Private School Admissions - 2019 (Dallas, Plano: credit card, school districts, colleges)

[Stringzs]

Not nervous but there is excitement/anticipation. I truly believe our kid will turn out great, because we will make sure of it. Also, it helps to have applied to some very good schools that are not as competitive, and we feel we'll get in somewhere.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by TexasTeacher3

Is anyone else getting nervous about decisions, yet?

Let's put it this way:

I'm generally laid back and don't get emotional about anything.
We live in a town with a fantastic public school system.
We applied to one school, had no connections, and didn't think it would likely happen. That was ok, bc we had a couple of other ideas.
That Friday afternoon, I was sitting in the studio watching my kid's martial arts class when the acceptance email came in.
I literally cried. Teared up and had to take deep breaths so I would not full on cry.


So, yeah...the process can be tough on the nerves even when you think you're not invested.

Best wishes. I do hope y'all come back here to report how it went.

[jbsb]

Originally Posted by stan4

Let's put it this way:

I'm generally laid back and don't get emotional about anything.
We live in a town with a fantastic public school system.
We applied to one school, had no connections, and didn't think it would likely happen. That was ok, bc we had a couple of other ideas.
That Friday afternoon, I was sitting in the studio watching my kid's martial arts class when the acceptance email came in.
I literally cried. Teared up and had to take deep breaths so I would not full on cry.


So, yeah...the process can be tough on the nerves even when you think you're not invested.

Best wishes. I do hope y'all come back here to report how it went.

That brings back memories. My wife and I met up in the afternoon to get the news together and were calm/excited as the positive results came in, but one school in particular had us both full on crying.

For the folks worrying about CATS scores, we have one child with insanely high scores (all very superior) and another with good scores (high average to superior). Both are at the same school and absolutely thriving.

Best of luck to all that are applying.

[gotnone1]

Thanks jbsb and stan, it really helps to hear from other parents that have gone through this rather stressful period and come out alright!

All this work and stress for early education, I hope my son one day appreciates it! ha

[cordata]

This thread prompts me to ask ... since so many rich people are so willing to spend so much money to send their kids to these schools, why aren't more such schools founded ? Conversely why don't the existing schools raise their tuition -- sounds like they could easily double it and still get enough qualified applicants. ???

[stan4]

Cost- benefit ratio. They're right on the edge as it is.

[Waterdragon8212]

Originally Posted by cordata

This thread prompts me to ask ... since so many rich people are so willing to spend so much money to send their kids to these schools, why aren't more such schools founded ? Conversely why don't the existing schools raise their tuition -- sounds like they could easily double it and still get enough qualified applicants. ???

Don't be so certain that all of these people are "rich." It may look like it from the outside, but many of these schools give 15-20% of students financial aid and faculty member's kids often get half price tuition (if they get in.) Also, at least at our school, there is a desire to maintain some sort of SES diversity. While the schools that exist could theoretically double their tuition, it would decrease income diversity substantially and prohibit many of the financial aid families that are there right now from ever applying in the first place. Not to mention everyone, (yes, even scholarship families) are asked to contribute yearly to the schools on top of tuition. You can't hike the price to double the rate and still ask families to donate and think it's gonna work out well...(Stan4 said this much more succinctly and beat me to my posting, lol!)

It takes a long time for a school's reputation to be established and for people to actually justify paying $30K a year for education. Plus, where would they put these hypothetical new schools? And how would they compete with the elites? It's hard for me to imagine that if a new school opened today, it would be reputable enough before my kids graduated to warrant paying the tuition we are paying now. Reputation isn't everything, but it is definitely a HUGE factor in why people scrimp, save, and sacrifice to send their kids to these schools.

To everyone waiting on admissions decisions - hang in there! The last few weeks are excruciating and there really isn't any way around that, but hopefully, many of you will feel a huge sigh of relief or tears of joy on the 8th!

[debtex]

Originally Posted by gotnone1

Thanks jbsb and stan, it really helps to hear from other parents that have gone through this rather stressful period and come out alright!

All this work and stress for early education, I hope my son one day appreciates it! ha

I remember the full-body rush with the first notice - we were happy enough where he was and applied with the "you'll never know unless you try" mantra. It was the same with the second, the emotions are kind of nuts.

They both thank us regularly for supporting them this way - they are both very aware of what a privilege it is to go to their school. Yours will too...

Good luck!!

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by cordata

This thread prompts me to ask ... since so many rich people are so willing to spend so much money to send their kids to these schools, why aren't more such schools founded ? Conversely why don't the existing schools raise their tuition -- sounds like they could easily double it and still get enough qualified applicants. ???

Tuition has gone up significantly in recent years. I think the elites would have a rash of withdrawals if tuition hiked to the $55-60k range overnight - or have to accept a lower caliber group whose parents can foot the bill.

Yes, there are a lot of rich families in the area but don’t neglect counting the large percentage of families who sacrifice (whatever sacrifice means to them be it smaller houses, less vacations, both parents needing to work, older cars, etc) to come up with tuition. I would venture to guess the percentage of families who pay tuition up front and those who have to pay in monthly installments is about the same.

New schools need real estate, a **** ton of money, the ability to lure away established educators and administrators and families willing to take a risk on an unknown entity. Not an easy road.

[liblemon]

Will the CATS score increases with the kid's age? Are the 5 yrs and 6yrs in the same pool? I am kind curious about it.