Also remember that what you see on CC is an extremely skewed sample that may not be representative of the reality.
No, I didnât.
Hey, since my last question kinda got buried and this is suuper urgent, Iâm just going to post it again:
I was waitlisted at Exeter and Choate, and I was wondering who/when I should send my emails to. Iâve seen posts saying that I should keep in touch (e-mail) my AO, but is my âAOâ my interviewer? I think I was interviewed by a teacher, and it was on campus. I was thinking that I should e-mail them now to let them know that I appreciate the spot in the waitlist and tell one of the schools that theyâre my very first choice? Would that be considered too soon after the admissions decisions came out, or would it leave a good impression?
I am also re-applying from last year, when I was waitlisted at Choate and rejected at Exeter.
Iâve also seen posts encouraging parents to call and get in contact with our AOs as that would help, but my parents donât speak English that well (Iâm from South Korea). Last time, I tried calling the admissions office a couple of times but I doubted it really helped me in any way. Any tips??
Thank you so much!
@mwu9966 Iâm really sorry about all the waitlists your child has received. Itâs crushing, but itâs not exclusive to this year. The schools your child has applied to are really, really hard to get to, and every year hundreds of highly qualified kids get waitlisted. I think that posts #2521, #2536, and #2538 sum up the process really well. Unfortunately no one here can tell why one kid was accepted over another, as we cannot see and compare all application packets nor are we privy to the institutional priorities that may benefit one applicant over another. I think the key is to be very strategic when crafting a list of schools to apply to, then put together an application packet that clearly communicates why this child will be a great asset for that school and how she will enrich the school community in so many ways. Not sure that helps you right now, but maybe it provides some useful perspective. Best wishes!
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Just a quick word of advice for WL emails :
Give yourself some time before you write one. I know some parents who had their kids write one too soon ( M10 ) only to give anything to take it back one or two days later. Give your self time to shake off yesterdayâs results.
This is a very emotional time for everyone so if you want to write something beyond the standard- I would like to accept a place on your WL - email - take some time to reflect about some key things that you love about the school and get your thoughts together.
Remember- this isnât War and Peace and confidence is key.
Keep it short and sweet and to the point. Youâre stronger than you think you are right now - so take your power back.
If a particular WL school is your first choice ( with or without another acceptance ) , close by telling them that you will attend if youâre offered admission.
Most importantly - Donât rush or overthink it. You got this!
@PhotographerMom - can i just say that I love you? Your sound advice is so refreshing, and necessary. This is a devastating day for so manyâŠmy daughter included. She was waitlisted on both of her preferred schoolsâŠwe had no idea how competitive this wasâŠwe clearly live under a rock.
I am finding these threads comforting as it helps to know we are not aloneâŠ
But I really really really must askâŠTrulyâŠis there ANY HOPE of being selected from a WL? From these postsâŠit does not seem like anyone is posting any success stories of having been selected from one?
FYIâmy daughterâs preferred BS is Williston.
My D has been admitted off the waitlist twice. However, both those times it was too late for her to accept.
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@CrackersCrayons how late is too late?
Can I know what schools? and did your daughter got off the wait list? Did you send more information to the schools?
@nyr_0123 Iâve known of at least 3 families who had a student on the Brooks School waitlist during various recent admission years. When they called to ask how they might be able to get off waitlist, the reply was the same in each of the instances: drop your request for financial aid. One of these families did so, but after some discussion. By the time they called Brooks back a couple days later, they were told that all such spots had been taken (probably by parents in similar situations who dropped their financial aid requests). Having money to pay full tuition is a defining factor in getting off waitlist, at least at Brooks School. As a result, each of these families did not end up sending their kids to Brooks.
She was accepted in July, but by then we had already signed for her other school. Our townâs public school has gang problems and she has already felt the effects of that problem. She was accepted at Stanford OHS and at Princeton Day School. She didnât send in any additional information or letters.
I think itâs been said so many times before, but for newbies who are now posting after M10 decisions: getting into these schools is competitive!
Having good grades and good test scores is a minimum requirement to being admitted, but is certainly no assurance of being admitted. There are plenty of kids with straight As and 99th percentiles SSATs who get rejected - and there is nothing âwrongâ with these kids either. Sometimes people think that a kid with those stats who doesnât get in everywhere must have some huge personality flaw or be a jerk, or have nothing else to contribute to the school, like no ECs or no interests, but this is absolutely not the case.
A friend of mineâs child applied this year, and was one of those kids. 3 years of straight As, 99th percentile SSATs, strong at a particular sport, overall good athlete, has some national awards in a particular EC, is full pay, and a really nice kid who gets along with others and is a good leader.
This is kid was rejected everywhere, except one school, which they considered to be a safety due to much higher acceptance rates. Luckily, kid really likes that school, but both kid and parent felt confident that there would be at least a couple of acceptances to choose from on M10, and were shocked to find that not only was there only one acceptance, at the âsafetyâ, but there were not even waitlists. All rejections.
Even though we had talked extensively about how competitive it is during the whole process, the mom told me yesterday that she realized she didnât really believe it and thought her kid would have options come M10. She thought her kid wouldnât get in everywhere, but figured her kid would have at least 3-4 acceptances.
I told her that my child has 2 friends who applied the previous year who also had straight As and 99th percentile SSATs who did not get anywhere (but only applied to competitive schools). I said it definitely happens and those things are not enough to get in. And she said she really didnât believe it until it happened yesterday to her kid.
If you and your kid are disappointed about your kidâs results, take some time to step back and regroup. If youâre on WLs, there may not be much you can do to improve your chances to get off, other than become FP if you applied for FA. I donât know how much letters and other communication really help at this point.
