I think the standard deadline to accept an offer is April 10th. So I would think any waitlist movement would be after that. But I don’t think most waitlists move much…
You have to offer commitments by April 10th… which means accept and pay a deposit, or risk losing your spot at a school that accepted you. Some activity happens just after decision day because kids who get into their dream schools go ahead and decline all other offers… so the schools know how many spaces open up. Then there is more movement as April 10th rolls around. You can be on the waitlist until the school cancels the list… which is sometimes right up until school starts. Schools do not use any particular order of calling kids off the list either… in other words, it’s not like you can find out if you are at the top of the list or at the bottom… you are just on their waitlist. Being waitlisted is not a fun place to be. If you have other choices, or money to burn (losing a deposit), I’d say “Love the one that loves you.” Good luck!
How big a deposit is typically required? My husband forfeited a MBA deposit when he got a slot at his dream school. It was about 5% of the annual tuition so enough to be annoying but not enough to pass up his dream school.
Thanks @LeeLeeB - I am so glad that we video taped the reactions . I ran out to party city that March 10th a couple of years ago and bought balloons in the colors of the schools. Ihave a video of her eating breakfast on March 10th surrounded by balloons.
The biggest heart-tugging story is that we video taped kiddo telling grandma in her driveway @ MPS & Emma (the schools grandma was familiar with) and giving her kisses on the forehead. The funeral for kiddo’s grandma was yesterday and I showed the video tape to our family who had not seen it - everyone was so happy that we had taken that video and we can always look back on those memories.
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@Golfgr8 that is such an awesome memory. Ps I also thought you were a dad (so did DD who is also on here) talk about gender/sport stereotyping 
HAHAHA @amumof2 - thanks, but the story of the avatar has always had a golf theme but on a “freak out” thread the night before school began a couple of years ago, us moms were explaining how freaked out we were… I wrote something about being so freaked out that even looking at that cute golfer Adam Scott didn’t calm my nerves - well, maybe a bit. So, I posted it and people laughed and it has stayed. FWIW, kiddo and I are both golfers and one of us actually has broken a stereotype in that sport.
@Golfgr8 Oh I’m so sorry to hear about your mother (MIL?). How lovely to have that video. Seeing movement and hearing the voice of those who are gone is a treasure.
FWIW – I always knew you were female. But I did think @buuzn03 was male until recently. (I thought it was perhaps because I associated the name Buzz with a male or something. But then a few weeks ago, I came across an old post where Buuz03 says something about playing the role of the happy DH, smiling and nodding. That just planted the male idea.)
As a fun side note – I was thinking the other day how strange it would be to meet in real life and switch to actual NAMES.
@Golfgr8 I actually thought that not only were you a male golfer, but that your avatar was a picture of you! I thought you were most likely a still good looking guy, but that most likely the picture was form back in your college days, so maybe you didn’t look like that any more. My cousin was a really good child golfer and went to college on a golf scholarship (I think at a competitive program). Cut it burned her out and now she won’t play at all. I just realized…that’s probably why we haven’t pushed athletics much until this point (hoping that doesn’t totally burn us on M10, but our son has some good ECs and [fingers crossed] other good things to hear some good news.
Sorry for typos!! “But” not “Cut” it burned her out. LOL, I really thought that was you!
… and @Golfgr8 I can’t believe how fortunate you were to have filmed that moment with grandma,. And to have that film still, and be able to show it at the funeral. @Calliemomofgirls is right, a video is so, so moving when a loved one has passed. Like when people save a voice mail. …Oh, getting teary-eyed now.
You don’t know it, but I’ve learned a lot from both of you. And I don’t mean about boarding, like how to do the applications/process. I mean as a parent. You are both very good, encouraging examples. So many of these BS parents are. Thank you.
It probably varies… but it winds up being about 20 percent of your annual bill give or take.
@m10anxiety I’m no super experienced member, just a hopeful parent, but I’ve been reading previous years’ threads (and listening to advice), so here goes:
INFO ON M10, ACCEPTANCE/WAITLIST {post 1 of 2}:
On M10 the schools will email you, or you log into a portal you already set up, or both, to find out from each school: accepted, waitlisted, or rejected. I am sure that acceptance emails will provide info about what to do next, as will waitlist emails. If you have applied for financial aid (FA) you may be told of that in that same communication with your acceptance (FA is irrelevant if on the waitlist, and of course if rejected). But, for FA, you may have to wait a few more days after M10 to find out what your FA award will be (how much funding they are providing you to help you attend).
For schools that accepted you, the school will also usually send something (a package) in the mail to get you excited (swag). It often also arrives on M10, but it could be a day late.
Waitlisted & you want to go to that school that waitlisted you? There is an incredibly helpful thread from a previous year with GOOD advice about the waitlist! Maybe @skieurope our moderator with chime in with the link. There is a post in particular on that very long thread that gives outstanding advice on what to do if waitlisted.
