I had posted about my 7th-grade daughter wanting to look at East Coast schools in another thread, but I also have an 8th-grade son who was waitlisted everywhere he applied during the admissions cycle this year (1 west coast BS, 3 local day schools). It’s been a rough few months, where we registered for the local public school and were trying to make the best of the situation. After reading the suggestions on this site, we decided to reach out to a BS that seemed like a good fit for him that came up on the SSAT Open Seat search, and we were so excited to accept an admission offer this week!
I really encourage other families in this situation to consider this option. We truly feel that our son has ended up at the place where he was meant to be all along!