<p>No, DAndrew, for those families who receive “the call,” there will be no online decision on March 7. (See my post #9 above.) An applicant who has been put on the financial aid waitlist cannot be accepted unless additional financial aid funds come available (or the family is able to secure alternate funding). Students do sometimes come off that waitlist, but very rarely.</p>
<p>Hi all, just wanted to say thanks for the kind words.
To clarify my interviewer called my mom and said that I was accepted with no financial aid, and my opted to put me on the FA waitlist as we can’t provide the tuition. I’m not too upset, right now, I just really wish I didn’t know until March 10, or at least on March 7th when all other decisions come out. She did say that she was pushing for me, so I guess that’s good, but I don’t know if they say that to everyone (which they probably do.) I also need full FA, so at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if I never get the FA money. Hopefully I’ll be receiving good news soon, but only time can tell…</p>
<p>So, Northfield Mount Hermon is no longer in the Ten Schools Association? Was it ever?</p>
<p>@PelicanDad, I think they could have just done the courtesy calls on the 9th. Unless that is the day reserved for alumni calls. Frankly there can’t possibly be that many students on FA waitlist to be a burden.</p>
<p>And from the discussion I had with parents over the past few years who were on the receiving end of those notifications - the emotions run raw. Calling with bad news days before is not a blessing for families who have paced out their lives emotionally to anticipate a decision on the 10th and now have a “gap” of silence before other decisions come through. Somebody at NMH probably thought it clever, but I doubt that it is.</p>
<p>What we should just do is have gladiator fights for FA students and the winner gets choice of schools. Because frankly, that’s what it’s coming to, isn’t it? It puts the parents in an awkward spot. I can imagine some want to know, but for the most part, it’s easier to bury the bad news if it is on the same day as good news just feels like a more logical approach.</p>
<p>A few years back my D and her friends - all top performers in the district who’d been in the paper for several awards, applied to a local elite school were declined early - most due to lack of FA (the school is not very diverse and apparently thought all local URM’s were scholarship applicants - long story about that hot mess of a place). The decline came days before the other letters and I thought my heart would break when I saw her reaction. It is bad enough when the decision day arrived with emails of declines followed by two days of silence before the acceptance packets from other schools arrived. Why put kids through that early? What purpose does it serve NMH?</p>
<p>That lasted until the school realized we were full pays and sent an urgent email saying they’d like to reconsider and offer her a place (I know because a board member told me it was a heated discussion at the meeting after her letter had gone out). Luckily my D got into great boarding schools, and told the local school she didn’t want to be reconsidered because she was more than just a source of revenue. Proud of that kid, but I wouldn’t put any other parent through that ordeal for a million bucks.</p>
<p>If a school can’t admit a kid, just do tell them on the same day as the other schools so it’s buffered by hopefully some good news, or blanketed by in-kind news. Doing it early just teases out the sense of loss for many.</p>
<p>Oh OK, so these courtesy calls would leave their yield unharmed while still communicating that these people are actually admitted.</p>
<p>@baystateresident: I got confused too… It’s never part of TSAO but is a member of the more “elite” eight school association, so it has the prestige but is not bound by the TSAO “no disclosure before March 10” rule.</p>
<p>That’s how I read the situation, DAndrew. The early call also gives me the option and the time to withdraw my FA application, track down a benefactress aunt (or whatever), and have my child admitted as a full-pay student. Lacking said aunt (or other back-up resources), I asked them to keep my child on the FA waitlist, such as it is.</p>
<p>I’ve been lurking here, and I knew what was coming when I got the call. Thanks to everyone for the collective knowledge.</p>
<p>If all fails you could declare yourself a bank and get a bailout. On the other hand, my children treat me like an ATM so perhaps we all qualify. Much more lucrative than trying to track down a long lost rich relative :)</p>
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<p>Of course you are ■■■■■■■■ with this statement. The TSAO has schools like Andover, Exeter, Deerfield and St. Paul’s (basically all the HADES) and you say that NMH is a member of some more “elite” eight school association? Unless such latter association includes Eton, Harrow, etc. you are just funnin’ with us. NMH is off the radar for almost all top prep applicants – doesn’t register a whit.</p>
<p>[Ten</a> Schools Admission Organization](<a href=“http://www.tenschools.org/home/]Ten”>http://www.tenschools.org/home/)</p>
<p>^^May be true for applicants, but not to the heads of 7 peer TSAO schools. Might want to do a simple google search before being so condescending:</p>
<p>[Eight</a> Schools Association - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Schools_Association]Eight”>Eight Schools Association - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>NMH, along with Choate, Lawrenceville, Hotchkiss, Andover, Deerfield, Exeter, and SPS, is part pf something called the Eight Schools Association.</p>
<p>Oh well you need to know me to know what I meant… 
but FYI, the eight school association include HADES + Choate, Lawrenceville and NMH.
