Private School Wait List - Update (how much, neighborhood, private schools)

[NNS1978]

I was curious if anyone that had a child wait listed for lower school at any of the intown private schools was lucky enough to get into their choice of school off of the wait list. My child went through the admission process for pre-first this year & was wait listed at our first choice of school. We were lucky enough to get into our second school choice so we are set for next year, but I know many others that were wait listed and it seems no one I know has moved off of the wait lists for any of the schools. I was just curious if there has been much movement this year. Also, has anyone been able to get any constructive feedback from the schools about the reason their child was wait listed? We asked but just heard how competitive a year it was & that there was an unusually high number of applicants for pre-first. I was expecting to hear more about my child's performance & things we could work on. Thanks in advance!

[dblackga]

You aren't going to get "constructive feedback" on your child's performance -- because that would suggest that the entire admission process is merit-based. In some cases, yes -- but it's not just merit. It's a balance of boys and girls, it's consideration of siblings of current students/families, some diversity considerations . . .

It's a nice thought that there might be "things you could work on" but when you get right down to it -- no matter how much you worked your kid over, there's always going to be a different consideration that you have no control over.

Moving on . . .

[lastminutemom]

Originally Posted by NNS1978

I was curious if anyone that had a child wait listed for lower school at any of the intown private schools was lucky enough to get into their choice of school off of the wait list. My child went through the admission process for pre-first this year & was wait listed at our first choice of school. We were lucky enough to get into our second school choice so we are set for next year, but I know many others that were wait listed and it seems no one I know has moved off of the wait lists for any of the schools. I was just curious if there has been much movement this year. Also, has anyone been able to get any constructive feedback from the schools about the reason their child was wait listed? We asked but just heard how competitive a year it was & that there was an unusually high number of applicants for pre-first. I was expecting to hear more about my child's performance & things we could work on. Thanks in advance!

Actually, last year, after hearing this and that about record levels of applications, a friend who is a reporter set out to do some research. She found that at most schools that were willing to share (and this was a range of private schools from the tippy top to "neighborhood" type private schools) none reported a significant increase from the year before. At some schools, there just are a lot of applications for those intake years like pre-first.

I bet you end up loving where you land and will want to stay there.

Most competitive schools turn away as many qualified applicants as they accept. As dblack pointed out, there are so many factors that go into the formation of a class.

[AtlJan]

The movement from the wait lists takes place between the notification date and the response deadline and a few days afterwards. Beyond that, you are more likely to get struck by lightning than to get in off the wait list. The good news is your second choice will become your first choice as soon as you walk through the doors and start loving it!