@sobrooksgirl Don’t be discouraged! From all I have heard they will continue to fight for you. The NE team is most likely busy this week and next week as our schedule has them at the summer leadership academy for middle school and upper school. Hoping they respond week after next and keep us posted. Will continue to send good vibes your way.
I didn’t the thread but I’m going to put this out there just to let you know our experience with ABC (Northeast). My daughter was accepted as a cohort four yrs ago (she’s currently a rising senior). We applied to many BS and some day schools (since we needed FA). We took advantage of the discounted tutoring which was great. Our tutor helped a lot and my daughter’s SSAT score doubled. I didn’t bother them too much with questions because we had been through the private school process for preschool and elementary school. When it came time to admissions decisions, we were a little surprised that she was WL at the majority of places (we did have two acceptances). One acceptance was from a non-ABC school and the other was from an ABC school but with no FA. We assumed the issue was because we needed FA and that was confirmed by our schools HS advisor. ABC showed no interest in helping us get off any WL. They knew the ABC affiliate school gave us no FA. I advocated for my child but then I remembered the words I learned here…“love the school that loves you!”
We accepted the spot with FA at the non-ABC school and we’ve been very happy. A little after contracts were all in, our HS advisor told me why she doesn’t like ABC (she held it in all throughout admissions). She gave me a few of her past issues with them but then told me what they did to my daughter. When a day school admissions director asked ABC about my daughter and informed them they were were really interested in her, ABC told them that my daughter wanted a boarding school and was offered a spot with enough aid and that she would most likely turn them down. Safe to say I was livid that they did this and took away our chance at having a choice to pick from.
It has been a great program for many and not so good for others. Just remember, the best advocate for your child is you!
@NYCMomof3 Thanks for sharing your experience. It is good to hear all sides of the story. I am going thru the process, but will also consider applying to private schools on our own as well as applying to our public magnet middle schools. At the end it will come down to the best fit based on academics and financials.
We also applied to schools outside the recommended list independently. In the case with several of our accepted schools, ABC said we weren’t a good match and felt we weren’t a strong enough fit. Well on acceptance day we got into all but one of the non recommended schools, all with FA. We did choose not to apply to several ABC recommended schools since they didn’t match what we wanted.
It just so happened that we got into our #1 choice (ABC recommened) with a good FA package, but our #2 choice(non-ABC) gave us a good package as well. Definitely explore all options. I don’t believe in putting all my eggs in one basket. For us it worked, but I know alot more it didn’t work for. I haven’t heard of any case where 100% of the cohort got placed. I do know if you are open to both day and boarding your list expands tremendously.
@Momto4kids so glad your son had such a great time in NY! I’m happy to hear that he was able to enjoy himself – I bet everything feels more ‘real’ to him now! Sounds like you were probably correct about the kids keeping the NE office busy because we’ve now started getting emails again! Our welcome is scheduled now for August 5th in Boston. Looking forward to meeting everyone!
@magnetnh your ideas seem in line with mine – we’ll be applying to other schools, including public so that hopefully we at least have a choice. Financial aid is terribly important for us though and it’s going to make or break my daughter’s chance of attendance at one of these schools. A question that I’m going to have for the office based on something you learned at the welcome – if a school specifically says they want an ISEE score, do you really need the kids to sit the SSAT also? I know that you mentioned that they suggest doing both because they may do better at one versus the other. When I look at our local schools ((ABC member schools included,) they all ask for the ISEE for my daughter’s age group…
@SkysTheLimit2007 That’s a good question about taking both tests. Not sure about the experience of others who have been thru this stage. Did you take both tests? Or focused on one?
Another question that keeps popping into my head – as part of the referral process, is there any point where the applicant is able to express a strong interest in a particular member school?
@SkysTheLimit2007 Before you receive referrals you are asked to list up to 10 schools in which you might be interested. They will consider this when making the referral decisions. They will also ask questions about boarding and day.
@Momto4kids thanks for answering! That’s good to know and is what I was hoping for. I was under the impression that the kids can’t board until 9th grade – is that correct?
@SkysTheLimit2007 9th grade isn’t the earliest kids can board. There are a number of Junior boarding schools which start younger. There are quite a few in the Boston area, also Groton school starts at 8th.
