<p>just declined offer to Lawrenceville in case anyone is interested.</p>
<p>S was put on DS waitlist and I knew 10th grade would have some space issues. I hope he gets off the waitlist but if he doesn't, I'm not going to call all over the city for another option or have regrets; I will instead just know that I am saving $19k/year, countless hours commute time and the hassle of him having to change schools...My backup plan mostly consists of engaging myself into his classes/classload, and getting him in some competitive summer programs. This is a different situation from the BS because he is in a great public school anyway. Such is the hassle when you try too hard I guess...</p>
<p>If my D was in a great public school we wouldn't be on this forum. Good for you for having that as an option. My D's school only offers 2 AP classes (they're "elitist"), doesn't have a class rank (ditto), and usually requires students to make posters or art works to express thought rather than write papers. On the rare occasions when writing is required there is no thought or guidance on the writing. If my daughter relied on the school to teach her to write she'd be illiterate. The science curriculum is obscenely stupid (her honors class watched "The Bee Movie" for 3 class periods for the botany input) and she knows more Spanish from her private elementary school than she has learned in high school.</p>
<p>laxtaxi: Is it safe to assume that you are not the PTA President?</p>
<p>laxtaxi: Is it safe to assume that you are not the PTA President? </p>
<p>Umm...yes, safe assumption. But I am very good friends with the principal and several of the teachers. They are well meaning, and there are some fine people there. There is no pervasive drug problem, no real issue with violence, the kids are pretty great, and we have many friends among the parents. Last year we donated substantial money so the school could buy needed electronic equipment for the drama department, the music department could acquire instruments, and the athletic department could buy uniforms and basic supplies. </p>
<p>We live in a rural state where the state budget is a mess, relatively wealthier towns (emphasis on relatively) have their state contributions cut more than poorer communities, and the local people just feel squeezed to death and want lower taxes. The result is that the education offerings have been in steady decline and will continue to decline for the foreseeable future. The guidance office has two counselors for 450 students. The gifted program is gone. The teachers give non-writing assignments because otherwise they would have to read and grade 60-80 papers each time.</p>
<p>laxtaxi, I am sorry you are in that situation in the richest country in the world(or atleast I think it still is..) I'm not bragging on public education in my state because we still rank in the bottom 5 in most surveys and noone wants to pay for educating our youth, but we are lucky enough to be in a large metro area's suburb where the schools are very well run in spite of it all. S's school offers MANY(I don't remember the number) of AP courses, does do student rankings and has much to offer. On the weak side, the college guidance office is mainly geared to steer students toward the state colleges and universities all of which state high school grads can attend for FREE with a minimum GPA and assuming you can get accepted. That has gotten tougher since students can go for free courtesy of the state education lottery. With S being on the high end of the academic side, I don't blame the school for not having enough offerings to challenge him. I would also like him to be in an environment where all students are striving for the top. I attended private school from 7-12 grade and I KNOW it made a difference in my life. These days a great public metro school may equal the private school I attended. For him, I am willing to take on the debt and inconvenience provided he ultimatley gets in the best in the city, which is the one where he is waitlisted.
One thing that sort of irks me currently is the comment I read often and that is that the elite universities are trying to get away from the appearance of being bastions for the wealthy elite and rather look for students of moderate means who have outperformed their socioeconomic status! How do they determine that? Won't Harvard and Yale ALWAYS be home to mostly the 'elite' and wealthy? How can they not be? Keep in mind that WE are NOT wealthy people, but only well educated people concerned with our kids getting an excellent education. It just sort of irritates me that the admissions committes may see us as too good someday for the school since we clearly don't qualify for free tuition under these new programs for lower/middle income people but we aren't wealthy enough to writes tuition checks either=just caught in the middle. Sorry for the soapbox, but hey, he is on the waitlist anyway, so I might as well downplay its importance for now...</p>
<p>Most bs do not do student rankings.</p>
<p>Laxtaxi: My son's prep does not calculate GPA or give a class rank. You will find this is pretty consistent in most private schools. I was told that schools freel that a GPA or rank is "distracting" and really takes away from the body of work the student has done. What many schools do is include a grid that shows the "range" of grades received by course for the junior year. That way a college will see that for example, in precalc there were no As, 2 B+, 20 Bs and a C and a D</p>
<p>i called andover and they said that they would be making calls for 10th graders in the next few weeks. hotchkiss said that they would be making calls next week, in case anyone is interested.</p>
<p>If one of the schools is Taft, you are very unlikely to get off the waitlist. My friend was accepted yesterday and he was told that very few people will be taken off at Taft.</p>
<p>It is interesting to hear the problems of public schools. While no kid left behind is great for the lower half, it obviously has been a great thing for boarding schools. I would never have considered a prep school several years ago. Yet, at our public school, of a class size of 1000, more seniors get into ivy league schools then exeter or SPS. But, you have to be in the top (which is not hard).</p>
<p>Having a class of 12 instead of 30 is obviously a big advantage. etc.</p>
<p>as to wait lists, who knows. My take is that with the over acceptance, few get off it. I am on a med school admission committee and we accept enough that we rarely take someone off the waitlist.</p>
<p>We are off the waitlist!!! Choate called and we accepted. What a relief! Just for info for my friends sitting by your phones, we were told Groton would probably not be going to their waitlist, after getting an inquiry from them earlier in the week as to our interest. Also, just to make you really crazy, one of my younger kids answered our phone while adults/older kids were outside and gave me the message that "some woman from some school called and wants you to call them back" and then she has not called back in two days! If were had not already accepted, I would have to call each school and try to figure out who called. I am beginning to think that schools just call down the lists until they get a willing body to accept. Also, if you are waitlisted, Choate would not even give us 24 hours to think it over - now we really didn't need it, but it really felt uncomfortably pressured. Until we got in somewhere, we did not want our child to decide which school was "the" perfect place because we didn't want to be mentally hopeful. Sounds dumb, but that is the truth. Good luck to the rest of you waiting . . . . Last year we waited at Deerfield until July, only to hear they took no one off at all. Thanks everyone for all of your advice!</p>
<p>omg CONGRATULATIONS ABOUT CHOATE!!!!!
WOOOHOOOOO!!!
:D</p>
<p>Any one hear from Peddie ?</p>
<p>o and for 10 grade girls waitlisted at andover and hotchkiss, there's hope for you too! i hear that they're going to take off a couple kids!</p>
<p>Westminster went to thier wait list. Not sure of the details yet, will know more in a couple of days. They ARE giving applicants time and at least one other school is allowing an applicant more time to send in the contact or not due to the last minute (like April 10 aroun 1 pm) offer from the other school.</p>
<p>Called Lawrenceviile's admission this morning, and I'm told there are already small movement on wait list.</p>
<p>"schools just call down the lists until they get a willing body to accept"</p>
<p>That's what I thought some schools would do -- when all of the students on a waitlist are of equal caliber, why not just keep calling until you hear a "yes"? then it is a for sure, and the admission office can move on.</p>
<p>Call forwarding is a great invention!</p>