Waitlisted at Awty and AOS - euphemism for rejection ? (Houston: schools, zoned)

[Ocdmama]

Anyone’s kid get accepted after being waitlisted at Awty or AOS? Or is it just a nice way of saying rejected?

[kasb713]

Actually most Wait Lists /Wait Pools are legitimate. In your post you mentioned Awty and AOS. Competitive schools often attract great kids who will no doubt have options. What the Admissions Office usually will do is make offers to students knowing that some will choose other schools, some may not work due to financial reasons and some may back out if they are moved from another school's Wait Pool. All students in the Wait Pool/ on the Wait List usually are qualified (and hopefully students a school will accept if there's room -otherwise why have a Wait Pool?). Wait Pools/ Wait Lists are necessary to fill a class in the event that the Admissions Office is not able to fill a class with the first round of accepted students. Most of Houston's schools are members of an organization called Houston Area Independent Schools. One of the organization's rules is that no school may require a family to enroll prior to April 11, 2018. Between now and April 11th families are making decisions on where to enroll their children. Generally accepted families will be letting AOS and Awty know their decisions in the next two to three weeks. Students accepted to those schools and not enrolled by the April 11th deadline will likely lose their spot. If anything has shifted, I imagine you'll be hearing from those schools around the April 11th timeframe.

Because of your doubts, and the fact that you don't have a ranking, I'm suspecting that Awty and AOS have moved to the Wait Pool system as opposed to a Wait List. Wait Lists are usually ranked -if a spot opens up, a school would reach out to Student #1's parents, then Student #2's parents, etc.

A Wait Pool System is where most schools are going. It means that if a spot opens up a school will consider "Which student is the best fit for the spot that we have available?." -Usually this is something considered at the Middle and Upper School Level, but it allows Admissions to consider if a class needs more boys/girls, whether they might want more athletes or musicians, or some other characteristic from an applicant to complement the class.

I know the Wait List/Wait Pool is a difficult place to be, but you may want to wait it out. Hopefully in the event that your child doesn't move in the Wait Pool, I hope you also have a back up.

Best wishes, and hoping your child gets to attend the school that's the best fit.

[Ocdmama]

Thank you Kasb713! that was extremely helpful.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

I have a friend who was put on a wait list for his son. It took about a year, but his son got in eventually, so there is just a lot of parents who want to put their kids in that school. Hang in there!

[dkag]

Be patient. Some families will drop come April 11th. Also important what grade you're applying to. If it's a natural entry point you have better chances.

[Lbjen]

Summer is also typically when most people with school age kids try to move.

[dthtx]

We are sitting in several lower school wait pools... fingers turning into raisins. ;-) AOS is one of them. I hope something opens up as we are zoned to an under-performing school (I used to teach in HISD - this school was on the TEA's 'bad' list several years ago).

[texasroots77]

I know its hard but be patient. Most new families have to confirm and make deposits by mid April. For families already at a school many require withdrawal by mid-end of April too. So you should see significant movement in WL by end of April.

[Ocdmama]

NOT AN EUPHEMISM!! LEGIT!!!
thank you all!

[kasb713]

Congratulations. I was actually thinking about you a few days ago.

I hope that you'll tell all of the schools your child won't be attending so that they may be able to let those people who might be in the situation your child was in know that a spot has opened up. Glad it turned out well.