<p>What have your experiences been with contacting AOs at schools that rejected your child? In particular, I am wondering whether you were able to get feedback on your child's application, and whether it was useful to you.</p>
<p>I am trying to decide whether to contact the school that was our top choice, and I need to make up my mind soon.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I believe SevenDad posted on this topic. I cannot see why it would hurt you or your child to make the call. If your child is going to another school, perhaps you won’t find it worth the aggravation, but if he/she is considering reapplying next year the information could be invaluable. At the very least you’d want to know how the application could be strengthened.</p>
<p>It was hard for my child/student; but in the end we got some invaluable info. Took a little persistence though. AO agreed that stood us up, because we found out later he didn’t forget…he was with a student. However, with persistence, we got some info and encouragement to apply again. DS however had already gotten into their rival school and had mind made up to take that opportunity.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. It sounds like it was a frustrating process for you, redbluegoldgreen. I’m glad you got some good info in the end. </p>
<p>I’ll probably contact them, and if they make it difficult for me to get information, then I guess that in itself is information. Still interested in other stories so I can get a feel what to expect.</p>
<p>I think it would be better if someone from your child’s current school (someone who wrote a letter of reference, principal etc) called and inquired. They might get a more honest and professional response.</p>
<p>They might - but Adcom’s are used to fielding parent inquiries. As long as the parent (or student) are polite, they’ll get an honest assessment about why they were not offered a spot. Sometimes it really is as simple as too many good candidates for too few slots. Sometimes it’s a weakness in the stats. </p>
<p>Sometimes it’s just not the right “fit.” But it’s not unusual for parents to call and get an assessment.</p>
<p>We got excellent feedback from Exeter. Andover was another story. They basically didn’t give out much info other than saying it’s hard to get in (unless you are a Bush?).</p>
<p>Invent, no disrespect meant, but I am a bit sick of people judging Andover based on the fact that a president who was less than popular went there. George W Bush was a senior at Andover in 1963, almost 50 years ago. Things have obviously changed a lot since then, including all prep school admissions, not just Andover’s. My mom went there and graduated in the 80s, and she still tells me that she doubts she could get in if she were applying today. Every school has its “sour apples”, if you view Bush that way.</p>
<p>Sorry to ruffle your feathers, but the point I am trying to make is that if your mom were a Bush, she’ll get in now and I’m pretty sure of that.</p>
<p>I had thought about having the headmaster at our current school call. Still might decide on that.</p>
<p>I am hoping to get more than “too many good applicants”. I guess there has to be some reason that one good applicant is chosen over another good applicant? I don’t have experience directly with this, but I have had to choose among highly qualified applicants in the past, and I have always had specific reasons.</p>
<p>@Dad: If the purpose of the call is to get perspective and advice, I’d suggest making the call yourself. The headmaster call would be useful if the goal were to actually influence the decision. That would make sense if there were a wait-list situation that is still fluid.</p>
<p>DadFrog - sometimes there is no reason. In the end, after the obvious students are ruled out (poor grades, extremely low test scores, weak recommendations, etc…) there are still too many qualified students for the available slots. At my D’s school there were 1600 applications for 160 spots.</p>
<p>Despite the sour grapes from at least one student on this board - that means those schools are also turning down legacy kids, full pay kids, “Famous people’s” kids, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes is just comes down to the fact that the child who was rejected was one of 50 tuba player applicants and they needed a harp this time around. Or he was one of 500 New York applicants who met the criterian, but the decision favored an equally qualified kid from Montana. </p>
<p>Sometimes it’s just that another kid in the pool got more votes at the admissions council meeting.</p>
<p>In reality - a student who was declined this year might be accepted in a different year because the applicant pool mix changes each time.</p>
<p>It’s usually nothing obvious. In the end, it’s almost like a lottery - who gets in and who does not. Making the call helps most if you’re thinking of applying again and want to know how to strengthen your application.</p>
<p>If admissions process is like a lottery, then the schools can save a lot of money by canning the AOs and buying a cheap PC to conduct the lottery like they do it at Charter schools. :D</p>
<p>I learned more about BS admissions by talking to AOs after the decisions…particularly from those schools that had rejected my S. I think the information I got was invaluable and I’ve tried to share it here since then. It may prove useful to my D. And I think it helped when college applications rolled around. (Though I have to say that S pulled his weight in terms of grades, test scores and essays…but it was still helpful to be able to understand what the Achilles’ heels were, and be cognizant of it throughout high school so that, by the time college applications rolled around, the weak points were not vulnerable and they didn’t have to dodged, buried, hidden, explained in some awkward fashion, etc.)</p>
<p>Every single BS AO that I spoke with was frank and had specific comments (sometimes after retrieving the file). They really took off my “parent blinders.” In fact, last week I sent two of them notes thanking them for their pointers – because, in the case of those two – they really helped with our choice of BS, encouraging us to go with what they believed to be the best fit and resist prestige and other factors that they thought were leading me to a less-than-ideal place. I spoke with them four years ago. They probably have no recollection, but I’ve hung on their advice and I think my S profited immeasurably from it, so I wrote them anyway.</p>
<p>I don’t think these “debriefing sessions” are something that they want to do for all the parents of all the applicants, so in that sense, I do not want to encourage parents to do it as a matter of rote. The fact that only a limited number of such contacts can be made before they refuse all callers is partly why I’ve made a point to share the widely applicable lessons that I learned…and I hope that other parents who have these conversations choose to act as “pool reporters” and return here to share their generally applicable feedback from AOs.</p>
<p>If you really feel lost and think your perceptions need a significant recalibration after seeing the outcomes, it’s definitely worth considering. To me, it was monumentally beneficial in terms of selecting a BS (especially when you’re talking to people who are paid experts at figuring out “fit” who don’t have a stake in your decision between schools they don’t work for) and in re-evaluating how your child comes across to an AO, which has a long-range benefit when college applications get put together.</p>
<p>FWIW, the first thing I said to AOs at schools where S was rejected was that I was not asking them to revisit or reconsider the decision. If that’s the purpose of such a contact, I’d refrain from it. But I can’t say that it won’t work. I never tried. The reason I made it clear, up front, that I wasn’t asking for a reconsideration was because I wanted them to be candid (not defensive or desperate to get me off the line) and because, well, that wasn’t my intention. I assumed that they knew what they were doing.</p>
<p>If you make the call(s), come back to let us know what your learn that can help us going forward!</p>
<p>OK, thanks for all the tips. I have decided to call. We are definitely not hoping for the school to reconsider their decision at this point; more like D’yer Maker said with help for applying next year, for my D later on, and for colleges as well. I’ll make sure to say that right up front.</p>
<p>I am going to wait some time before posting any information that I get to maintain at least some shred of anonymity.</p>
<p>Re: anonymity.</p>
<p>Exactly right. I never “filed a report,” so to speak, on CC. I’ve just chimed in with things that I learned as the topics came up. Sometimes I ascribed the information to admission counselors. Oftentimes, I just let their wisdom shine through, allowing me to see if others here had better feedback to offer. (If you pull out the old “the Dean of Admission at Exover swore out a blood oath to me that…” card, it might be useful but it can also stifle others who might have other really valuable insights that might not jibe with what you heard.)</p>