GDS admission, drop off and pick up???

[Anonymous]

admission
I have a few questions about GDS admission:
GDS are saying 9.6 million for 2024-2025 financial aid to students (i.e about 278 students will receive). Are they accepting more students who need financial aid, than students who do not?? DO they accept more students who are considered student of color? it is my understanding that there is a large increase of student who are struggling at GDS?
Admission staff-
What is the diversity compositions of the admission staff and faculty? Does the admission team look to see who requires aid? Each year great academic students are turned away regardless of race and spots are given to students who are struggling academically.

Explain the drop off and pick up schedule for individual parent?
Are parent allowed to drive this child to school?
What is thepunshiment for parents if there is a default?

[Anonymous]

Please know that this crazy way of communicating is very off-putting and will reflect poorly on your application, if this is how you normally write and speak.

The GDS at a glance page answers a lot of your questions. You clearly have several misconceptions: https://www.gds.org/about/at-a-glance

[Anonymous]

I'm going to just go ahead and say based on your questions, GDS is probably not the school for you.

[Anonymous]

I hope you didnt ask these questions to admissions directly...

[Anonymous]

Yes it’s a lot of “special cases”, it increases each year, many of those kids struggle through it- all so the school can claim inclusivity.

[Anonymous]

Op is definitely implying that minority students are not up to par and are struggling at GDS and taking up all the available slots, and they don't deserve them. Op, there are so many things wrong with your way of thinking, but it's not worth arguing with you. Go ahead and ask the admissions committee exactly these questions. They deserve to know who you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope you didnt ask these questions to admissions directly...

No no, I hope they DO.

[Anonymous]

GDS is clearly not the school for your family. Like the PP, I hope you ask the admissions staff these questions directly. They need to know exactly what kind of person you are.

[Anonymous]

I don't know - there's also a lens on the OP's (admittedly sloppy) post that suggests they are a URM family trying to understand the landscape on the chances their kid would be accepted, get funding, and thrive...(especially because they seem to care whether admissions staff is diverse)

I'll answer the commute question - we have an older child - we are not supposed to drive our child to school in the AM unless we have a carpool where we bring another family's child with us. Afternoon is not an issue for arriving as a solo family for pick-up. Our DC takes the bus but we know of other families that do not - and probably fudge by dropping their child "somewhere else near campus". I can't speak to the penalty or how may families are "cheating" on carpool rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know - there's also a lens on the OP's (admittedly sloppy) post that suggests they are a URM family trying to understand the landscape on the chances their kid would be accepted, get funding, and thrive...(especially because they seem to care whether admissions staff is diverse)

I'll answer the commute question - we have an older child - we are not supposed to drive our child to school in the AM unless we have a carpool where we bring another family's child with us. Afternoon is not an issue for arriving as a solo family for pick-up. Our DC takes the bus but we know of other families that do not - and probably fudge by dropping their child "somewhere else near campus". I can't speak to the penalty or how may families are "cheating" on carpool rules.

This was my take as well. I think it is someone honestly trying to gage admission potential and if it’s a good fit based on other kids there

[Anonymous]

Is this true: Each year great academic students are turned away regardless of race and spots are given to students who are struggling academically

My understanding is that it was an extremely competitive school to get into especially for high school. And that no matter what you had to be able to meet the academic standards??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know - there's also a lens on the OP's (admittedly sloppy) post that suggests they are a URM family trying to understand the landscape on the chances their kid would be accepted, get funding, and thrive...(especially because they seem to care whether admissions staff is diverse)

I'll answer the commute question - we have an older child - we are not supposed to drive our child to school in the AM unless we have a carpool where we bring another family's child with us. Afternoon is not an issue for arriving as a solo family for pick-up. Our DC takes the bus but we know of other families that do not - and probably fudge by dropping their child "somewhere else near campus". I can't speak to the penalty or how may families are "cheating" on carpool rules.

Is this why people drop off on WI?
SO they don't get caught cheating on carpool rules?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this true: Each year great academic students are turned away regardless of race and spots are given to students who are struggling academically

My understanding is that it was an extremely competitive school to get into especially for high school. And that no matter what you had to be able to meet the academic standards??

Yes, of course that's true

[Anonymous]

OP, a lot of your questions can be addressed via the website. For instance, you can see all the admissions staff here:
https://www.gds.org/admissions/admissions-at-gds

24% of the school receives financial aid - so 3/4 of those accepted aren't receiving aid (on average) and 1/4 are.

They, like all private schools, accept kids for lots of reasons and talents - not just academic strength. So they don't just take the top academic performers, they also take kids who might be strong musicians, athletes, who speak multiple languages or children of alums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this true: Each year great academic students are turned away regardless of race and spots are given to students who are struggling academically

My understanding is that it was an extremely competitive school to get into especially for high school. And that no matter what you had to be able to meet the academic standards??

It seems like you are asking GDS to kick out students who are facing academic challenges to make space for new ones. As an outsider, I can see where maybe this seems like a good idea. But as a member of the GDS community, I would like to be at a school where the faculty and administration care about working with a child who is facing challenges and hopefully help them to work through it. Of course, if a student's family eventually determines that the student's needs are beyond what the school can provide, then the family should 100% consider finding a better match.

As for the second question - you have to remember that when a child is admitted at a young age, some learning challenges are not yet apparent. There will always be cases where a family finds their child may need a different school to best meet their needs. But it is also the case that GDS will not expect every student in HS to be getting straight A's (in fact this is hard!!) and there will be students getting a wide range of grades. Being a competitive school means it has challenging options - it doesn't mean every student will be in the hardest level classes and getting top grades.