Now that it is mid-April and the dust is settling, I wish to tell my story

Prep School Admissions
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<p>Now that the dust is settling, I wish to share my story with all of you and invite comments. The events of the last several months have truly represented a learning experience, and a fascinating one at that. I am comfortable telling you my story because I find that the pressure is off in the context of these discussions. For example, there is not the pressure to boast about or embellish one's child's accomplishments that a parent sometimes feels on a one to one basis. I guess the anonymity allows us to relax. Also, in the interest of confidentiality, I will avoid the use of proper names as much as possible.</p>

<p>As most of you know, I am a father, and my son applied to bs for ninth grade as a full pay. I also happened to attend a HADES school for one year, over a generation ago. I left by choice because I was homesick; I did not graduate from that school. So although I attended a HADES school, my son is by no means a legacy.</p>

<p>As I make my comments, you will see that I refer to schools as "HADES," "near HADES" and "extra HADES." Please understand that these terms MAKE NO REFERENCE TO THE STRENGTH OR QUALITY OF THE SCHOOL PER SE, BUT RATHER TO THE SELECTIVITY OF THE SCHOOLS. Unlike many of you, I do not believe that there exists a direct relationship between selectivity and strength of a school. In fact, for some students the relationship may be inverse!</p>

<p>Like the rest of you, we began this process last fall. Unlike the rest of you, I did very little research. I am a latecomer to cc. I was not aware of how competitive the process had become. My son therefore applied to only two HADES and two near HADES schools. My son is an excellent student, a charming and articulate boy, but not as intensely driven as many of the youngsters who post here. He scored an overall 80th%ile on the SSAT, which is certainly below the performance of many of the youngsters who post here. </p>

<p>In mid February, well past its application deadline, we decided to apply to a third HADES school, and that school accepted our application and deferred us to a "second round" process.</p>

<p>On the eve of d-day, when one of the HADES schools announced that it had reversed its policy and become highly "need aware," I became very sanguine about his prospects. Nevertheless, March 10 brought us bad news all around: my son was rejected by three schools and waitlisted by one. The third HADES school, the one that we applied very late to, told us that their decision would come later.</p>

<p>At that point, I felt that we had to scramble. We promptly contacted multiple schools, including our local private day school, our local public IB magnet high school, and four additional northeast extra HADES boarding schools. TO MY ABSOLUTE AMAZEMENT, ALL THE SCHOOLS INVITED US TO BEGIN THE APPLICATION PROCESS IN MID MARCH. My son is not a recruited athlete, he is not an accomplished musician, and you see his scores above. </p>

<p>The news then began to turn very good, and we received prompt acceptance after acceptance, including one off the wailtist of a near HADES school. Ultimately, my son had multiple choices. We have yet to hear from the third HADES school; I have no idea what their intentions are. But we are very satisfied with the outcome thus far.</p>

<p>I wish to invite comments in relation to the above. In particular, I am interested in your comments in connection with the fact that so many schools are willing to read and consider late applications. This in particular is an important lessons for future applicants and their parents.</p>

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<p>I believe the willingness to read late applications has got to be self serving for the Boarding Schools. They would be out of their minds not to read late applications, especially FP applications. Who knows what gems lie hidden within the small pile of paper accumulating after April. There are ALWAYS the odd openings even well into the summer withing the ranks of these schools, even in the HADES. I know this to be true as I left Lawrenceville after completing successfully my 9th grade year there.
On a slightly different subject but relevant this year in particular. There will be many more FP openings in all the best schools this year, when the first check is due and many families realize they can’t write it. That’s when the most FP movement will happen within the waiting lists.</p>

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<p>A great story! You have added so much to this community and we all appreciate your help! He will be going to Kent, correct? It is a great school and he will have an amazing time there…</p>

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<p>Thank you, PV. I am sorry that you are taking so many hits on a certain well subscribed thread!</p>

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<p>I don’t mind. I think my friends on this forum, you included, know that I am not lying. Those who want to bash me can and will. I will not dwell on this subject as it is your thread… :)</p>

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<p>And Sarum, are you suggesting that as spring turns into summer and summer into fall, there will be openings at all schools? That is good news for those on waitlists, right?</p>

