Now that it's over, tell me about the good and bad experiences you had with admissions offices

[Anonymous]

St Patrick's! Easy to get in. No issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We met with the head of admissions at GDS for our son’s interview. We found her straight forward, curious about our son, and warm. I think information she wanted about us as parents she gleaned by observation with our interactions with our son. We shared what we saw as his strengths, but also where we thought he could benefit from a GDS education - that he was not getting in his public school. Honestly wasn’t sure if the interview was a ‘success’ or not. When we emailed the admissions office she promptly responded to the emails herself. My kid chose not to interview at other schools- so can’t compare to other admission offices - but the school felt right to him based on this experience and what he picked up from remote information. Think she is trying to figure out which kids will be the best fit for GDS, with her longevity quality of the students they are bringing in, expect she is doing something right.

Did he get in? What grade?

Yes, got in. Ninth grade, but don’t think it was obvious to anyone that would be the outcome. I think a good interviewer is paying attention to a lot of verbal and nonverbal information and sometimes taking notes. So, my impression is the focus is on ascertaining is this kid going to be a good fit, with the focus by the interviewer be on taking notes that to allow recall re: the details about this kid. That was my expectation, as opposed to an effort to present the school to the kid / parents who are being interviewed. There were many other venues for that during the application ‘season’. .

Urm or lgbtqia or SJW profile helps as well. Playing a couple team sports would help the school too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a GDS parent, I am so frustrated by the feedback I hear year after year about the admissions department. They are not organized and in some cases not even friendly to prospective families. I hear this all the time from friends applying across the different grades. In particular, the head of admisssions for the HS has been there forever and seems burned out.

There is an arrogance to it that makes me furious. It seems GDS's attitude is like - take us or leave us - we have a million applicants.

My kids love GDS and are getting a great education but I do not want ANY potential family with a great kid turned pff by the process!!

We should be marketing to every family and cultivating every potential applicant. Russell please listen to this feedback and make some changes!

We had a great experience with GDS HS admissions. Our interviewer spent a long time chatting with us and made us all feel welcome. We also attended all of the virtual events we could with them (you can attend multiple open house virtual events). Super excited our son got in and will attend in the fall.

I do think that families interviewing for 9th need to let their child do most of the talking and only chime in occasionally to add detail. Also be prepared to ask some interesting/specific questions to keep the conversation going versus just a Q& A.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my DC's classmate's family had an unprofessional experience with admissions at Flint Hill. The admissions department acted as if they were just a number. They were so disorganized that the admissions person forgot about their scheduled interview. Their child attends a highly regarded private school and is an athlete and an excellent student. The child was accepted to every school they applied to: FH, Potomac, and GDS. They had originally thought their DC would attend FH, but after such an unimpressive showing by the admissions department at FH, their child is going to attend GDS.

This surprises me as we easily had our best admissions experience with Flint Hill. To anyone reading who is considering applying, I highly suggest going on a summer tour. It was a great way to get nice one-on-one time with admissions when they probably have more time. We went to all the events we could attend, both virtual and in-person and developed a nice relationship with the admissions officer. One of our favorite virtual events out of all the schools we toured was the virtual parent Q&A they offered where it was just FH parents and perspective parents on a call without admissions. Was a great chance to get all questions answered that you might not want to ask admissions. Our child was admitted but ultimately chose another school, but the FH admissions process was a big draw for us.

[Anonymous]

BUMP.

Two week countdown is on, so let's hear them!

[Anonymous]

Maret—cold and not engaged, kind of judgy, obviously looking for just one type of kid, kind of rude and sarcastic at one point

GDS-great open house, awful interview process

Burke—no one answers emails or calls, ever. No one updates the portal.

Bullis—strange that they don’t let people tour before applying

DeMatha—should probably tell student tour guides to be more professional

Prep—good experience, awfully obvious that some kids getting in because of siblings or athletic ability

[Anonymous]

Well it’s not over so too soon to say.

[Anonymous]

Beauvoir was so unbelievably unpleasant. The head of admissions could not have been any less welcoming or warm. We are applying from out of town and it was the only school we immediately crossed off of our list.

[Anonymous]

For high school,

Maret - The admissions staff didn’t make a great impression on us. Others mileage will vary.

St. Albans - Solid. Tour was really good. Staff professional and maybe a little formal.

Potomac - Very good. Great tour and admissions staff very nice. Kind of weird there is no parent interview since most other schools do it but happy not to have to do it.

Bullis - Maybe a little too much focus on sports and the arts on the tour. Very nice staff and school.

[Anonymous]

Great experience with Landon’s admin process

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir was so unbelievably unpleasant. The head of admissions could not have been any less welcoming or warm. We are applying from out of town and it was the only school we immediately crossed off of our list.

Interesting bc we had the complete opposite experience for a pre-k tour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir was so unbelievably unpleasant. The head of admissions could not have been any less welcoming or warm. We are applying from out of town and it was the only school we immediately crossed off of our list.

This was my impression from Beauvoir as well. I was really turned off in the admissions process. My kid was accepted, but we ended up choosing another school we had a better experience with. I appreciate that others had a different experience, but I really didn't like how it went for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maret—cold and not engaged, kind of judgy, obviously looking for just one type of kid, kind of rude and sarcastic at one point

GDS-great open house, awful interview process

Burke—no one answers emails or calls, ever. No one updates the portal.

Bullis—strange that they don’t let people tour before applying

DeMatha—should probably tell student tour guides to be more professional

Prep—good experience, awfully obvious that some kids getting in because of siblings or athletic ability

I know exactly who that was. It's so obvious at this point. She does the school no favors at all.

[Anonymous]

Stone Ridge:

-Had a herd-like open house - very disorganized.
-Also interviewed my daughter with the interviewer's camera turned off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maret—cold and not engaged, kind of judgy, obviously looking for just one type of kid, kind of rude and sarcastic at one point

GDS-great open house, awful interview process

Burke—no one answers emails or calls, ever. No one updates the portal.

Bullis—strange that they don’t let people tour before applying

DeMatha—should probably tell student tour guides to be more professional

Prep—good experience, awfully obvious that some kids getting in because of siblings or athletic ability

Well at least it's not just us, lol. Seems very disorganized over there.