<p>I've been trying to look for some backup schools, but it's very hard to search for schools that are not entirely impossible to get into with a late application and still give financial aid... and possibly a fee waiver for the application?
I know that financial aid is very, very hard to get, especially late, but it can't be impossible, right? So are there any schools you know of, that would be possible. They don't have to be the best schools, preferably using the SSAT website for admissions?</p>
<p>Spladaisy- It’s already March 1st…Unless they have rolling admissions, I don’t think any school will consider new applicants. Schools that notify decision on March 10th make final decisions in the next few days. </p>
<p>Check out schools with rolling admissions.</p>
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<p>First, schools will always consider new applicants - and if you’re someone they want, they’ll find a way to make space for you.</p>
<p>But getting back to the OP’s question . . . there is no “list.” What you would need to do if you find yourself in that situation is to just start making phone calls. Wait until at least a week after April 10, so they know what their count is, and then just call each school and ask.</p>
<p>When I had to do this two years ago, I started with a l-o-n-g list of all the schools that we were willing to consider. And then I just called each school and asked, (1) “Do you have space?” and (2) “Do you have financial aid funds?” And you’ll need to clarify . . . are you talking about a little bit of aid or do you need full financial aid? The school will need to know this in order to give you an honest answer. In some cases, a little bit of aid might not be an obstacle, but full aid might be out of the question.</p>
<p>My experience is that most schools will be direct and forthcoming with you. They appreciate that you’re interested, but they don’t want to waste your time. They’re not going to lead you on with promises of space or money that really aren’t available. Some schools won’t know yet, and they’ll ask you to wait a few weeks and get back to them.</p>
<p>If a school really isn’t willing to tell you, and it’s not just a matter of them not knowing yet, I’d cross it off your list and move on. Focus your attention on the schools that might really be able to help you.</p>
<p>The reality is that you just never know. Sometimes schools find themselves with money left over after the regular admissions cycle ends. Sometimes there’s a change in a family’s situation and financial aid funds that were previously allocated come available again. You just never know. I would all but guarantee that there’s a school out there somewhere with funds available . . . but whether you can find it - and whether it’s the right school for you - is another question entirely.</p>
<p>If and when you find that school, getting a fee waiver shouldn’t be an issue. As for the application itself, it will probably be the only one you’re writing. If a school tells you they have money, and all you have to do to get in is write a short 200-300 page novel . . . you write it!!!</p>
<p>@dodgersmom- What you’re saying is true of perhaps smaller, much less popular schools. I don’t necessarily agree that “schools will always consider new applicants”- especially this late in the game. Of course, unless you have an INCREDIBLE hook that would make a higher tier school consider you at this point. I think i AmMe77 is correct for the most part. It doesn’t hurt to try, of course, but it’s also good to be realistic. Rolling admissions does sound like it may be the most promising avenue.</p>
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<p>It’s simply not that clear cut. If “Well Known School X” has a space open up mid-summer, they go to their waiting list. That waiting list is not limited, however, to January 15 applicants. If they get a strong late applicant, he or she will go in the same waiting pool. So if you’re a strong candidate, don’t need financial aid, apply late, and a space opens up . . . your chances are as good as anyone else’s.</p>
<p>Prospects are markedly different for a financial aid candidate. (Hence this thread.) But it is absolutely unfair to say that the only schools left for a candidate are the “smaller, much less popular” schools. You make it sounds like the dregs at the bottom of the barrel - and that’s just not true. You just never know which school might have unexpected funding come available . . . sometimes it’s a school most people have never heard of (which, on this forum, by the way, is most schools!) and sometimes it’s a school that everybody’s familiar with. If the change happens in mid-summer, when most waiting list applicants have already made other choices and withdrawn their applications, you just never know what might happen.</p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, rolling admissions is not going to be “the most promising avenue” for a late applicant who needs financial aid. Although rolling admission schools accept applicants throughout the season, they usually allocate their financial aid funds at the same time as everybody else (and sometimes have very strict financial aid deadlines). So, space? Yes. Financial aid funds? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>There are some absolutely fabulous schools with rolling admissions. No, they’re not the “acronym” schools most often discussed on this forum. But don’t believe for a minute that “not highly selective” = “lousy school.” It’s just not true!</p>
<p>If you do an “advanced search” on boardingschoolreview.com, you can generate a list of schools with rolling admission. You can then sort the list further - coed, all-girls, merit aid, etc. Here are a few you might want to check out (but you still have to know what you want/need in a school to determine if they’re a fit for you. The schools I mention below are all over the map in terms of size, culture, etc.). Some list an application deadline, but note that they continue to accept applications on a rolling basis:</p>
<ul>
<li>Cranbrook School (Bloomfield Hills, MI)</li>
<li>Culver Academies (Culver, IN)</li>
<li>Fountain Valley School (Colorado Springs, CO)</li>
<li>Indian Springs School (Indian Springs, AL) </li>
<li>New Hampton School (New Hampton, NH)</li>
<li>Ridley College (St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada)</li>
<li>St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, VT</li>
<li>Thomas Jefferson School, St. Louis, MO</li>
<li>Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, PA</li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck - there’s no easy way to do this though . . . you’ll just have to put in a lot of time to research, then to make phone calls.</p>
<p>Just wondering, if a school has an opening/funds, why not give to people on the WL?</p>
<p>Acceptance of late application may make it even harder to get off WL.</p>
