<p>I have a child in a wonderful K-8 who will be looking at prep schools next year. Most of his class will be going off to independent day or boarding schools for 9th. The problem is that he's young for the grade and could use an extra year to shore up his skills, but because his school doesn't have a 9th grade he can't do a 9->9, and the schools we think are best for him start in 9th grade. He could go somewhere for a year and apply from his new school, but then he'd be asking for recommendations from teachers who are just getting to know him and at a time when he might still be adjusting to new ways of doing things.</p>
<p>So my question is...
Has anyone ever heard of a school allowing an applicant to go through the entire admissions process, then if accepted put off entrance for a year? We're more than willing to come up with a highly academic gap year. I'm mostly just trying to figure out if this is a totally wacky request to make of schools. I know this would be unorthodox, but would it be seen as nuts?</p>
<p>I’ve not heard of deferred admission to prep schools. Children can change markedly in a year, especially boys. A few years ago, a father reported his son had decided to decline admission on the grounds he was not yet mature enough, reapplied to the same schools, and (iirc) won admission again. He was open with the schools about the family’s decision being due to his son’s youth.</p>
<p>I would recommend going through the application process next year. If he gets in, you can decide whether to wait a year at that time (March 2015.) You may be surprised by how much he changes in the next 12 months. Even if you decide he should wait a year at that time, it does not hurt to go through the process. Even if you go “somewhere else” for a year, the schools should still have his 8th grade application on file. </p>
<p>Schools appreciate student maturity. Even if he is waitlisted or rejected as an 8th grader who is “young,” that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have good odds the next year, when he’s matured.</p>
<p>Groton has an 8th grade. It’s very small, but one option would be to apply to do an 8 to 8. If you like Groton, of course.</p>
<p>Now, a different consideration is that his 8th grade self might choose different schools than his 9th grade self. As a 9th grader, he will be more mature, and more likely to say something like, “I don’t care if the school has an orchestra, but, wow, this school has a zoo!”</p>
<p>Ironically, we’re less worried about him getting into the school(s) we’re targeting from his current school. We’re pretty pragmatic about finding the right school and his current one has an excellent record of secondary school placement. Groton wouldn’t be right for him but there are K-12’s that could be plan B.</p>
<p>He’s always been young for the grade-chronologically, physically, emotionally and academically. If we could go back in time we would have held him back in kindergarten but the school recommended against it at the time. Now they feel he would benefit from the extra time. He has very marked strengths and weaknesses, which is why our list is on the short side.</p>
<p>The dilemma is that if we knew he had a place in 9th grade we could go ahead and get creative with the year. If there’s a very real chance that it wouldn’t work it would make sense to take a spot at a less ideal but acceptable K-12. Sending him to a new prep school, then having him apply out from there doesn’t seem like a good plan. We want him to bloom where he’s planted, not walk in with his eye on the exit.</p>
<p>You could look at a junior boarding school (all boys, like Eaglebrook or co-ed). They generally go from 6th through 9th, so he’d have at least 2 years there, and kids mature a lot-- but are still thought of as younger kids, not thrown in with high school age kids. They often have rolling admissions, so you might get in for next year. Their placement into regular BS is often very good. You could THEN repeat 9th, which many kids do, if you still thought it would be beneficial-- but you wouldn’t be moving with an eye on leaving. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Sue22, I think these are good questions to ask the placement officers at your current K-8. They must have seen this situation before.</p>
<p>You could also perhaps approach admissions officers at the schools you have in mind for your son. After April 10th, when they’ve enrolled next year’s freshmen, would probably be a good time to talk with advisors at your current school, and (maybe) placement officers at the schools you think would be a good fit. </p>
<p>Sue22 - I know a family who successfully deferred Gr 9 admission for one year to honor the daughter’s desire to to do a year of service work overseas. I don’t know when the family broached the request, whether before or after acceptance, but it seemed to work out quite well for them. </p>
<p>The daughter, like your son, attended a very strong K-8. And the school’s excellent placement counselor played a big role in advocating the family’s case. </p>
<p>I heard a story from a parent that stated a HADES school allowed their child to defer for a year (with full FA) because they wanted to attend public school for a year. From what I was told child was economically disadvantaged, had great grades, scores and was an athlete, and had sibling at school. My takeaway was " if it’s true, it’s probably not a reality for most applicants." </p>
<p>My child is repeating 9th grade after attending local high school. Child attended small private school thru 8th grade. We were worried about recs as well, we just made sure the EC rec was from the private school. I believe the private school sent a nice “here’s what’s awesome about this applicant” cover letter when they mailed transcripts to schools he applied to. Didn’t seem to hurt my child, had really good choices on 3/10 (in interest of full disclosure, child is FP, recruited athlete). Also, going to large public for a year gave essays more depth - child was able to say “I’ve been in large classes and I know I do better in smaller discussion-based classes.” </p>
I have been struggling with this also. Apparently many division 1 prep schools are all looking for the more mature child, its sports driven from all I can gather. Most of the time, their answer is we want all our graduates to be 18 when they graduate. Other times, they will say your son or daughter will be young and colleges want a larger athlete and rather than their having to take off a year or two, this helps them stay in school an extra year. (that was the excuse I got from one school). Its difficult because most of the time it has NOTHING to do with their ability to do the work and more with the demographics the school wants represented. I guess gone are the days of a gifted child who gets a double promotion, or a child that goes to parochial school entering first grade earlier because the cut offs are different. You are actually forced to go back and let everyone else catch up. My son is very mature for his age, is at the top of his class as far as academics and he is a fair athlete. If my son has to defer a year, I would want it to be because he wanted to help his GPA or something that is valid. The kids are NOT individually assessed, only their birthday matters
My son was about a year younger than most of his classmates, and he entered Grade 9 BS this past fall. I’ve never heard of a BS that will defer admission for a year. But it may be worth a try. I wouldn’t suggest bringing it up during interviews/essays now.
If he gets accepted at a school that he really likes, then it might be a good chance to talk to the Dean of admissions and explain your predicament. They might be wiling to listen to you and offer deferred admission after one year. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
It absolutely does happen. My kid attends a competitive K-8 school and 50% of grads go to boarding school. The headmaster told me it would be no problem to defer admission for a year. The boarding schools like it because it makes their job easier the following year. I think this is something you should not worry about until after your child has been accepted…then you have the discussion with them about him much he and you love it but how you think he would benefit from another year to mature, why would they object? If they love him now they will love him then.