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<p>Hi Pan, We applied with a need for FA. Almost all the schools we applied to told us the same thing, they were off in their estimates in the amount of FA that would be needed and even more importantly, the amount of FA that would be accepted and are now over budget. Most said this is an unprecedented year (recent history). While they have always accepted late applications, this may be contributing to their willingness to accept entrance from FPs and I anticipate this will be true for at least a couple years.</p>

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<p>I think the “extra HADES boarding schools” (as you put it) have been influenced by this economic downturn more than their bigger brothers (HADES?), or are more prepared for the impact it could have on the enrollment picture they may face this fall, so they accepted VERY late applications and made prompt decisions (but I’m not sure - is this an an exception to their usual practice? Did they use to accept applications that late?) They could’ve reached out and let the public know - if they have some means to do that - I personally know some parents didn’t know about the BS as an option until after March 10, when people started talking about their admissions.</p>

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<p>Yes it is good news for some, bad news for others.</p>

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<p>Pan,
Thanks for your story. We felt much like you during the process and my D got WL at 3 HADES schools. Unfortunately, not knowing from where we sit (no consultants or saavy east coast feeder schools to guide us + late to CC) we only applied to the 3. We’'ve been pondering the rolling and late process at some other schools, but I don’t know if I can put my D through more torture–more essays, explanations to teachers and and requests again for transcripts and teacher recs–and then another round of waiting for decisions. We’re exhausted and defeated. How’d you overcome this?</p>

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<p>Perhaps this situation offers a great opportunity for extra HADES schools. HADES quality FP kids can stop playing the waitlist game and apply to the extra HADES. Extra HADES are great schools too.</p>

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<p>Pan…</p>

<p>I am happy that things turned out well for your son. I do agree that selectivity does not necessarily relate to academic strength. I am curious, however, as to which schools you placed in the “near” and “extra” categories and what you based this on.</p>

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<p>Erlanger, just as you say, it is utterly exhausting! We are living the college process years ahead of time! I do not know your circumstances, but my sense is that there are many EXCELLENT schools out there that are looking for applicants. Since you are not dealing with HADES, the essays do not have to be Pulitzer Prize worthy! We completed five applications with maybe six or seven hours of work and a few calls to teachers and our middle school front office. Upon getting our aceeptances, we went from mourning to popping open the bottle of bubbly! GO FOR IT!</p>

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<p>Keylyme, please note that the terms “near” and “extra” make no reference to the strength of the schools. Again, in the interest of confidentiality, I would rather not publicize anything. If you go back and look at my past posts, you can probably piece it together.</p>

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<p>I didn’t mean to ask which schools your son specifically applied to…I was just wondering, in general, which schools you would put into these categories and why. If I get bored enough, I will scope it out!</p>

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<p>Well HADES is self explanatory and probably should include Groton. The “near HADES” are Taft, Choate, Lawrenceville and others. And the “extra HADES” are Brooks, Berkshire, Blair, Kent, Loomis, Tabor, Pomfret, NMH and many many others. And again, the distinctions are based on selectivity, not on strength or quality per se.</p>

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<p>We interviewed at a HADES school that we did not apply to. Not because we did not like it, my child just had had enough with writing essays and was just DONE! We got a call from that school a couple of weeks before acceptances were mailed out and they just asked politely whether we were still applying as they had not recieved a completed application from us. So I agree that many schools will look at applications after the stated deadline.</p>

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<p>I think that this is an interesting story, Pan. I have to say that my H and I thought that last year would have been a year more welcoming to “full pay” since from our perspective, the economic fall out had begun, and was only going to worsen, as it did. I was surprised that it was not like that last year. I think the FA was flowing more freely then. So now that you would have to be dead to realize that the economy is in trouble, things have changed.</p>

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<p>It’s ok, the pendulum will swing this way for awhile then slowly head back the other way. it always does.</p>

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<p>Erlanger,
I just wanted to let you know that you can fill out a common application form that includes essays on the SSAT site that is accepted by most schools (not HADES though). You can see the list of schools that accept it on the SSAT site. We used this to apply to 4 of the schools we chose. One set of essays that go to all the schools you choose. It was easier for us as well being from Canada because we could pay by CC the SSAT organization and they pass the payment on to the school.</p>