How to Decline

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I would decline the waitlist offer. They don't necessarily ask you to, but it's one less thing for the admissions people to worry about so I suspect they appreciate it

Thanks. What about the third offer that we have no intent to take.

Decline quickly. Say you have an offer from another school that you feel is a better fit. If they respond and ask which one, you can reply to that when you make your decision.

[Anonymous]

Within a week, I let a MD boys' school know why we selected a DC boys' school. The AD wished my son good luck and let us know my son had made a very favorable impression on the staff.

Be nice and compliment the school and staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quickly.

+1000000

We got one reject and 2 wait lists. You are incredibly lucky to have a choice. Be polite but do so quickly so the school can offer the place to a family who is still hoping and waiting.

I wish it worked that way but it doesn't. If someone declines an admission offer it does NOT automatically "open" a slot for someone else unless the school's yield is lower than expected.

Schools admit more kids than they hope to enroll, just as airlines overbook flights. Schools assume that not every accepted student will enroll, and they look at past "yield" rates from accepted and waitlisted student to whom offers are made, and decide based on that how many students to admit.

Example, oversimplifying a bit: School X wants a class of about 75 kids and has no continuing students from a lower grade. In past the last ten years approximately 75% of admitted students have enrolled, so School X sends out acceptance letters to 100 kids. Just in case, they also wait list 50 kids. If patterns are consistent with prior years, this yields School X the 75 kids they want, and even though 25% of accepted students have declined to enroll, they DO NO ACCEPT ANYONE from the wait list.

Obviously in real life it is more complex, because schools are also leery of getting over-enrolled or having too many (boy/girls/athletes/artsy kids/whatever). So they tend to do a more complex analysis -- maybe admitted boys enroll more frequently than admitted girls, or whatever. As long as they have historically been able to get a decent yield rate when they accept wait-listed kids, they also usually build in the assumption that they will end up taking at least some kids off the wait list. Basically they are balancing the risk of over-enrollment against the risk of under-enrollment. It's not a science.

But I say this just to remind people that you just can't assume that one kid declining means another kid gets in off the waitlist. Sometimes yes, but often no.

[Anonymous]

You should do it quickly. The easiest way is to call the admissions office and tell the receptionist. Just say: "hi, this is Mr./Ms. ________. My son/daughter was admitted to the [x] grade class, but we've decided to send him/her to [y] school instead. We really enjoyed getting to know your school, and it was a very tough decision for us."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't come up with words. DH out of town. Both my child and I are sick. Brain fog. Not OP.

The director just called to check. That was hard but done - it's a great school. GL to all waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But I say this just to remind people that you just can't assume that one kid declining means another kid gets in off the waitlist. Sometimes yes, but often no.

All of this is true. But, still, if people who are going to decline anyway do so quickly it helps give the school an earlier opportunity to assess whether to go to teh waitlist and, if neeeded use it.

[Anonymous]

OP here, sent the email declining the offer to admission. Didn't hear anything back from them but......we don't care! We are soooooooo happy with our school choice!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish it worked that way but it doesn't. If someone declines an admission offer it does NOT automatically "open" a slot for someone else unless the school's yield is lower than expected.

Schools admit more kids than they hope to enroll, just as airlines overbook flights. Schools assume that not every accepted student will enroll, and they look at past "yield" rates from accepted and waitlisted student to whom offers are made, and decide based on that how many students to admit.

I'm sure every school is different, and maybe even different grades within the same school are different. But I've worked with the admissions team, and I know for a fact that at my kids' elementary school, they absolutely do NOT over-admit based on past yield rates. The school had strict building occupancy limits on how many kids can be in each classroom, so they cannot risk miscalculating. As a result, they admit initially only the exact number of students to fill each classroom. As families make their decisions, the school goes to the waitlist as needed. Each family that declines a spot results in an offer to one child off the waitlist. That's why schools pressure families to make decisions quickly - it has real consequences for those on the waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quickly.

