agree with @gardenstategal . I found as a volunteer, that some families did NOT want to be contacted at all. I found others that really used the contact as an important part of their decision making.
If it is not offered by the school outright-- definitely ask. I don’t think it is a poor reflection on the school if they do not offer - it is just a different approach. But I do think everyone is trying to adjust to the no “Revisit Day” situation and providing this option now may have escaped some schools who usually would have had a mentor student and their family provide such interaction in person during that day.
AND – do not hesitate to reach out to people on this forum. For all of you who are here-- trust me. I will be reaching out to you, should we get good news from a school you are affiliated with!
@buuzn03@gardenstategal Thank you so much for being on these conversations for insight and guidance. Personally, I wish people would share their schools but I understand that for privacy purposes, affiliations aren’t obvious. I have one applying to BS and one to college this year so if anyone has had that particular timing happen as well, please DM me! And thanks, I will reach out to those once we receive, if any, admit letters.
I am in the exact same boat @nan415, and I think @dadof4kids is, too! Extra hair color has been needed this application season, as a result, but I think we are going to make it through!
@nan415 My experience last year was that YES we had a ton of parents reach out to us and students reach out to my DD after M10. It was overwhelming, to be honest. I almost wish we had just been emailed a list of available parents so we could contact ourselves with questions. M10-M30 (ish) was a strangely stressful time, probably made worse by the revisits all dropping out of play – we had to cancel our big trip back east that we had booked for revisits – and everyone was scrambling to respond and figure out how to do virtual sessions. This year, I think it will be a bit different, as the revisits will be planned ahead of time (mostly virtual I’m going to guess). And, agree that you can absolutely ask to talk to someone if you don’t get contacted. or if you want to talk to multiple families or a family with a particular profile (like a student who plays a specific sport or has a certain EC).
@nan415 I agree with @buuzn03 and the others - most schools have parent volunteers who reach out to be a resource to you. Don’t feel like you have to engage with any of them… I have had LOTS of parents reply to me with a simple “thanks, I’ll reach out if we have questions”, and that’s totally fine. My main role as a volunteer is to be here if you need me, and to give you our perspective as a 2x parent, not to convince you to come, though it sometimes is hard to NOT do that!
Oh, and my school is Mercersburg, should you ever want to reach out via PM.
I can attest that my kid’s boarding school will send out an email announcement of the situation and nothing more for boarding parents, since this has happened more than once so far this year.
In fact, my child has had to go to a hotel off campus to attend classes remotely after one outage.
Mysteriously, we did get a robo call one evening earlier this month that they’d let us know by email by 5:45 am if the next day was going to be virtual. I guess some day parents must have complained.
