For folks posting that they were waitlisted everywhere

[Anonymous]

Curious how many schools you applied to and what those schools are. I know people talk about the need for a "safety" school -- but unlike college, I just don't get the sense that there are that many schools. Anyway, appreciate if folks are willing to share.

[Anonymous]

Applied to 6, WL everywhere. Definitely some I'd considered to be safety schools in there. Competitive child, good grades, interviewed well, but not athletic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applied to 6, WL everywhere. Definitely some I'd considered to be safety schools in there. Competitive child, good grades, interviewed well, but not athletic.

What's your back up plan?

[Anonymous]

Applied for 9th, did not apply to any of the most competitive schools. Son has a mix of As and B pluses, and is a three sport athlete, but just decent at all 3 sports, so not an athletic recruit. Not sure what happened. We were applying from public.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear OP. Both my husband and I are immigrants and are still surprised to see how much weight athletics is being given when it comes to school admissions in the US, especially for boys.
Our son got waitlisted in all 3 “ competitive schools “ he applied for. He’s a very bright student with stellar A+s, great character but average athlete .
The average athlete part seems to be the kiss of death when it comes to the top schools. It seems that unless the kid is TJ smart , elite athlete , or a diversity candidate , there isn’t much of a chance at the competitive schools.
Unfortunately , just being a great , bright and well rounded kid doesn’t cut it anymore

[Anonymous]

The average athlete part seems to be the kiss of death when it comes to the top schools. It seems that unless the kid is TJ smart , elite athlete , or a diversity candidate , there isn’t much of a chance at the competitive schools.
Unfortunately , just being a great , bright and well rounded kid doesn’t cut it anymore

Thank you, I was just shocked because we didn't apply to any of what are considered the most competitive schools. I knew he wouldn't get in everywhere we applied, but did not expect this. In addition to sports, he is a competitive chess player and does volunteer work with animals. I am really surprised at this outcome, but we will do our best to be happy in public.

[Anonymous]

There aren’t really any safety schools anymore, except public’s. My recommendation is to diversify the schools you are checking out because it’s hard to gain admission in this era. I have two sons and they got waitlisted at about 5 schools last year.

This year we added boarding schools to our list and applied to more day schools as well, got in our first choice, but waitlisted everywhere else. The boarding schools we applied to haven’t gotten back with decisions yet, but I think we have decided already.

[Anonymous]

Applied to 5, waitlisted at 4, DD got in top choice but without aid. Also entered DC lottery. No “safety” school as our IB is more than a little bit undesirable. We’ll consider a move to better ward with good IB if nothing works out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry to hear OP. Both my husband and I are immigrants and are still surprised to see how much weight athletics is being given when it comes to school admissions in the US, especially for boys.
Our son got waitlisted in all 3 “ competitive schools “ he applied for. He’s a very bright student with stellar A+s, great character but average athlete .
The average athlete part seems to be the kiss of death when it comes to the top schools. It seems that unless the kid is TJ smart , elite athlete , or a diversity candidate , there isn’t much of a chance at the competitive schools.
Unfortunately , just being a great , bright and well rounded kid doesn’t cut it anymore

Diversity doesn’t even matter anymore with all the applicants, they don’t need to make any exceptions for that anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applied to 5, waitlisted at 4, DD got in top choice but without aid. Also entered DC lottery. No “safety” school as our IB is more than a little bit undesirable. We’ll consider a move to better ward with good IB if nothing works out.

Stay in contact with the first choice, same thing happened with DS last year. He got in with no aid, but this year got in with all the aid we need.

[Anonymous]

We applied to 3 competitive schools so no surprises there that we got waitlisted. I was hoping dc would get in at least to one. Should have applied to extra 1-2, may be that would have made a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Diversity doesn’t even matter anymore with all the applicants, they don’t need to make any exceptions for that anymore.

Diversity certainly matters! A boy in my son’s class with way less qualifications got into 2 of the big 3 ( lower grades than son , average athlete, not nearly as active at school ).
I’m totally for giving opportunities for disadvantaged kids who are bright and promising … this kid was neither but checked the diversity box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Diversity doesn’t even matter anymore with all the applicants, they don’t need to make any exceptions for that anymore.

Diversity certainly matters! A boy in my son’s class with way less qualifications got into 2 of the big 3 ( lower grades than son , average athlete, not nearly as active at school ).
I’m totally for giving opportunities for disadvantaged kids who are bright and promising … this kid was neither but checked the diversity box.

He probably has a kinder mother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Diversity doesn’t even matter anymore with all the applicants, they don’t need to make any exceptions for that anymore.

Diversity certainly matters! A boy in my son’s class with way less qualifications got into 2 of the big 3 ( lower grades than son , average athlete, not nearly as active at school ).
I’m totally for giving opportunities for disadvantaged kids who are bright and promising … this kid was neither but checked the diversity box.

I have a lower middle class URM kid. Accepted, no aid at one school. Waitlisted everywhere else. All other boxes seemed checked -- recommendations, grades, sport, music, extracurricular/interest-based academic pursuits -- but we have very little money at this time.

It is not a guarantee that "diverse" will earn a spot anywhere. We didn't bank on that, of course, because that would be gross. We applied w/the same hopes and dreams as anyone else who needs aid.

[Anonymous]

So the aid is given to athlete recruits over applicants who truly need the aid?