAIS Presidentbassett@nais.org

2. The Placement Game • “The Letter”: The Influence Assumption • The Parent Trap • “Getting In…” • What the Research Says

3. Since we realized about a year ago that the college application cycle was about to materialize for us, my wife Barbara has been in a constant state of agitation. To say that she has made life miserable for my daughter Alison and me would be a colossal understatement; we are talking about daily SAT vocabulary words, nagging about homework, reminders about college essays, and the like. The only way for me to placate her was to promise her that Alison would be accepted at an outstanding college. Now I must produce the results I promised. …Were Alison not to be admitted, I would beg that you could notify me in advance, confidentially, so that I could make my plane reservations for Zimbabwe before the rejection notice appears. I know as well that your burdens of decision are many. Just know as well that my whole life rests in your hands. I am praying daily for you, your family, and your favorite charity. “The Letter”: Excerpt to UVA Dean

4. The Parent Trap • Parents seriously over-anxious about school placement/college admissions: raising stress levels for themselves, their kids, and us. Starts with anxiety over reading readiness in preschool and blossoms into full-flung obsession in middle and secondary school. • Anxieties are rooted in a series of seriously erroneous myths about the process and the prospects, prompting NAIS to create the first in a new suite of pamphlets, The Independent School Parent Series.

5. Cover photo is Piggy of Lord of the Flies: NAIS’ wry pictorial commentary on how quickly the process can devolve into dangerous behaviors.

6. Myths Parents Believe • Myth: “There’s only one right college (or school) for my child.” • Reality: Of the 4000 colleges and university in the US, there are dozens where any child of whatever ability can make the most of his or her potential. (In the “highly selective group” there are more than just HYP (Harvard/Yale/Princeton), in fact more than 100 colleges and universities.)

7. Myths Parents Believe • Myth: “Our family paid dearly for independent school tuition. That investment had better pay off in the form of admission to a prestigious college.” • Reality: Independent schools do offer a solid return by providing a challenging academic environment and rich extracurricular opportunities…but what a student makes of this is the biggest factor in where they are admitted to college…. Like paying for membership in an expensive health club: must exercise to benefit from it. ~College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won --Frank Sachs, College Counselor, Blake School, MN

8. Myths Parents Believe • Myth: “In a label-conscious culture, if students don’t make it into a big-name college, they’ll always lag behind those who did.” • Reality: All the research shows zero financial impact on long-term success of attending a big-name university: what one does in college tracks with success not where one went to college.

9. Myths Parents Believe • Myth: “My child must go to college right after high school.” • Reality: A “gap year” can be invaluable in terms of developing maturity and perspective and a wise and safe strategy, given the deferred admissions option.

10. Getting In… • The Gatekeepers (Viking, 2002, 292 pp) by New York Times education writer Jacques Steinberg chronicles the admissions process of a highly selective college, Wesleyan University: “college counselors do not get a student in…the student’s record does.” • Top 100 most selective colleges accept 20% of applicants, but over 75% of colleges accept 50% or more of applicants: there are many “sure things” and “good fits” out there for each candidate. • Most selective college do “keep score.” Applicants must have the right “colored dots” on their folder to get into the pool of those seriously considered: within the college’s mid-50% of SAT scores, high GPA and class rank, rigorous 4-year program and leadership. (If developmentally appropriate, students should take Algebra 1 and foreign language in the 8th grade.)

11. What the Research Says… • NCES Longitudinal Study: Private school students twice as likely as public school students (52% vs. 26%) to actually graduate from college, four times as likely from the lowest socio-economic quartile. (“Persistence factor” related to rigor of pre-college academic program). • Vast majority of independent schools are “college-preparatory”: our data will be even better: virtually everyone goes to college and graduates from college because, in no small part, they attended an independent school with a rigorous academic program and universally high expectations for achievement.

12. What the Research Says… • The “Second Curriculum”: Independent schools so good at the first curriculum and so unencumbered by the dictates of the state or the bureaucracy of the central office, we have the luxury of focusing as well on the character curriculum, which in the long run may be the best reason of all to educate one’s child in our schools. • Values: 80% of public school elite admits to cheating (Who’s Who in American High Schools Survey, ‘98). • Participation: 73% quits childhood sports by age 13 (Chicago Tribune, 3/30/00). • Girls who play after-school sports are far less likely to have had any sexual partners. (American Demographics 9/98) (Data for boys less positive.) • Anthony Campolo’s dictum: “I want me child to be… • In Japan: “…successful.” • In US: “…happy.” • Better answer: “…good.” • Douglas Heath research: Schools of Hope, Lives of Hope: those who turn out “good” more likely to be both successful and happy.

13. The End!