For those who have been through the process what is the ABC Member School Fair like in NYC? Is it like a college fair? Do you just go from school to school? Is it worth it or is it better to just visit the school open houses? Any info you can share would be helpful.
@magnetnh The member school fair is quite similar to a college fair. The member school representatives have tables
with informational brochures and packets. They can answer any questions you may have about their schools. And yes, you just go from table to table based on the schools that you are interested in. The fair usually takes place at Skadden in the same conference room where other ABC meetings have taken place. I personally believe it is worth it to attend if you can because you will get an audience with admissions representatives that are especially interested in ABC applicants. Open houses at the schools are also useful because you can get a sense of the different school campuses, their cultures, etc. The fair also gives the students a chance to ask questions in a lower pressure setting. It may be useful to you if you are still deciding on which schools to visit. The fair may help you narrow the list down. Now that being said, if you don’t attend, will it harm you? Not necessarily. However, ABC appreciates the attendance of parents and the cohorts. After all, the member schools are taking the time to be there for you and your student.
@magnetnh I am going to add that most of the schools who come the fair are in the NYC area and some in the NJ area as far as day schools are concerned for middle school. If you are considering a school in New York City area, I would encourage you to attend. Also, I recommend that you consider the Chapin School (All girls school on Upper East Side in NYC) if your student is a female. Feel free to DM me if you like.
@magnetnh I also want to add that I do think it’s important to show your face at the fair IF you can for all the above mentioned reasons. Also consider this – one of the other parents I spoke with was recently told that a school reached out to ABC to find out about a particular candidate that they had met and liked at a fair. So I guess you never know how much attention is being paid! The diversity fair is important because the goal for those schools in attendance is to attract and recruit ‘diverse families.’ If you can’t make it though, you just can’t make it.
I mentioned that we went to a similar one last week, my daughter spoke with an admissions person from a very well known school locally and nationally. Guess what she said? My dear child blurted out to admissions, "but I don’t want to go to (insert school!!!) If the ground could have opened up, I would certainly have crawled right in!!! I’m happy to report that the admissions rep was awesome about it and handled it beautifully! I’m looking on the bright side and assuming it makes a memorable and funny story! My crazy girl…
@Serioussweetie Thank you for the overview of the NYC fair.
@SkysTheLimit2007 Funny story now but not at the time I am sure.
Just received the notice regarding the school fair and there are no schools that we had on our list so we will not be attending. Next event is at the end of October - the Interview day. For those who’ve been through it already - any tips for that day? Is it an information session by ABC where they provide interviewing tips? Or is it the schools actually interviewing students on that day?
@magnetnh I was under the impression that the interview day was for the kids to go through mock interviews with strangers to them (volunteers.) I was told that while the kids are in one room doing that, we’ll be somewhere else doing the financial aid workshop. The actual school interviews are to be set up by us once we receive our referrals.
We went to the Diversity Fair yesterday – it was pretty much a beefed up version of the one we went to a couple of weeks ago and a couple of my daughter’s school interests were at this one that were not at the regular one. One student offered us her email address, so we may use it to reach out to her should my daughter be referred. I was interested in seeing the schools’ response when I mentioned my daughter being an ABC candidate and it seemed to be favorable. My daughter’s ‘favorite’ school said “oh yes, a lot of our kids come through there!” It’s all relative but it was encouraging to feel as though they have a commitment to diversity. And of course, “the school” was there – the great institution that my daughter claimed she didn’t want to go to! The same woman was there and we laughed because she remembered my daughter and went on to tell the story to her colleague who was now with her. Yes, the middle school principal…all’s well that ends well though and we had a nice, informative chat.
Apart from school visits, nothing else now for October and next for us is the Referral Workshop.
@SkysTheLimit2007 Thanks for the clarification on the interview days. Are you signed up for the specific school open houses? And regarding “the school” did you put it on your list? Wouldn’t be funny if your D ended up there after all?
@magnetnh I also should add that I believe the kids are supposed to dress appropriately for the interviews as if it were the real thing. I bet we’ll get an email though with any more details.
That school IS on our list!!! Whether my daughter gets referred there remains to be seen but it’s very close to us and has absolutely everything on the wishlist. My daughter loves two other schools ahead of it though, but it would be very funny if she ended up there! We are signed up for open houses and I’m touring a school on Monday but kiddo will stay in school – she will come to the open house later. I prefer the tours over the open house for the most part but still enjoy both. Any upcoming tours for you?
