Some of you might remember that my child was waitlisted to 6 schools last year. They really want to try again for a 10th grade admission spot. Any suggestions on reapplying? We have expanded the list - but top choices are still the same from last year. I am just not sure what to do differently - but I don’t want to make the same mistake again. Should mention we need financial aid.
Thanks,
My gut reaction is that if nothing has changed, reapplying is fine but don’t expect a different result. Expanding the list of schools your son is interested in is the key if he really wants to go to BS.
What new schools are you looking at?
Deefield
Loomis
Hochkiss
Milton
St. Andrews
I would expand your list further/different. All 5 of those schools have very low acceptance rates. Even SAS at 25% (higher than the rest but still “low”) is sort of misleading bc that’s a very small school. My $.02.
Are waitlists real? Or are they soft rejections?
Depends.
Yes they are real. But for some, they are soft rejections.
WL are real - people are admitted from them. And sometimes they are soft rejections. And they are a way to not discourage others from applying (if you are coming from a feeder school, perhaps). Or they may not have FA for you. In the latter three cases, no, they would rather be under-enrolled than admit you.
When you end up on a WL, all you know is that they had others in your “bucket” they liked better. Maybe it was a kid who looked just like you but was full pay, even. It’s tough, but when you need FA, at some level, you need to bring something to the school that they need.
I agree that your list leans toward the highly selective schools and suspect that you could improve your odds by expanding it. You might even discover a school that is a better fit in the process. Most of your schools are population with the JBS crowd, who apply for 10th, btw. I’d give a little thought (not too much, though) to that. The 10th grade applicant pool is generally a little different from the 9th grade one.
Applying again can be helpful- they know your interest is genuine and sustained. So you have that in your favor. It’s also important to show growth since the last application. In other words, they will like that you have applied again. They will not like seeing the same application.
If what you’re asking is “is my kid likely to get in this time around because they liked him enough to waitlist him rather than reject him?” I’d say no.
75% of the kids I’ve seen waitlisted over the years were legacy kids who would have suffered at their legacy BS. Waitlist was the schools soft rejection.
I really agree with @DroidsLookingFor - your list is very top heavy. It’s possible you might get one yes but I’d want a broader list if BS is really important to your son.