<p>@twinsmama I saw that you posted on this thread, and I think I yelped a little “yay!” Pulling for me, pulling for you, pulling for everyone stuck in this horrible limbo…</p>
<p>The crazy thing is that I don’t think I was naive about being accepted. I don’t think I was nuts to believe I’d have options, and the same goes for you.</p>
<p>ChoatieMom is right - we are pulling for you all!</p>
<p>I love the internet. <3</p>
<p>@twinsmama @stargirl Are there schools that do rolling admissions that you might apply to? </p>
<p>@Msclvr I’ve looked at a couple, but I doubt they’ll be able to fund me.</p>
<p>We’re in the same boat as Stargirl. And there is certainly no actual need for boarding school in our case. We live in a safe area with decent schools, and I assume AOs figured that in when deciding how to allocate their places and funds for FA applicants. Still, being a mama, I couldn’t help hoping that my cubs’ dreams would be fulfilled. </p>
<p>I’m so ready to be out of this school system. The high school is huge, and while some might consider it decent, it really only is for the perfectly average student. I think coming from a town where the schools are worse would’ve improved my chances. </p>
<p>My girl is in the same waitlist hell. 5 beautifully phrased WL letters telling her that they love her BUT…</p>
<p>TwinsMama, I get your point. If you are FP, it is easy to guess what they liked about you. If you are asking for aid, it is just as easy to assume that you (the applicant) did something wrong. </p>
<p>It’s 3:30 in the morning as I write this and I’ve been lying awake thinking about everything I probably did wrong! Funny what a turnaround I made. I never would have imagined that I would consider boarding school for my children, and now I am completely convinced that it would be the best thing for them, particularly for my son, who started this whole odyssey for us. And I know now that I didn’t do everything possible to maximize his chances.</p>
<p>The fact, that they have each been WL by a number of great schools, shows that they are strong qualified candidates. You will be a happy mom next time around. Also, there is still a chance to get off the WL.</p>
<p>Would you consider another schools with rolling admission?</p>
<p>@twinsmama I can totally relate to the biggest factor being money. I’m a second year applicant and we got good news this time around, but last year we weren’t as lucky. When we were looking back at what we could have done differently, we realized that it wasn’t all on us; it’s that we simply couldn’t pay. What a difference it could have made if we could afford it!! Getting into a school is one battle; getting FA is another. It’s unfortunate how the latter can determine the other.</p>
<p>You did what you could for your kids at the time. Applying to boarding schools is a learning experience, and I know as a person who would need about 80% FA, we (my family and I) went into everything a little naive last year about the boarding school application process. After March 10, we kind of figured out how it worked, what we could’ve improved, etc. That came in handy big time this year.</p>
<p>It’s really great that your son is looking ahead to next year and applying again. Last year about this time, I was like your daughter. I was never going to apply to boarding school(s) again because they “didn’t want me.” By September, that changed. I realized boarding school was what I wanted after starting my new school. It took a while to convince my parents to do it all again, but by the end of October, we had started the process and were busy until January. Your daughter still has lots of time to change her mind, and her brother’s determination at trying again could sway her at some point.</p>
<p>I’m really pulling for you guys! (As well as @stargirl3 !)</p>
<p>Thanks for the supportive words. I certainly have learned a lot from everyone on this forum and from going through the process. The main thing I regret is that instead of listening to AOs sell their schools, I should have seized the opportunity to “sell” my children. I and my children were too modest and restrained throughout the process. I didn’t want to bother anyone or to brag. I was wrong. I thought I was overrating their abilities because I am their mother but now I see that, in overcompensating for my motherly tendencies, I underrated them instead.</p>
<p>I should have said very clearly that my children are likely to be stars in their areas of interest at any high school (as well as bringing up/keeping up the standardized test averages that everyone looks at) and supported my opinion with videos/portfolios/awards/whatever. I should have made contact with faculty in their areas of interest, because my kids were reluctant to do so (they are in a large public middle school where teachers are far less approachable than they seem to be in prep schools). </p>
<p>I also wonder whether my children’s individual chances were diminished because they are twins. Perhaps schools found it difficult to consider them separately and just saw a huge double-size financial aid bundle. Unfortunately, at my son’s favorite school, my husband (overconfident about my son’s chances) tried to make them seem like a package. I don’t know whether that affected anything, though. </p>
<p>Well, enough obsessing for one day. Once we know their fates, I will put some of this into the “if you could do it again” thread. But I do wonder what all you parents out there think - particularly those of you whose children were not only admitted but offered significant FA - about my perception that I should have tried to “sell” my children. Do you feel you did that?</p>
<p>I think it is the children who should “sell” themselves first during their interviews and the parents would supplement afterwards with the AOs. In a year, the twins will shine without any bragging. The double-size financial aid bundle point may be valid. Do they not want to apply to different schools? </p>
<p>Yeah, I’m in the camp that all the “selling” belongs to the student. We didn’t contact anyone or get involved in the process beyond submitting the parent statements where we did a forthright job of presenting our son as a real kid. We did not point out any awards or make him sound like a prodigy in any way; there were other places on the application for him to fill in those blanks. Three years in, and I have yet to step inside the admissions office. We also applied for FA though we ended up being FP (at great sacrifice as I have detailed in earlier threads). My best guess for why he was accepted was a combination of FP and under-represented state. The problem is, you most likely will never know the real reason for the acceptance or WL or rejection, so you shouldn’t be beating yourself up.</p>
<p>I think the kids should basically sell themselves as well, but I think that can include portfolios/videos, if they have some interesting/unique/high level accomplishments (and it’s fine if the parents help make the videos and send them in-- I just wouldn’t do it with much parental comment). As far as the twins thing, I know this is just anecdotal, but I do know a set of twins that had the same thing happen last year (although they also probably should have applied to more schools than they did, given that they needed FA). They applied to the same schools as one another, except for one (the girl did apply to one all-girls school). They were WL everywhere except the all-girls school, where the girl did get FA but decided not to go (she instead decided to stay with her brother and they are attending a local charter school). The parents called one of the two schools that wait listed them and were told flat out it was because of the double FA award that would have been needed. The parents asked if they could just get FA for the boy, and the girl would attend the all girls school (where she got FA). They were told at THAT point, the FA dollars were all committed, so no. So, if you do try again, I think it CAN be an issue.</p>
<p>OK, so maybe my middle-of-the-night obsessing was on the wrong track. Never mind (said in my best Roseanne Rosannadanna voice). Don’t know what to do about the twin thing. Put one up for adoption? Sell them instead of “sell” them? Any takers? They are house trained, but they do eat a lot.</p>
<p>Oh… Sorry…I guess that didn’t help. I DO know a set of twins that did get in this year to the same place with at least some FA, if that helps at all. I guess I was just thinking that, if you do go down this road again, unless they strongly want to be together, maybe applying to different schools would be the way to go. Of course, some siblings get FA from the same school, so twins SHOULDN’T be that different. Lots of luck this year and in the future-- I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts (and I didn’t mean to make things worse).</p>
<p>You certainly didn’t make things worse!! I really appreciate your input. (Note to self: do not forget to use smiley faces!) :-)</p>