Report from the Director of Admission
RECORD ENROLLMENT
School opened this year with 226
outstanding students, the highest
enrollment in Putney’s 70-year
history! These youngsters came to
us from 26 states and 11 countries.
Eleven percent were legacies
while 14% were international
(non-U.S. citizens). Our domestic
diversity totaled 11%: 4% African
American, 4% Hispanic American,
1.5% Asian American, 1% Native
American, 0.5% Arab-American.
|
 Rick Cowan |
The proportion of boarding to
day students remained at 3 to 1,
a ratio recommended by the
trustees as an ideal balance
between these two populations.
We are proud of this year’s entering
class. Among them are
students who have been elected
to leadership positions after only
one year at The Putney School:
Stefan Nickum ’06 of Bainbridge
Island,WA will serve as co-head
of school. The other half of the
administration also hails from the
West—Annie Rubel ’06 of Los
Angeles, CA. Among other
student leaders chosen from the
entering class are Harrison Wood
of Lebanon, NH, student trustee,
and Victoria Vreeland of New
York City, student Admission
Committee member; Kelsey
Richardson of Colchester, VT
and Adam Wile of Milwaukee,
WI who were elected to
the Educational Programming
Committee. There are also new
students stepping up as student
dorm-heads, peer mentors and
team captains.
SMALL BOARDING SCHOOLS’
DIFFICULT ROAD
Although there have never been
more students enrolled at Putney,
we are not immune to the
economic challenges facing the
nation’s small boarding schools.
Nearly 20% of America’s small
boarding schools have become
day schools or closed their doors
in the past 20 years. Of those that
remain, most have responded to
market forces by altering their
curricula to serve students with
learning differences or emotional
disabilities. Enrollment challenges
at boarding schools of all sizes
were the subject of a recent Wall
Street Journal feature:
While enrollment at private
day schools is booming, boarding
schools are seeing little or
no growth. Boarding-school
enrollment stands at 39,000 for
the 2004–2005 school year, and
has barely budged in five years,
says the National Association
of Independent Schools. That’s
down from about 42,000 in
the late 1960s, estimate some
boarding-school veterans. (The
association doesn’t have historic
figures.) Enrollment grew
2.7% over the past 10 years, versus
15% for private day schools.
Boarding-school administrators
often blame image problems and
competition from day schools.
But a growing number of
administrators, consultants and
parents believe the biggest force
at work is a shift in parent philosophy
over the past generation.
With more mothers working
outside the home and with
older couples having fewer kids,
parents want to be more involved
with their children than their
forebears did, they say.
While Putney’s well-defined
niche is a tremendous advantage
in overcoming this trend, we
compete with many larger and
wealthier schools for the best
students. Most of our competitors
have more extensive facilities.The
Michael S. Currier Center has
given us a leg up in this arena.The
planned recreation center will
address perceived weaknesses in
our athletic and fitness programs.
AFFORDABILITY
Like that of our peer boarding
schools, Putney’s tuition has long
been rising at two to three times
the consumer price index.With
fewer and fewer families able
to afford the cost of a Putney
education, financial aid recipients
now include people of professional
occupations who used to
represent the base of Putney’s
tuition revenue.
Nearly 40% of students receive
some degree of financial aid.
While more and more families
qualify for awards they also qualify
for larger awards.Thus, despite
our $1.3 million financial aid
budget, middle-income families
are a decreasing proportion of
our population.
“VIRAL MARKETING”
The Admission Team’s challenge
is to find young people with academic,
physical and emotional
stamina as well as that creative
“something” that distinguishes
Putney students from their peers
at other boarding schools.
Despite the breadth and depth of
our marketing efforts, the majority
of successful applicants still
come to us through some
personal connection with a
Putney graduate.This connection
can be as close as parenthood or
as coincidental as an airplane
conversation with a Putney graduate.
Trustee Tim Daly ’74 once
used the unforgettable term
“viral marketing” to describe this
phenomenon. Our marketing
plan for the upcoming year
includes a component called
“PEFS” (Putney Extended
Family Strategy) intended to
propagate this beneficial virus.
Among other goals, we plan to
make it easier for alumni and
current parents to recommend
promising students.
Of the 90 incoming students this
fall, 22% were children, grandchildren,
siblings, nieces or
nephews of Putney alumni.
Wilder Fichter ’08, Crawford
King ’08, Cassell Robinson ’08,
Luke Griscom ’07, Nick Moore
’07,Gryphon Rower-Upjohn ’07,
Rosie Newton ’06, and Jenny
Smyth ’06 join us as children of
Putney graduates.
ON-LINE OUTREACH
We don’t limit our outreach
efforts to the Putney family. Online
marketing allows us to tell
our story to the world. In that
realm, we’ve benefited from the
advice of trustee Barnaby
Dorfman ’86, director of new
product development at Amazon
.com. He’s helped us understand
the brave new world of intent
advertising à la Google’s sponsored
links.
Colleagues Anne Seidenberg and
Don Cuerdon have been allies in
this effort, too, improving the
school’s website and developing
new features to make the site
more attractive and informative
for prospective students. For
example, “Ask A Student” (http://
www.putneyschool.org/admis
sions/students/ask.html) allows
prospective applicants to email
their questions directly to current
students, the real experts on the
Putney experience.
REMARKABLE COLLEAGUES
The people most responsible for
inspiring and developing the
talents of these students are my
faculty colleagues and the admission
office staff: Lois Barber,
assistant director of admission and
director of financial aid, Anne
Seidenberg, office manager, Libby
Holmes and Sydney Snyder,
international admission coordinators,
and Ann McBroom,
admission assistant. In addition
we are pleased to report the continuing
success of two student
positions on the admission team:
Cynthia Gooden and Hallie
Wells, both seniors, spent many
hours reading files and discussing
applicants. We appreciate the
valuable insight and thoughtfulness
this peer review brought to
the admission process.
Rick Cowan
rcowan@putneyschool.org
|