I’m new to the forum, and to the world of BS. We just went through the application process having entered the process with absolutely no prior knowledge of prep schools. My son was actually a recruited athlete at several schools and we spent an awful lot of time in virtual meetings getting to know schools, coaches and administrators. Most were incredibly informative and welcoming. We did, however, experience one bizarre session.
We joined the Zoom, and an AO and a College Counselor were speaking. Since it was at the time of the scheduled session, and since they LET us into the Zoom session, we assumed the meeting had already started. In fact, we were among the first to arrive and the CC was unaware of our presence. He was obviously gossiping about someone, and ended his end of the conversation by saying, “I guess we better stop talking about potential pedophiles.” The AO then informed him that invitees were joining and some were already in the room. Nobody acknowledged the misstep, nobody apologized for speaking out of turn, nothing. The presentation went on as planned, and frankly, even without that faux pas, the CC came off as condescending and gave us the impression that the school had an arrogance about it of which we wanted no part.
My son applied to four schools, all of which would probably be considered less prestigious than this elite BS. The coach at this school continued to reach out and was very personable and down to earth. The college counselor, however was the most lasting image associated with the school, and prevented this otherwise front runner from even being seriously considered. Just one unique experience that demonstrates the importance of virtual meetings and served as a “teachable moment” to illustrate to my teenage son Zoom etiquette.