And kids do sometimes get off the WL. Not often, but it does happen. So make a choice from the options you have, decide whether you are willing to stay on the WL and for how long, because sometimes uncertainty is very difficult, and having a concrete plan is better. If you know you canât afford to lose your deposit at your acceptance to choose a WL school, remove yourself off the WL after A10.
Good luck.
Kids absolutely get off waitlists, but it is to fulfill an institutional need. Eg if the school needs another day student girl.
@kids42moms - Youâre so sweet and thank you so much for your kind words. 
My heart goes out to you and your daughter.
I also feel so sorry for anyone who is forced to plow through one of my long posts. Seriously- I canât even do it - itâs absolutely brutal.
Letâs seeâŠ
Even though I wish I could- no one here can give you or anyone else on a WL hope - or even share a well- meaning anecdote like - Well ( as an example ) , X number of kids got off the WL at Williston last year so X number will likely get off again this year. I know this kind of thing can be very comforting to hear sometimes , and youâll probably see it a lot going forward , but itâs not very realistic or even true. I fondly refer to this sort of thing as WL Crystal Ball Madness - so definitely donât get swept up in it because it rarely ends well.
And - if someone says something like that ( for any BS ) - even though itâs very well meaning and meant as a way to uplift someone feeling down about their WL - your best bet is to log off and ignore it .
Unfortunately- this WL thing is just a bear and impossible for anyone to predict.
And this probably wonât make anyone feel better at all, but in some ways it might better explain what happened yesterday :
This year was a record shattering - very competitive year for ALL boarding schools - that much I know for sure without question.
I believe the economy and greater BS awareness ( and greater acceptance- if you will - that BS is a viable and excellent educational alternative not expressly reserved for wealthy families⊠blah, blah, blah ) were the two main drivers this year- unlike other years in the past.
Everyone got slammed by apps from very qualified candidates- so even if you are waitlisted, you still deserve enormous praise and should be very, very proud. I sincerely mean it - even if some people are really tired of hearing it - I get it.
So to wrap up - it kills me to say this because it feels overly simplistic or almost callous under these circumstances - but - in a nutshell: You just have to brace for the absolute worst and hope for the best - there just isnât any other option available to anyone on a WL unless they swiftly move on to Plan B or start over again for next year.
Easier said than done ( for sure ) , but just hang in there and let the next month play outâŠ
All the best and good luck everyone!! Iâll definitely keep my fingers crossed for you, @kids42moms !!
@itsawrap Thank you for your response! Financial aid plays a big part in my application, so I know being on the waitlist, and in need of financial aid wonât really help me. Also, on the waitlist email they explained the waitlist is not ranked, so do you know how they would look at it if there were openings? Like would it be random, is there a certain order, etc.
My D who is in college now was admitted off the WL to Cate, and I was admitted off the WL to Andover in the late 80âs. So it absolutely does happen!
The reason schools donât rank is that they look at the admitted pool and who doesnât matriculate, and then they go to the WL based on where there are gaps. For example, I was admitted off the WL as an 11th grader to Andover probably because another 11th grade girl didnât accept admission, and they gave me her boarding spot (âbedâ).
Do extracurriculars really have that much of an impact on admission? Iâm starting to think that may have been an aspect of my waitlistedness
This is a question about WL emails. I read post #2545 commented by @PhotographerMom about how WL emails should be sweet and short, and I have a few other questions.
Iâm an eighth grader and I applied to seven boarding schools - Exeter, Andover, Groton, Choate, and Hotchkiss included. I got waitlisted at all of them and Iâm desperate to improve my chances of getting off the waitlist since theyâre my top choices and I would love, love, love attending any one of them so much. Iâm planning on sending emails to the AOs and my interviewers from each of the schools, but Iâm stuck on figuring out what to write and how long the emails should be.
How long is too long? Should I simply state that Iâd love to attend their school and express that I hope to be off the waitlist soon? Or can I also add why I want to go there and say what I could contribute to the school community?
Iâve been really stressed and freaked out ever since I got my decisionsâŠI really wasnât expecting one waitlist after another. I would really appreciate it if any of you could help, thank you so much!
^ @mondaydevil , maybe. Schools know that kids at this age are dependent on their parents for a lot of ECs, especially if they arenât a school program. They take $ and transportation and for many families, 1 or both just arenât available.
BUT ECs can be a way for a kid to develop an interesting skill or show that they are interested in something and engaged. So other applicants could have stood out in as way that you didnât.
If you have the resources to get involved with something that excites you, go for it. It doesnât have to be about applications, but about expanding your own possibilities.
Pandemic fear hit the world. This yearâs waitlist and BS in general may be very different from those of previous years. My sonâs current BS is on the verge of declaring online classes for its current students for indefinite duration - it will hold meetings and announce the decision next week. Many internationals would have to pack home for summer if it does, for they have nowhere to stay with such lingering uncertainties.
Further down the road, in case of protraction, the effect would be tantamount to converting BS to OHS in pedagogy on BS price terms, which may not be acceptable to many parents.
The first test would be this semester and the coming fall enrollment. I see so much uncertainty, including waitlist movements. Worst come worst, BS may have to ask and beg, one by one, those on the waitlist (I would guess it is much bigger than usual, if the schools had the foresight) to enroll for the fall semester. Impossible? Anything is possible. Many parents would opt for local, instead if sening their kids to a BS that would teach online indefinitely. We have not reached there yet, but visibility is zero. Hold tight - the day may abruptly come that would make YOU to think twice before committing to your once dream school.