DS was accepted to Loomis and 5 others as a late applicant two admissions cycles ago. To remind those of his situation, he was WL at all 5 GLADCHEMS schools he applied to during the regular admissions cycle and we had no options for him for high school other than a local private. He did end up getting off of two of those WL over the summer but by that time he had already fell in love with Mercersburg and we’ve never looked back.
A few things that helped us during this round 2 applications cycle that I realize make his situation unique and significantly increased his chances…
- incredible support from our k-8 private who were just as crushed by his original results as we were. They really went to bat for him.
- full pay
- bright kid, great interviewer, excellent test taker
- multiple sports
- a mom who wouldn’t quit (even after I received “sorry we’re full” emails or phone conversations from admissions people I paid application fees and sent his package in anyway- we felt strongly that he was such a great applicant that he would appeal to them and we were right. He got into every school to which he applied the second round.
It was a very stressful time but once those second round acceptances started coming, the “cast a wide net” mantra that is said on CC time and time again became as clear as day. All of this stress and worry could have been avoided if we had applied to more schools the first time around. And of course the WLs opening up for DS made us feel extra good. It was very satisfying to be the ones to turn them down.