I found some fairly old discussions on this topic and thought it might be good to get more recent results. I found all 6 schools my son is applying to are on TABS. I initially started Gateway and found I was quickly pulling my hair out. Recent applicant families, what did you choose and why?
We used TABS and it was very straightforward, and worked for all 7 schools to which DD applied. 2 of the schools had required supplements with extra essays, but it was manageable. Several had online portals and you fill those out in addition to TABS.
Thank you. So you don’t see any reason not to use it. It certainly seems more straightforward.
OK-this is getting very confusing. Now it looks like the SSAT application is the only one every school accepts. Anyone used this one lately?
Oops i meant that we used SAO from SSAT. Not TABS. Sorry
OK-so that is where I am heading. Thank you. I don’t think they could make it more confusing if they tried. (All the options).
We used SAO for the schools our kids applied to. We found it very manageable.
We used Gateway, SAO, and schools’ own application portals. In my opinion, Gateway was the worst of all three options. If we had to repeat the process, we would use the other options whenever possible. Good luck with the applications!
Unfortunately not all of the schools my kid applied to accept the SAO.
Even if the school doesn’t say they accept the SAO, call and ask if your teachers can print and mail them the SAO rec forms. I think a couple schools allowed that.
OK. So I feel good about selecting the SAO. Here is a little wrinkle. I have 10 days (!) while both kids are away at camp and I am off from work … plan was to get the parent essay(s) out of the way. SAO tells me that they generally stay the same from year to year but they won’t say what last year’s was! The new app. goes on line 9/1. Get this. If I want to go in and pay for one application fee then I can see the questions. . .Meaning I can throw away a fee! Anyone want to tell me what the parent component of SAO was last year so I can make good use of my “free” time? Thanks.
@sadieshadow, these were the parent questions from the SAO in the last admission cycle (for school year 2016-17):
Question 1: What qualities of character and mind in your daughter or son most delight you?
Question 2: What do you believe your son or daughter will contribute to the school community? Have you any concerns about your child’s readiness for independent school?
Question 3: What has posed the biggest academic and/or extracurricular challenge for your child?
Question 4: Is there anything about the sequence of your child’s schooling that we should know? Did your son or daughter skip or repeat a year? Was your son or daughter ever asked to withdraw from any school, suspended or put on probation?
Gateway worked fine for us but if you go that route be sure that all of the schools that you are interested in are subscribers to it. My nephew found out the hard way that all schools do not accept it.
Couple years ago we applied using all of the above - Gateway, SAO, and school specific website forms.
Gateway may require the most work but I liked it the best due to its flexibility.
I think at the time, Taft had the same SAO and Gateway questionnaires so if you create Gateway account and add Taft to your schools (and later delete it,) you can learn the SAO questionnaires without paying the fee.
I decided to go with SAO as all (but one) of the schools DS is applying to is on it. Save for one glitch, it is going very smoothly so far.