[The</a> Eight Schools Association: Who? What? When? Where? Why?](<a href=“http://thenews.choate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=363:the-eight-schools-association-who-what-when-where-why&catid=14:features&Itemid=4]The”>http://thenews.choate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=363:the-eight-schools-association-who-what-when-where-why&catid=14:features&Itemid=4)</p>
<p>Understood, now. Interesting that the ESA kicks out Hill, Taft, and Loomis – any one of which is better than NMH. There has obviously been no traction to the ESA – the TSAO at least has a website with common ground.</p>
<p>We have a few on the boards who have a pathological need to resurrect the “my school is better than your school” sentiment we have been trying to do away with. We even tried to bury it and salt the ground but here it is again. “Elite,” “HADES,” etc…</p>
<p>Just ignore those posts and skip over them.</p>
<p>What do you think it means if you didn’t get the email about tomorrow night and you didn’t get a call?!</p>
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<p>I think that if that mythical “we” (translated as "me, myself and I) were ever so successful in that mission and in truly salting the ground (a nice turn of phrase by the way), 1/2 or more of College Confidential would disappear. The subtext behind ALL the various discussions of one school compared to another, or chance threads, or “state schools vs. Ivies” ad nauseam is precisely a turn on “my school is better than your school” – a trope that is about the only true constant on CC. And you know this, so let’s also salt the ground on self-appointed self-righteousness, also a plague on these boards.</p>
<p>@Lovehockey - it means nothing. Some parents are getting courtesy calls early because of FA issues. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about it. Just ride out the March 10th-15th notification/delivery period. Hopefully there will be enough good news waiting for you then.</p>
<p>@lovehockey- wouldn’t worry too much about it…but i def don’t suggest “riding anything out”… call NMH tomorrow and they will be more than happy to help you… they are very helpful there.</p>
<p>To be honest, NMH has the right to do whatever it wants admission-wise. I don’t see any clear reason how releasing decisions 72 hours early is doing more harm than good. Sure, a rejected applicant may feel bad for a few days, but on the other side, an accepted applicant will feel overjoyed sooner – you can’t say one is better than the other. Plus, if you’re so emotionally wrecked by an admission decision, it probably isn’t right for you to go off to BS anyway (you’ll need a bit more maturing). In any case, I do think NMH is sensitive to all of its applicants, which is demonstrated by the Call people are talking about.</p>
<p>I think it’s the parents who are more wrecked than the students, NMHStudent. :)</p>
<p>Lovehocky, NMH is a “mainstream” boarding school. We should have some faith when they say they’ll notify their applicants of admissions decision at a certain date. If for any reason they have to change the plan, they will let you know by email or other ways of public annoucement. By March 7, the OVERWHELMING majority of their applicants will get a decision. If you are not getting it, something unusual happened. Is your online account work well? Was your application complete? Did the school make a rare mistake and misplace your files or leave out your name from the list?.. Call the school ASAP and find out.</p>