So, if you are waitlisted & have no acceptances, you need to “accept” the offer to stay on the waitlist (not to attend, you’re not in, just to hope to attend) by informing the admissions office fairly soon after M10. Provided that you like the school and that you would attend if you could. You are allowed to say yes to staying on waitlists for multiple schools. However, if you are waitlisted but you have an acceptance offer elsewhere AND you are for sure going to that other school that already accepted you, then you should contact the waitlist school & “decline” the offer to remain on the waitlist (if you are sure).
The message very experience parents & applicants have expressed here again & again is to not assume that if you are on the waitlist you will come off!! Some waitlists hardly have movement (meaning it’s almost like the waitlist is a really rejection, in terms of what it will mean to you moving forward, because you’ll never get off it). However, there are stories of kids coming off a waitlist (coming off means you are now an accepted student).
As others have said there is no number order to the waitlist. If an accepted student who plays the electric guitar (and the school really needs that…?) declines her offer of acceptance on M11 or later, and you are an excellent electric guitar player with similar stats (or who knows, maybe lesser stats or slightly higher, but they like you and/or your mad electric guitar skills) you could possibly be called off the waitlist (become accepted); whereas another kid with a 99th percentile SSAT and a 4.0 GPA will not come off the waitlist, because that other kid is not an electric guitar player & that’s what they needed. If you come off the waitlist, the school will immediately notify, probably by email. But such notifications can come FAR after M10, like mid-April. or even in the middle of the summer.
The constant advice from this very supportive CC community is “love the school that loves you”: meaning if a school accepts you & provides the FA (if needed) to make it possible, go there & don’t look back!!! Don’t keep a school that said yes to you [accepted you] on hold, just for the tiny possibility you may get off a waitlist somewhere else. You will have a wonderful experience at the school that accepted you on M10. They are excited for you to attend, they saw something special in you, they believe in you, they think you will fit in well with their style of teaching and their school atmosphere, and they really think they can help you reach all of your potential.
Of course, this advice is all based on the fact that you only applied to schools that you researched (right??), that offered what you wanted & that align with your personal, EC, and academic needs (right…!!!) & which had no dealbreaker aspects that would make you miserable (right!!!) & where you could really picture yourself thriving (right!!!). I emphasize this because a lot of posters around here, it seems like the kids/family knew very little about the schools & just threw darts at a board covered with acronym “Top 5” “Top 10” (HADES/GLADCHEMMS) school names & then applied to the two schools which the dart struck! IMO, that’s dumb for your happiness, for your high school and college success, and for your personal growth. Plus, in the opinion of almost everyone who is more experienced than me in this (from all the Prep / BS CC boards), that “apply to the top two” has led to a lot of rejections.
Regarding rejections & waitlists/rejections: there are stories on CC of kids who received nothing but waitlists (with no movement [for them]) and/or rejections, (so they cannot go to a BS [or Day school if that’s what’re talking about]), but the next year they reapplied and having learned lessons they became a stronger applicant & gained admission. But the flip is: there may be less space for new students if reapplying 10 months from now, because older grade levels at most schools accept far fewer new students to the school (most new kids are 9th graders, not 10th) though the particulars of that can vary with factors like: is it a K-12, or 7-12, or what is the percentage of day students, or what you are bringing to the table.
Experienced CC’ers: please correct anything I’ve gotten wrong here, you are the experts! I’m just trying to help answer @m10anxiety 's question 
Hope I did an okay job explaining (I’m gonna tackle Revisits in post 2 
)
A huge sigh of relief just happened. The student I’m helping was just admitted into a local private day school. It’s a great school and is a difficult “safety” school. And best of all she received one of four full-ride four year scholarships (a $47,000/year award) that offers a lot of other advantages (summer camps, first generation college trips, etc.). Although her first choice is a boarding school, it will be hard to pass this up unless the financial aid package is very good, and of course, IF she gets admitted to a BS. It certainly makes waiting for M10 much more tolerable
@LeeLeeB the wait list thread is pinned, so it is easy to find.
But here it is anyway:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1300302-the-wait-list.html#latest
Thanks @Calliemomofgirls and @LeeLeeB for your kind comments and support. Glad to help - but it comes with the CC territory - our year was helped by a group of great parents ahead of us…some are still on here. Glad we are all here for each other!
@m10anxiety REVISIT DAYS {Post 2 of 2}
Most schools intentionally plan their calendar so that M10 will be just prior to Spring Break. They want to give families time to digest all of this info (some of which might be surprising, sad, or even shocking). Plus, each school’s Admissions Office has been working round the clock from Jan. 15 - March 10 (no, since Sept. 15 because the interviews!), so their staff is needs a break. Revisit days usually occur when the schools come back from Spring Break (or time given rest after M10). All Revisit Days happen in early April, with some in late March. They need to happen the Admissions Office reopens (from being closed after M10 and/or for Spring Break), but also the deadline of April 10 (to accept/decline an admission offer), so it’s a small window, and very close to the A10 deadline.