<p>Depending on the school, I believe the opening/funds WOULD go to people on the WL. It’s just that the waitlist can CHANGE - applicants that apply after the deadline are added to the waitlist, so the pool of applicants on the waitlist changes. Plus, some names drop off the waitlist as students make decisions to attend other schools, stay at their local school, etc. The waitlist is a “fluid” document that doesn’t remain static.</p>
<p>It is in the school’s best interest to choose “the best” students they can. For some of the highly-selective schools, they are able to completely fill their classes with the applications they receive by their Jan. 15/Feb. 1 deadlines. In that case, the chances of coming off the waitlist are very, very slim - either for students who applied by the “regular” deadline and were waitlisted, or for students who turned in a late application and joined the waitlist later.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom okay fine i guess they will consider you…but maybe only for a few seconds. It is not realistic at all to apply to a boarding school that had a Jan. 15th deadline. its MARCH 1st! decisions come in 10 days, and those decisions are made by this week. The first/second cuts are done. And anyways, what will schools think if you hand in an application two months late (with full FA)?</p>
<p>You may have a shot if your application is unusually strong… (For example International Math Olympic champion etc), or you hold skills that they badly need and could not find it in their application pool. Otherwise, the chance is very slim especially for top-tier schools. .</p>
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<p>@iAmMe77 - Okay, I think I understand what you’re saying . . . you got your application in on time, so why shouldn’t they have to?</p>
<p>The answer is because it’s not about you - it’s about the school. The admissions office’s job is to create the best class it can. And if it accomplishes that goal by selecting a candidate who applies in May (for whatever reason!) over a candidate who applied in January, then so be it. The school may or may not take into consideration the applicant’s reasons for applying late - but unless those reasons impact the applicant’s ability to succeed at the school if accepted, why should it matter?</p>
<p>As for an application being considered “only for a few seconds,” don’t think that for a minute. If a school agrees to accept an application, late or otherwise, it binds itself to giving that application the same consideration that all other applications receive (although the school might postpone reading the application until after the initial round of admissions has ended). Perhaps not what you want to hear, but the truth nonetheless.</p>
<p>As for a late applicant’s chances . . . well, if the committee thinks he merits being placed in the waiting pool, then his chances will be just as good (or bad) as any other waitlisted candidate.</p>
<p>My understanding is that a late application is essentially an application to the waitlist.</p>
<p>What you could do is wait until March 10. If you do not have any good options, make some phone calls -AFTER April 10 when the schools know what they have to work with.<br>
I know people who HAVE been accepted and gotten FA after deadlines, but most have applied really late. Not now while schools are in the middle of reviewing applications and awarding FA.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom</p>
<p>No, I was not thinking that. I was just trying to express my opinion to the OP, and never said it was “all about me”. I get what you’re saying now, I acknowledge it, but stuff like that kinda irks people…I didn’t know CC’s forum was kinda hostile. haha</p>
<p>Spldaisy: There is no “best” school for late application & FA though there are definitely schools that are not the best (acronym schools, definitely). In fact I think it’s luck and timing and not the school itself that makes the difference. It did happen for us, but it feels like a (fabulous) cosmic accident rather than a frantic search for something. I’ve mentioned this before, but I would go to this site [Boarding</a> School Browser - The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS)](<a href=“http://www.boardingschools.com/school-browser.aspx]Boarding”>http://www.boardingschools.com/school-browser.aspx) and do a search with the criteria that matter to you (location, size, languages offered, ECs, etc.). If you find some schools that meet your needs, call them (probably after April when the initial admission frenzy has died down), do a tour, and then apply. Many of the so-called “hidden gem” schools are fantastic and worth careful consideration. And if you find a real fit for your family, and an opening comes up, it only takes one…</p>
<p>If you’re interested in applying late, you may want to bookmark the following link for post April 10 inquiries. I can’t attest to its real-time reliabiity but I know it has been helpful in past years for those who have cold-called admissions offices.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>[SSAT</a> - Finding a School](<a href=“http://www.ssat.org/ssat/info/search-main.html]SSAT”>http://www.ssat.org/ssat/info/search-main.html)</p>
<p>Last year someone from admissionsquest posted a list of schools still accepting applications some time a couple of months after letters came out. The link to that thread is:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1173914-boarding-schools-fall-11-openings.html?highlight=list+of+schools+still+accepting+applications[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1173914-boarding-schools-fall-11-openings.html?highlight=list+of+schools+still+accepting+applications</a></p>
<p>I do not know anything about admissionsquest but their website is:</p>
<p>[Boarding</a> Schools | AdmissionsQuest](<a href=“SANDBET: Daftar Situs Judi SLOT88 Deposit All eWallet & QRIS”>http://www.admissionsquest.com/)</p>
<p>Perhaps you can inquire there at some point if they have such a list this year.</p>
<p>@dodgersmom Thank you so much for the advice I always love hearing from you, as you are very talented with words and always full of information and inspiration. Thank you!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone, I will wait until 10 March to see what happens, then possibly apply for as a late applicant after April 10th…
Or is that too late?</p>
<p>Nope, not too late at all. In fact, I’d suggest waiting at least another week after April 10 before you even start making phone calls, just to give the schools time to figure out what their numbers are.</p>
<p>@spldaisy
After April 10 the schools will get a feel for their yield, and may have an interest in another applicant. Call (or have your parent call) the admissions offices with a short blurb on why you/your child is a good applicant, although late. Be prepared to act very quickly at that point if they ask for you to send in application (have application materials ready, letters, transcripts ready to reach for, and if they indicate interest try to arrive on their doorstep in fine form). Take SSAT well before that. Financial aid usually is given out early in the admission season.</p>