What are your thoughts on letting non ABC schools know that you were selected as an ABC cohort? Not sure how they would take it… Would they think that you may not be that serious about their school especially if you can match to ABC? For anyone who has experience with this - please provide your perspective.
I wonder if anyone who’s been through this has an answer-- school referrals are coming up in a couple of weeks. When we get the list does that mean that our child’s application has already been sent to those schools, or that they will be forwarded to those schools? Anyone?
@SkysTheLimit2007 In answer to your question regarding referrals, of course, it depends. In our case, the referrals didn’t all come in one batch. We first received a list of CSPs to which our son was referred. For those schools you need to wait for them to contact you. For the other schools we were instructed to contact the schools directly to follow up. I believe that they were already forwarded to them. That being said, different schools handle things differently. A couple of schools contacted us before we even called them. If I understand it correctly they send your child’s application to an account and then the schools need to update that information themselves. Some schools were right on top of things while others weren’t. Some schools were very familiar with the ABC process while others required me to go through a couple of people on the phone to get us to the correct place.
I guess that was a very long winded answer, but in general, yes the application has already been sent to the schools to which you have been referred. That doesn’t mean, however, that the schools have processed those applications yet. Also, on your list of referrals there will be a section which explains your next steps. It describes the different types of schools and your responsiblities going forward.
Good luck with referral day. I was so anxious for that list and was a bit overwhelmed by the number of schools to which he was referred, while other friends reported that their child had relatively few referrals. It’s just beginning!!
Thank you @Momto4kids – that’s just what I was looking for. I’m only expecting a handful of referrals because of my daughter’s age and the options here. I selected six schools, so we’ll see soon enough. I haven’t been to every one of them yet but the ones I have seem to know ABC well. My daughter is desperately hoping for two specific referrals, with one of them being her dream school – I told her that if she’s lucky enough to get a shot, we’re going to love whichever school she gets! I’m so excited to get that referral email and hope there aren’t any great surprises! How are things going for your son?
@SkysTheLimit2007 my DS #2 is doing very well at his ABC school. Just last night we were driving home and he said that he’s actually happy that he wasn’t admitted to his brother’s school. March 10th was certainly a challenging day for us, but in the end it all worked out for the best. His new school is very small (only 45 kids in his class), but that small size works so well for him. I’m also happy that I get to have him home every night!
Good luck with referral day. I remember it well. The referrals for the CSP programs came before the boarding and day schools and I thought they were the only places to which he was referred. About an hour later we had 13 more schools added to his list. A friend of mine didn’t get referrals until the day after we did, but in the end it all worked out great for each of them!
Ah, it’s good to hear @Momto4kids Things have a funny way of working out, even if it’s not in the way we first thought! Best of wishes to your son!
What does the CSP stand for? My mind is absolutely drawing a blank!!!
@SkysTheLimit2007 CSP stands for Community School Programs. Those are only for the high schools kids. They are the programs where the student lives in an ABC house and attends the local public school. They are generally in affluent communities.
Doh! I knew that!!! Thank you for clarifying!
Referral time has arrived! My D was referred to 3 day schools for 6th grade. They are calling us to schedule interviews. It’s been touched upon before but what to wear? What questions to prep for? Any resources out there I could use for prep? Looking for your thoughts and experiences.
My daughter was referred to five day schools, also for 6th grade. I’m having her just wear a dress. It’s smart without looking like she’s totally overdone it or is out of place. I I did consider pants for a brief moment but I couldn’t decide on anything that seemed ‘right.’ As far as prep, I’m thinking they’ll ask about what the child likes to do most in their spare time, their family, their special interests maybe? At the workshop this weekend, we were told to make sure the kids have at least read a book recently, so they have something to talk about when/if asked “what books have you read?!” Other than that, I have no idea but for the younger kids like ours I feel like it really will be more of a “friendly chat” rather than a job interview-ish situation!
I have a question regarding whether or not you share your child’s ABC status with others. Do you remain secretive about it until you are placed? Or do you freely share with others that they are in the cohort and may or may not be placed? And a follow-up question for those who have been placed and are scholars… Is it a source of pride to be an ABC Scholar and do you freely share it or do you remain secretive because it may be viewed as an affirmative action program. How are they treated at their respective schools as ABC Scholars?