Read through the Wait List thread. But be aware that very very few people make it off the WL at Andover or Exeter
If you do this, you NEED to have a school that you are guaranteed for high school because you arenât in at Stuy yet. My kids have been in this NYC rat race of schools since Nursery and for all the times they were WL and through two BS cycles and theyâve never movedâŠnot a single one. The admissions people are seasoned professionals and, for example, if they have 100 spots in a grade and their yield is 80%, then they will accept 120 kids so they wonât have to go to the WL. It is a sign of problems knowing their yield properly if they need to go to the WL and it keeps everyone feeling happy about how they got into the school (most people donât feel so great coming off of the WL). Furthermore, if they do go to WL, you need to match whatever spot that opened (gender, FA, ECs, diversity, etc). If you only have enough money for one deposit, then you need to just bite the bullet and take the bird in hand or be OK with Stuy/regular public if the WL doesnât move. While Poly isnât Trinity, itâs fine and nothing to look askance at; I really recommend signing with Poly and just not looking back at that point, but it is your journey and itâs been a privilege to be part of it. Good luck!
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Agreed. A bird in hand is better than two in the bush.
Thank you for the advice! After speaking to some current students and doing more research, it seems like Poly is a great school, just not the right fit for me (I can see my sister doing particularly well at Poly.) I know people that applied to Poly and were waitlisted and I donât think it would be fair of me to accept the spot at Poly, draw it out, and end up not going, especially because I have a good amount of FA. But at the same time even though Iâm confident - maybe too confident, I donât know if Iâm confident enough to decline the offer not knowing if Iâve gotten into Stuy.
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I agree with whatâs said. Yield management is top priority for all these prestigious schools - they donât like going to the waitlist, and they have a very good idea of their acceptance vs enrollment rates, so all the top schools rarely go to the WL every year.
Itâs also my personal opinion that itâs even harder to get off the waitlist if you need FA - because they need to have that money for you in order to accept you. If they have an open spot but not enough money for you (e.g. you need $30K in aid, but they only have $10K left in the aid budget), theyâll pick someone thatâs either full pay or another FA applicant that needs less money than you.
We needed FA and my son was waitlisted at Dalton, HM and Collegiate. None of them moved for us. Iâd imagine itâs just as hard and competitive, if not more, at the top BS schools.
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Can you clarify what the plan is if you turn down Poly and then donât get into Stuy?
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It would be another specialized high school, or if that doesnât work out either, my top choice public school.
that is a high risk game to play with the NYC DOE. You have to be able to play the ranking game, etc but you know yourself best.
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Question about emails to express continued interest for waitlists - who should I be emailing? My interviewer?
On second thought it would be better to ask this somewhere else
Hello, so I am not gonna answer any of your private school questions or anything like that, but I feel like there has been a lot of Stuy hate in this thread so I am here to advocate for Stuy lol.
Many of the posts have been about how Stuy is like a pressure cooker or a very high stress environment, and I am not going to completely refute that. Instead I would like to offer some guidance. When you go to Stuy, everyone is on the same boat as you are: overwhelmed, stressed about how stressful the environment will be, etc. So while these people will be your competition for the next 4 years, they will also be your motivation and your allies.
Your high school experience will be different wherever you choose to go, and based on what opportunities you choose to explore. What I can tell you is that there wonât be any shortages of opportunity at Stuyvesant. High school, but definitely Stuy is what you make of it, so as long as you are open minded, passionate, and hardworking, nothing will stand in your way. Also another note: other specialized high schools will also have stress, it just depends who you are and where you fit better.
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Yeah, thatâs pretty much what Iâve been thinking as well. I honestly think I would do better at a âpressure cookerâ environment, because having that kind of competition helps me. I like having motivated students around me because it in turn motivates me as well.
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