Notification Date

[Anonymous]

I think pp is correct that it’s weird this year because of how late the first Friday in March is. Schools are probably considering when their spring breaks (and therefore admissions office closures) are. For example, STA spring break starts March 15. If decisions went out March 7, the responses wouldn’t be due until March 21 and admissions would have to be open and responsive during break - and admitted families would have less opportunity for events and shadow days while the school was open. So STA pushed the notification date back to Feb 28 probably to give a clear two weeks before spring break. Other schools are likely in similar positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Used to be Catholic/Catholic independents announced a week before independent schools, but this year the dates are all over the place. Prep is 2/27, Bullis 2/28, SR 3/7, Landon 2/28, STA 2/28, Holton 3/7. We have twins (girl and boy) so tracking quite a few schools with Bullis being their overlap.

Bullis, STA, and Landon were not early in any previous year that I know of.

It's weird that the entire AISGW wouldn't just shift together.

Note that some schools have always had spring break immediately or shortly after notifications (Potomac)

[Anonymous]

I think PP has a good point about spring break impacting the date.

[Anonymous]

It’s unfair to give families 3 weeks to decide vs 2 weeks. Especially if you’re tracking multiple schools with different notification dates. Not to mention a lot of the accepted family events happen on the same day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s unfair to give families 3 weeks to decide vs 2 weeks. Especially if you’re tracking multiple schools with different notification dates. Not to mention a lot of the accepted family events happen on the same day.

I don’t think they are giving three weeks. It’s still two weeks, the dates are just shifted.

And there have always been conflicts for accepted family event dates. There are limited options.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the school. Some like Bullis are giving 3 weeks. Contracts due the 21st.

[Anonymous]

I’d chalk it up to just being a weird year. All of these schools usually comply with the first Friday in March, but with it being so late they’ve all responded differently to accommodate. The AISGW didn’t change its recommendation, and that recommendation made things difficult for several schools this year because of a calendar quirk. Sh!t happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s unfair to give families 3 weeks to decide vs 2 weeks. Especially if you’re tracking multiple schools with different notification dates. Not to mention a lot of the accepted family events happen on the same day.

usually it's two weeks - but the timing is just shifted

if Bullis is allowing 3 weeks - I think they are playing a game, trying to get a jump on other schools to get to the kids/families first. Don't know about Landon (whether they give 3 weeks this year).

[Anonymous]

A lot of schools are 2/28 and a lot are 3/7. This split has always been the case but the thing that’s weird this year is that there does seem to be a guiding reason for why one group is announcing earlier vs later (Catholics in the past were part of the early group). I think PP is correct re timing of spring break. It’s much harder to see what the turnaround decision date is for schools so can’t really comment on the two or three week window advantage.

[Anonymous]

*does NOT seem to be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of schools are 2/28 and a lot are 3/7. This split has always been the case but the thing that’s weird this year is that there does seem to be a guiding reason for why one group is announcing earlier vs later (Catholics in the past were part of the early group). I think PP is correct re timing of spring break. It’s much harder to see what the turnaround decision date is for schools so can’t really comment on the two or three week window advantage.

The difference has been that AISGW were the first Friday in March. This has been the case for over a decade, so it's odd that Bullis and Landon are not following protocol this year.

https://www.aisgw.org/member-schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s unfair to give families 3 weeks to decide vs 2 weeks. Especially if you’re tracking multiple schools with different notification dates. Not to mention a lot of the accepted family events happen on the same day.

How is this "unfair"? Schools want families that want to attend--two weeks is plenty of time to make that decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of schools are 2/28 and a lot are 3/7. This split has always been the case but the thing that’s weird this year is that there does seem to be a guiding reason for why one group is announcing earlier vs later (Catholics in the past were part of the early group). I think PP is correct re timing of spring break. It’s much harder to see what the turnaround decision date is for schools so can’t really comment on the two or three week window advantage.

The difference has been that AISGW were the first Friday in March. This has been the case for over a decade, so it's odd that Bullis and Landon are not following protocol this year.

https://www.aisgw.org/member-schools

I understand. But there are a lot of schools (not just Bullis and Landon) that have shifted earlier this year. STA, SAES, GPrep are as well. I'm sure there are others as well, but those are the ones that we are familiar with.

[Anonymous]

Are admissions packages only for high school or Kindergarten/all grades too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are admissions packages only for high school or Kindergarten/all grades too?

What do you mean by admissions packages? The swag that gets sent from some schools?