ISEE is scheduled for 11/3. Making him study everyday. Working on his essays and waiting for second part to be available. Did the AISN yesterday and now his top choice is Thayer, mine remains Milton and HS he wants to school on a boat around the world hope by then he will forget about it?
I went online and got the endowment for the schools I am interested, sharing here as well. Thayer Academy 43millions,
(700students) Milton Academy 254/195.8 million got 2 numbers (675 students), Noble & Greenough 94.6miilion (617 students) Worcester Academy 32million (650students) Rivers school 22.3 million(489 students).
Still waiting on Part 2 opening, aware is due on 12/1?
Hello all! Just checking in to wish everyone good luck. Referrals should be forthcoming next week and we are waiting rather impatiently. The further we progress through this process the more I have come to truly appreciate ABC as an organization. We have come a long way in this process and have progressed from looking at independent day schools to exclusively pursuing boarding school options. My son is literally climbing the walls waiting for his referrals. He is scheduled to take the ISEE this weekend and can then exhale as he prepares for the interview phase.
Hello ABC families! Checking in to see how the referral process is coming along. We are still waiting for our referrals. Did anyone receive theirs?
Very anxiously awaiting them here. Think they may be delayed as he did very poorly on the reading section of the SSAT they administered. Did much better on the October one, so now we wait!
Good luck to you!
We received our referrals last night, nine schools. We are overjoyed. Now to prepare for interviews and visits. The end is in sight. Good luck everyone!
Anyone from the NE region get their referrals? I’m getting tired of refreshing my email!
Congratulations, @1OboeMom — with nine referrals your son has a great chance to be moving on to boarding school next year!
Congratulations @1OboeMom!
We are still waiting here. So far we only received one school. Did you get the referral list directly from ABC? Somehow the referral we received is an email directly from a member school. I wonder if more schools will come through the referral process.
@Momto4kids I hope ISEE went well for your son. Mine also took SSAT in October so maybe that’s why we are still waiting for referrals. Fingers crossed!
@mandumama the referrals usually come directly from ABC. The fact that you received one directly from a school indicates that your application has at least been sent to schools already.
@mandumama this is the second time we are going through this, so I know what the referrals should look like. They come in an email directly from ABC. If you did the online referral training then they showed the exact template for that email. When we did this two years ago we first received the email with only community schools listed, however, later that day we received an updated list. As things go along they may update that list.
My assumption would be since you received communication from a member school it is because they have already received your information and reached out directly. You should be receiving the complete list shortly!
Also, my son did take the ISEE, but did poorly. He said that the way it was done was much different than the SSAT and he was flustered while taking it. We only did it because we received a fee waiver and I figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a try. I was less concerned as my son is applying for 9th grade and most schools prefer the SSAT for 9th around here. I had signed him up to take the SSAT again this weekend so he will take it and see if he can further raise his score. The one from the October sitting was quite solid so the pressure is off!
It’s also worth remembering at this time that some applicants will get way more referrals than others and it’s ok! Boarding school applications can be sent all over the country so the pool is very wide and it’s not unusual to get fifteen. Local day students may only get two or three — sometimes only one. One is all it takes! Good luck everyone!!!
@Momto4kids do you have any advice as a veteran of this process. My head is spinning. I can’t afford to visit east coast schools but I want my little guy to stand a chance. I’m worried about how he can truly make an impression via Skype. Also having attended a previous member fair how likely is it to have an opportunity to interview at the fair? Thanks!
@1OboeMom I’m not sure about interviewing at member fairs. I didn’t think that happened, but am really not sure. I have to say that I feel pretty lucky in that we live in New England and have been able to reasonably drive everywhere they have applied.
Also wanted to say that although Skype isn’t ideal, it isn’t the end of the world either. You do get a better chance to know your interviewers in person, but they are all very experienced and realize that. I know plenty of people who have been admitted following Skype interviews.
Thank you.
@Momto4kids I forget — is this your second attempt or a separate child applying this time? If it’s a different child, do you hope for the same school? Good luck!
@SkysTheLimit2007 This is actually my third child going through the private school application process and my second going through the ABC process. We didn’t know about ABC with my oldest who is now a freshman in college. We’re not sure which schools are going to be best for our third son, but he did put son #2’s school down on his preference sheet.
Funny, as I was typing I got the initial email with referrals. Just like last time, it has only CSP schools listed. I would assume that later we will get info on the day and or boarding schools. This has me a bit nervous, however, when this happened two years ago I immediately contacted them and was told that they come out separately.
Fingers crossed that he has other schools!
@1OboeMom My daughter was admitted to 6 boarding schools for which she did her interviews via Skype. (We saved our $ for revisits). For the very first one, she had an index card with key talking points taped to the computer screen, right by the camera! One of our cats also jumped onto the desk right at the beginning, which flustered our girl but also helped break the ice!
@Momto4kids how exciting! I remember this time so clearly from last year and kicking into action once we got my daughter’s referrals. He’ll have other schools and all will be well! Again, good luck!