<p>I remember we had a "gut feeling" thread in the parents section. Well looking back my gut feeling before the admission decisions came in couldn't be more wrong. The schools I thought we had a shot waitlisted him while the schools we thought we had little chance accepted him 'WELCOMINGLY'! However, now that we have all the decisions and looking into these schools and trying to determine why this school accepted while another waitlisted him, everything seems to make perfect sense. When I look at the ones that did not accept him, I say to myself "what were we thinking? We shouldn't have applied to this school in the first place. It's clearly not a fit..." </p>
<p>Speaking of interviews, our Exeter interview was our first one - we were very excited and a little nervous, but it turned out to be the most "boring" one. When we came in to meet with the interviewer, she started with a "what a lovely child you have!" invariably, then moved right to "what questions do you have". I prepared a little "speech" about why we decided to consider boarding schools and how we appreciated that Exeter reached out by sending us a "recruiting letter", but she's apparently not interested and wanted to just "be over with it". The gut feeling was right this time. After we came back, S followed up with a thank you note, and she immediately replied but wrote "it was nice to meet your mom and your uncle". Uncle??? Where did she get that idea? Looking back, it's all a joke. To get to lhr2545's point, we may never know what exactly is the reason for that rejection/waitlist decision, but I believe who happens to be your interviewer DOES matter.</p>
<p>Exeter was our first interview also, we were so nervous and S was worried he was overdressed with the whole tie thing... especially since there was a kid with her parents who was wearing jeans and ratty sneakers- apparently they thought it was a tour but didn't realize this was his interview also... </p>
<p>I felt like I rambled on and on and was so jittery with the interviewer. I actually apologized to son afterwards since I was sure we had blown it for him. </p>
<p>Then that was the only school that accepted him! Totally not what we expected.</p>
<p>We went on quite a few interviews but did not apply to them all. Interestingly, after application deadline came and went, we got emails from the ones we did not apply to saying it was not too late and to please send in application. In the end we chose not to because they were not the right fit. 2 of the acceptances were as expected because even before March 10th, the schools had shown much interest but one ot the acceptances was a complete surprise because the school had not seemed that interested in our son. However we showed great interest in them and in the end I think this truly contributed to them accepting our son. Our waitlist was a surprise as the interviewer ended our visit saying how our son would be an asset to any school and that he would no doubt be accepted ever where he applied. My son was surprised and deeply disappointed when it came back as a waitlist. So in the end we were 50-50 for our "gut feelings".</p>
<p>I don’t know if it matters, but my d just notified Choate that she will not be attending. She was offered a Choate Scholar package that came with hefty fa.</p>
<p>Thanks for info. I was puzzled by (mass) email from Ray Diffley at Choate/ how they could be sure they will have no FA to offer to anyone on wait list, unless schools have over-admitted in this category also and this year they have more acceptances thanthey are used to</p>
<p>Schools also manage yield in the FA area – often committing more funds than actually available to increase yield with top FA students. So – just because a student who was on FA turns the school down, it doesn’t mean those funds are available; they most likely predicted that a number of them would go elsewhere.</p>
<p>They also know their budgets are strained a bit more each day by existing students whose family finances are changing for the worse and need additional money. Any aid not ‘claimed’ by the incoming will go to that at many schools.</p>
<p>hmom, do those who find themselves in deteriorating financial condition as the school year proceeds find aid available for the year in session, or only for the following year? In other words, if I could afford to make the first payment in August but not the second one in December, is help potentially available, or must I scramble and wait until the following year?</p>
<p>In anticipation of a major job change latter in the year, I spoke to two different schools about what would happen if/when the job change materializes. I was told by both that I should contact them if/when it happens. They did not completely foreclose the possibility of additional financial aid, but they did say we should be prepared to pay our entire contribution.</p>
<p>We turned down 3 amazing FA offers. I really hope some bright, enthusiatic students/families will benefit as a result. It would be a shame if the dollars were sucked up into some over-committed, FA yield managed vortex.</p>
<p>I posted this on another thread, but it seems more appropriate here.</p>
<p>"An interesting tidbit…I spoke with my son’s placement advisor today and we started talking about the economy. He said something very interesting about financial aid yields this year. At the “top” schools anyway, financial aid yield has been 90% vs. 70% in a “typical” year. </p>
<p>It will be very difficult to win an appeal when they will be so over budget."</p>
<p>Also, assuming an incremental 20% increase in financial aid yield, that translates to ~$1M over budget at a large school like Andover and ~$600K over at a school such as SPS. Yikes! The school CFOs must be crying.</p>
<p>One of the challenges facing schools this year is yeild managment and students staying on multiple wait lists and “accepting” at multiple schools (tying up fa money) while really hoping for movement at some other wait listed school. </p>
<p>Generalized email to all wait listed students, saying ‘no fa’ may be a waitlist clearing tactic. Its not over until its over.</p>
<p>Our child was accepted at 3 of 4 schools applied to–one came in with a decent amount of f/a-2 others accepted but placed on f/a waitlist. We have turned down 2 offers and the child is now on an F/A waitlist to his first choice–50-60% of the turion is necessary for child to attend …any thoughts from anyone if the f/a will ever come???
Thanks</p>
<p>It seems to me that in this distressed economy you go with the best offer and save your money for the quarter million more that you will need for college.</p>
<p>From Exeter’s announcement on the eve of admission day that it had abandoned its “need blind” policy through the various communications from Mr Diffley that Choate would not admit anyone needing aid off the waitlist and on through all the suggestions that the yield on FA acceptances is high at all the schools, I have learned one overriding lesson: THIS YEAR IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. And this is a situation that will only get worse over the next few years, because the economy will be very sluggish to arouse again, because home equity will take a good ten years to recover, because retirement accounts and college accounts took a fifteen year regressive blow in the last six months, because endowments and giving are in the gutter, and because Wall Street, the source of much of our wealth in the northeast corridor, has been remade for all time. I PREDICT THAT THE RELATIVE ADVANTAGE IN ADMISSIONS OF FULL PAY STATUS WILL ONLY GROW GROW GROW. AND THIS WILL EXTEND TO THE COLLEGE LEVEL.</p>
<p>I hope you’re wrong Pan, but I’m afraid you’re not. Remember, I’ll be doing this again next year for my son, and the year after that for my daughter.</p>