Students to applicants ratio in indies

[lovinmum]

Hello
My daughter is sitting for indies this January and I was wondering if anyone would know
Number of girls sitting exam for NLCS, HABs, CLGS & St Paul's and how many do they invite for interviews and how many are finally offered places. Any data on how many people they reject at interviews would very useful. Also are NLCS exams toughest in comparison to others? Appreciate input from forum.
We are trying to make up our minds on which schools to finally apply.

Thanks
Lovinmum

[Daogroupie]

Are you basing your decision on how easy these schools are to get into?

If you only want to sit two I would recommend Habs and City. Both bring a lot more girls to interviews and so you have a greater chance of success.

However both my dds commented that the Habs interview was like another exam and Habs do bring more to interview but the ratio of offers is reduced.

For anyone who has sat DAO or HBS second round the English papers at NLCS are straightforward but for those who have not they might find the English papers a stumbling block.

These schools are in quite different areas of London so I am surprised that ease of getting in seems to be a higher criteria for you than ease of access. DG

[Catseye]

If you only want to sit two I would recommend Habs and City

I stand to be corrected but both these schools are top tiers schools?

If I was only choosing two I would choose one top tier and one middle tier like Francis Holland School.

[Ladymuck]

|Starting at the end and working back:

Offer rates - independent schools try to keep their offer rates under wraps as it is an indication of how in demand they are. But they all track which other schools they lose pupils to, and where they lie relative in popularity to other schools. They know that most of their high scorers will be holding 2 or 3 offers, possibly more. As such schools will typically offer 1.75-3/3.5 times the number of spaces they have available. This ratio will depend on their geographical location as well as parental popularity, so City of London Boys has a relatively high offer ratio as it lose pupils to Westminster, St Pauls and Dulwich as well as the boarding schools.

Interviews are used for a variety of purposes - sometimes a weeding out of characters who won't fit, sometimes to assess scholarships and borderline candidates, sometimes as a sales exercise. I would usually expect 10-25% of interviews not to end up with an offer, depending on the school.

In terms of numbers of girls taken to interview - it really falls from above: If you feel you need a 2.7 offer/place ratio to fill your seats and you reject 10% at interview and have 100 places to fill, then you need to make 270 offers and so need to interview 300 girls.

Habs I think has typically had a higher interview rejection rate than others.

Even if you knew these numbers, I don't think that they should influence which schools you apply to, but it may (and possibly should) influence how many you try for. It is easier to do well at an interview for a school that you really want to go to. It is embarrassing to turn up to a school interview without knowing the name of the Headteacher (or even the school).

[shootmenow]

As a rough guide to NLCS- and it varies- 600 sit the exam, 200 are interviewed, for 60 places there will be not a lot over 80 offers and a reserve list. They loose some offer holding girls to HB (it's free and NLCS has a finite bursary pot), exam tourists who live nearer SPGS and girls with brothers at Habs.

[Ladymuck]

Wow, so over 50% of candidates who score high enough to get interviewed get rejected? That's very unusually inefficient in the independent sector, and definitely not the case for boys schools. Even the likes of Westminster will have plenty of boys who are weighing up St Paul's v Westminster or Eton/WinColl v Westminster. Seems odd that NLCS top scorers might not have other choices including co-ed, boarding and state.

[shootmenow]

Yes. Leaving the consortium and creating their own exam cut down the numbers to be interviewed substantially. In the consortium, the papers were only seen by the school that marked them (girls could sit for multiple schools at any one consortium school). It meant that some candidates reached the cut off score for NLCS but didn't display any real flair and some didn't reach the score but showed real brilliance in either maths or English. It was too blunt an instrument which left NLCS interviewing too many weak candidates and missing some strong ones.
The interview weeds out many who are over-tutored and can't think for themselves. It isn't a school where a girl who is easily overwhelmed will be happy. They don't want girls who have plateaued at the 11+.
They don't over-offer by much because they were badly burned one year when every place offered was accepted. It was chaos! Extra forms, timetabling problems, not enough desks, angry parents. They are much more sophisticated about guessing who will take offers now. That doesn't mean that they do as some other schools (HABS and Channing!) and interview parents and ask where siblings go to school and reject qualified candidates who they don't believe will accept them. They'll make an offer to a girl who lives in Hammersmith or Islington (sweet spot for CLSG) but with cautious optimism.

[shootmenow]

As for other choices- some do chose HB (free) but for most parents who get on this mad merry-go-round, NLCS's results, facilities and reputation make it their top choice. Boarding isn't really competition. It's one of those generalisations that is actually true...Jewish and Asian parents don't do boarding. I fall into one of those categories and it's just a cultural discomfort.
The boys' schools you mentioned do an 11+ and have 11+ pretest for CE.Head's recommendation carries much more weight as they have a higher proportion coming from Preps. NLCS gets 50% of applicants and offer holders from state primaries- some of which refuse to write references.

[Ibbotson]

I'm not sure about those schools, but Highgate said that last year they received 700 applications for 90 places, of which 150 said they needed a bursary. They made 130 first round offers and took 6 from the waiting lost.

SHHS said that they receive around 550 applications for 55 places, though they didn't say how many offers they make.

[Daogroupie]

If you are interested in Highgate don't get caught out by the fact they have moved their exam to before Christmas this year. It is on Monday 12th December.

I wonder if it is because they got fed up of constantly having to provide backup dates for clashes with other schools.

Habs don't interview parents. I have been in the Habs parent "interview" three times , twice for 11 plus and once for sixth form.

They simply provide parents with a private meeting in order to bring up any concerns they might have.

I also know many dds who have chosen Habs over NLCS and none of them have a brother at Habs.

It is a personal preference. NLCS suits some girls and not others and vice versa.

Habs bring a greater percentage of girls to interview so they can get an opportunity to find out more about them.

You certainly need some middle tier backup schools and should not just go for top tier.

St Helens, Northwood, South Hampstead, Channing, St Margarets are all more middle tier. But I would advise you to put location somewhere in your critieria. DG