When I started applying I took a test (ssat) to get a feel for it , then I took the ssat and isee with abc at the flex test I did bad on all of them. So I took the ssat twice again and my score improved but not enough for them to be able to refer me. Since you can only take the isee once every six months I took it December because I don’t think their flex test counted. And I got a higher score for that one and they referred me to all 7 school that I picked. I feel as though the isee is easier just because of the material, because for ssat it was a lot of algebra 1 and pre algebra that I didn’t cover in school and every time I took the test I saw the same things but even when I studied at home I didn’t understand. So I suggest you prepare your children for the ssat more because it’s more demanding, and the isee is basically the same but with 4 multiple choice instead of 5 and the English section is different.
@Enweonwus Thank you – which grade were you applying for at the time?
@SkysTheLimit2007 I was applying for 9th grade
How’s everyone doing?! We finally had our cohort welcome session today and it was greatly informative! I’ve put all the required dates onto the calendar and so far, only one minor conflict, haha! Things are definitely moving along and right now I’m in the middle of figuring out where and when to sign up my daughter for the ISEE.
What’s going on in everyone else’s ABC world?!
@SkysTheLimit2007 Great to hear you had the welcome session! They do share a lot of information and key dates. Are you doing the leadership academy soon? Regarding scheduling the ISEE I thought ABC had dates scheduled. In New York they are administering both in September.
Our next event is at the end of the month and it is the admissions 101 session.
@magnetnh She’s signed up to do the Leadership Academy in a couple of weeks. I understand that’s where they’ll work on their personal statements and bring them home to type up. I had no idea that the application we filled out initially for ABC forms the basis for the school application!!! I was also really surprised to see how few families there actually were in the room for the Boston area, maybe twenty or so and no girls my daughter’s age! A couple of families were at the NY welcome too. I couldn’t help but think about what a wonderful opportunity this could be if it all pans out – of course, I’ve considered it before but I guess it was brought to life a little more, hearing about the work the co-ordinator does for the kids in trying to get them placed. I’m somebody who appreciates lists and deadlines etc., so I love that we have that concrete timeline for when things have to be submitted, etc. For us, Admissions 101 is right around when school starts back.
As for the ISEE – my understanding was that they weren’t administering both in Boston. The SSAT is in mid-September, which they all sit but I honestly believe my daughter will do better with the ISEE. She’s just not great at this guessing and losing points business!!! I’m going to have her sit both and be done with it and the sooner we can get it out of the way, the better as far as I’m concerned! W
What do you think is appropriate for a child to wear to these upcoming school interviews?
The Leadership Academy will be fun and productive. We are now looking forward to the Admissions 101 session in NYC at the end of the month.
In NYC they are administering both ISEE and SSAT, although our focus has been SSAT since it has the guessing penalty. Test Innovators has been very helpful.
I am looking forward to a response to your question regarding attire for the interview, but I bet they will also cover it during the Admissions 101 session.
Did you receive the information regarding researching the member schools? Have you made a short list of those that interest you?
When you are thinking about attire for interviews, the best advice that I found is to look at a school’s website and see if they have a dress code. At the least you both should be in dress code. For some schools that are more casual we still had our son (and myself) dress in slacks and a collared shirt for boys or a nice sweater or blouse for a girl. We only had our son wear a suit once or twice at the places that had a formal dress code. You can also look at the website to see how the students are dressed in the pictures.
I just signed up my daughter for the ISEE for the week before the SSAT! That will be a big week for her and we’ll be going out to her favorite place to eat to celebrate them being over, lol! Test Innovators has been really helpful to her also and I hope all her work will pay off in September. At the meeting this weekend, I was surprised by how many hadn’t started any test prep at all yet. My daughter has been so gracious in working through her summer with only the most minor amount of complaining – I’m really impressed because I probably would never have done it at her age. @magnetnh I didn’t receive information on researching member schools yet. We were told that Boston area is a little behind NY area, so I guess that’s coming soon. I’ve already begun anyway and took my daughter to visit one of the schools already! I have a list of about five or six that she’ll look at for sure and it will be interesting to see how many she’ll actually be referred to should she make it to the Fall cohort. Did you start looking yet? Making lists?
I started looking at clothes for her to wear for interview. Thanks @Momto4kids for the suggestion of looking at their dress code. I definitely want my child to look like she made an effort, but not so much that she doesn’t look like herself! I’ll be keeping an eye open when I go out to the stores because she definitely needs something to serve the purpose.
I just say the comment about what to wear for interviews, your safest bet is a nice dress blouse slack/ appropriate length pencil skirt and black short boots or ballet flats