Go onto the websites of the schools you applied to, locate the calendar tab: Revisit Day dates are listed under March & April. Also, some schools have info during this lead-up to M10 as a pop-up/banner when you click the school’s admissions section. CC has a thread in the weeks leading up to M10 with known Revisit dates. You will not, during this pre-M10 time frame right now, receive any specific emails from any of the schools you have applied to regarding Revisit Days, because they do not want to get hopes up since some people will be rejected/waitlisted soon. But your acceptance email(s) {fingers crossed!!!} information on M10 should provide the school’s Revisit Day dates/info. Many people want to know sooner than M10 to make possible travel plans or to clear their schedule (but only “possible” because they don’t yet know if they’ll be accepted).
Revisit Days are by INVITATION - only accepted students and their families are invited (not those on the waitlist).
The main purpose of Revisit Days is that, in case you were accepted to 2 schools but are very torn, you can attend both schools’ Revisit Days (each school usually has 3 identical Revisit Days; dates vary to allow for this). But many students who are only accepted to one school or who for sure know the school they will choose (so not torn) still go to the Revisit Day. For a few students who live far away & who did Skype interviews, Revisit Days are the first opportunity for them & their parent(s) to see the school they will attend. It’s an chance to meet some of your possible fellow students (“possible” classmates because some kids there will choose another school), to shadow a current student and/or to sit in on a class in session, to see the dorms again, etc. Regular school will be in session. There is a parent presentation. The school knows a few parents may be on the fence about the whole boarding school idea, so it will inform on the benefits of a boarding education. It’s neat for your parents (and of course for you!!) to check out the other families & get a feel for the school’s vibe. From the way it’s described on CC, a Revisit Day sounds like a combination of an Open House, an amazing school spirit day, a tour, and an information session. The school choir or ensemble may even perform! There is an agenda for the day, & it takes almost an entire day. I’m sure you have to RSVP! Oh, you get to eat lunch in the dining hall (where of course they’ll be serving their yummiest dishes! – remember, they are woo’ing you!)
at the Revisit Day is to decide which school you will choose.
<the school’s="" goal=""> is to convince every single person attending that theirs is the most wonderful school, perfect for all of you.
It is probably also a bit the school’s intention to help ease the newly admitted students into what will occur on Move In Day in September, so that you will have been again on campus (thus more recently than your Fall [or Winter] interview), so hopefully when a bunch of 14, 15 & 16 year olds move in (and away from home) it’ll be a bit less hard because the Revisit in April got all the kids feeling comfortable on campus, & confident/excited about your new school.
Attending Revisit Day is not mandatory. You can totally commit to a school (say yes) & enroll, without ever having gone to the Revisit Day. You will not be at a deficit if you do not attend. The schools have orientation sessions for new students in the summer (typically arrive a day early, games/activities, etc.). Lots of info will be sent over the summer (selecting courses, dorms, what to pack, etc.) so the Revisit Day is just something extra. Students who are international or from far away may find it harder to attend & that is okay (maybe even a bit assumed).
If you researched your schools & got a good feel for each during your tour/interview in the application process, then you hopefully can already make a pretty good decision if you have multiple acceptances. Plus, in the span from March 10 to April 10 you can contact a school that has accepted you if there is some information they could provide that would help feel more comfortable/informed/excited about the school. You don’t need a Revisit Day to do that. Some parents (many) on CC swear that the Revisit Day really gave them a different perspective on the school & helped their child decide. I respect them & those experiences, but for me I feel like the school will tug at my (and my son’s) heart strings too much & it might cloud our judgement (plus I live too far to make it an easy thing to attend!), so we will skip it (if getting good news on M10). I think that’s fine too.
HI All…
I received the below email from X school. My ex will not contribute anything towards BS and I will have to pay. Based on his salary (definitely on higher side), it puts us way out of FA consideration.
Can anyone offer advise on how I may be able to get any FA? ($20,000 would work)…Also, is this unusual to receive an email before M10?
Dear XXXXXX AND XXXXX,
I hope all is well. I wanted to let you know that in all likelihood DD will be receiving good news from XXXXX school on March 10th but you do not qualify for financial aid based on our calculations. This means that if DD chooses to enroll at XXXXX SCHOOL you will be responsible for the full tuition. I am happy to discuss further and please do not hesitate to give me a call.
Hi @schoolmom8 - I would take them up on the invitation to call and discuss it with them. Gather all the relevant information they may not have been privy to and make your case.
@PhotographerMom - thank you so much for the response. I will do that. I appreciate your advise.