Hey Kids! It’s D-Day minus a month (or so), or about 4 weeks until March 10th. I thought I would start a thread about the fun and creative swag schools will be sending out to deserving applicants, as well as accepted students. Some schools send out swag during the anticipation weeks ahead of March 10th or “thank you” notes for applying. What have you received yet? When March 10th rolls around, send us a shout out about the swag. Let us know!
For example, a few years ago, my kiddo received a wonderful hand-made Valentine card @ Feb 14th from MPS and yummy fair-trade chocolate from Emma Willard, along with a note. Acceptance swag was really impressive - wondering if it still is this year. Upon acceptance, Emma alum sent a hand-made bracelet and a lovely note. The box from MPS was really wonderful, too. SPS sent an impressive letter that was wax sealed and handwritten note from the HOS. DA had a go-green theme and class banner. Hotchkiss sent a tube/package with a long banner, M&M’s and confetti, T- shirts from other schools and impressive certificates. Someone a while back mentioned that Putney gave out hand-made gifts. More gifts/swag at Revisit Days.
List your school and the swag when it comes in…some may arrive for Valentines Day from the girls school.
My daughter received swag from St. George’s after her interview. She got a SGS red string backpack, SGS t-shirt, a SGS brochure/booklet thing and freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. Needless to say, she really liked SGS! Other than that, I think she only got one hand written note (maybe also from SGS?) and then everything else has been via email, and mostly just responses to her thank you emails. She’s looking forward to getting more swag at revisit day(s)!
She also thoroughly enjoyed the Hotchkiss m&ms after her interview there!
I think the V/R goggles were from SPS, right? I may or may not be stalking their social media. I was glad to see that SGS has a new store. My kids did a lax camp there a few summers ago and I had to run into the store to get sweatshirts for them bcs it was unseasonably cold. The store was like a dungeon! The new one is so much nicer!!!
Agree @skieurope …but the creativity is well appreciated. Our year, SPS sent a really great video that was created largely by the students (or so it said). Really great video. We really appreciated the hand-written notes from current or former students to the applicants. The Valentine’s Day cards were a pick-me-up for our kiddo during the long wait of February. Hope these personalized surprises are still being sent these days…shame if its no longer a tradition.
St Andrew’s School Head Tad Roach sends hand-written, personal letters to accepted students with thoughtful reflections about their specific application essays. Our kid’s was 6 pages long!
Golly! Apparently my kid must have really low chances. The only “swag” of any sort we’ve got was a reusable cloth bag - and that was from the development office of my alma mater when we interviewed, with a suggestion that I drop a class note. And that’s considering I’m a former class agent…
@stalecookies perhaps I’m misunderstanding but this list seems to be a mix of post-acceptance and post-interview swag. We’ve received nothing from any school post-interview. But then again we didn’t interview at any of the schools mentioned above with post interview swag. I think the more commonly-mentioned schools here do post-acceptance swag. Again, might be wrong.
Think you are correct @Calliemomofgirls . Some schools give swag just for inquiring. Some for interviewing and/or touring. Some along the way - as you wait for March 10th. Some upon acceptance. Some at Revisit events.
The single gender schools we visited gave swag @ school visit and then sent notes and/or candy during the interim between application and March 10th. School specific traditions, for example, at the girls schools. FWIW, we did get a nice tote bag and/or draw string bags from a few schools. I think we also were given playing cards at one school after our interview/tour.
Also, some schools went “all out” for their information kits!
My kid refused to consider the single gender schools - something that I understand, because I thought that way as a middle schooler, but something that I realized was rather short sighted by the time I was an adult. sigh
Yes @isuedtobesmart. Several of the schools we had experiences with tended to change things up a bit each year. For example, if they had a video it would be a new one each year. A few schools have traditions reflected in marketing materials, as well as in their swag gifts. One school we know gives out cute socks - which kiddo still wears at BS (just not the one that gave out the socks). One school gave out cookies in the shape of their mascot after the interview. We still have it in the fridge after 2 years. One school did a “green” environmentally friendly initiative the year we applied - so no interview/tour swag - but a nice reusable tote bag (think it was hemp). A few years ago, a school had their swag “box” filled with sparkle confetti. Only one school we toured/interviewed gave nothing.
A couple of schools followed up with personal phone calls to kiddo saying congrats on March 10th. Wow. Did not expect that - but some schools do it and some schools have alum or parent group members call.
The year we applied, there were really creative marketing packages. The BEST we have ever seen was from Miss Porters. We kept it. I hear Putney does something really special at Revisit.
It is fun on decision day to hear from friends on CC what the swag is - some swag arrives on March 10th and some comes afterward. If you have received something creative for touring/interviewing, please share. If not, please let us know on March 10th!
@Golfgr8@doschicos i had the same reaction to the confetti. Certainly these are the same people who give out goldfish as party favors.
FWIW - we toured and interviewed at 12 schools and got nothing from any of them. I wonder if post-interview swag is more common for recruits perhaps? I don’t think for one second that we didn’t receive anything because of any underlying evaluative reason. It didn’t seem like anyone we saw during our visits got anything. (and it was fall, and crowded, so we saw lots of kids in post-interview mode. And we chatted a lot with other families over the week so I think we would have seen goodies had other families been given them.)
@Calliemomofgirls our DC was a recruited child and during the interviews we did get a hat at Kent (which we did not apply to) and a t-shirt at another school.
We did get Swag on acceptance from a few schools, but our favourite thing we did get was a personalized acceptance letter from Groton which did help sway our decision. The Letter highlighted things from the interview, the essays and conversations with coaches that they thought would make DC a great part of the circle. We thought that was much more valuable then any other swag we got… Groton did give T-shirts and a hat at revisit.