+1000000

We got one reject and 2 wait lists. You are incredibly lucky to have a choice. Be polite but do so quickly so the school can offer the place to a family who is still hoping and waiting.

I wish it worked that way but it doesn't. If someone declines an admission offer it does NOT automatically "open" a slot for someone else unless the school's yield is lower than expected.

Schools admit more kids than they hope to enroll, just as airlines overbook flights. Schools assume that not every accepted student will enroll, and they look at past "yield" rates from accepted and waitlisted student to whom offers are made, and decide based on that how many students to admit.

Example, oversimplifying a bit: School X wants a class of about 75 kids and has no continuing students from a lower grade. In past the last ten years approximately 75% of admitted students have enrolled, so School X sends out acceptance letters to 100 kids. Just in case, they also wait list 50 kids. If patterns are consistent with prior years, this yields School X the 75 kids they want, and even though 25% of accepted students have declined to enroll, they DO NO ACCEPT ANYONE from the wait list.

Obviously in real life it is more complex, because schools are also leery of getting over-enrolled or having too many (boy/girls/athletes/artsy kids/whatever). So they tend to do a more complex analysis -- maybe admitted boys enroll more frequently than admitted girls, or whatever. As long as they have historically been able to get a decent yield rate when they accept wait-listed kids, they also usually build in the assumption that they will end up taking at least some kids off the wait list. Basically they are balancing the risk of over-enrollment against the risk of under-enrollment. It's not a science.

But I say this just to remind people that you just can't assume that one kid declining means another kid gets in off the waitlist. Sometimes yes, but often no.

I feel like I post this every year, and always get shouted down. Nobody wants to hear this. Nobody wants to believe this. I don't bother any more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I would decline the waitlist offer. They don't necessarily ask you to, but it's one less thing for the admissions people to worry about so I suspect they appreciate it

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send a nice letter or a note that can go in your file...just in case you need to go back to them in the future.

Great suggestion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quickly.

+1000000

We got one reject and 2 wait lists. You are incredibly lucky to have a choice. Be polite but do so quickly so the school can offer the place to a family who is still hoping and waiting.

I wish it worked that way but it doesn't. If someone declines an admission offer it does NOT automatically "open" a slot for someone else unless the school's yield is lower than expected.

Schools admit more kids than they hope to enroll, just as airlines overbook flights. Schools assume that not every accepted student will enroll, and they look at past "yield" rates from accepted and waitlisted student to whom offers are made, and decide based on that how many students to admit.

Example, oversimplifying a bit: School X wants a class of about 75 kids and has no continuing students from a lower grade. In past the last ten years approximately 75% of admitted students have enrolled, so School X sends out acceptance letters to 100 kids. Just in case, they also wait list 50 kids. If patterns are consistent with prior years, this yields School X the 75 kids they want, and even though 25% of accepted students have declined to enroll, they DO NO ACCEPT ANYONE from the wait list.

Obviously in real life it is more complex, because schools are also leery of getting over-enrolled or having too many (boy/girls/athletes/artsy kids/whatever). So they tend to do a more complex analysis -- maybe admitted boys enroll more frequently than admitted girls, or whatever. As long as they have historically been able to get a decent yield rate when they accept wait-listed kids, they also usually build in the assumption that they will end up taking at least some kids off the wait list. Basically they are balancing the risk of over-enrollment against the risk of under-enrollment. It's not a science.

But I say this just to remind people that you just can't assume that one kid declining means another kid gets in off the waitlist. Sometimes yes, but often no.

I feel like I post this every year, and always get shouted down. Nobody wants to hear this. Nobody wants to believe this. I don't bother any more.

Yes. Some informed person posts this every year. You are a better person than me. I gave up long ago on this. There are exceptions (largely in non-expansion years), but I am constantly amazed at the number of "I gave up a spot so that you could have it" posters each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, sent the email declining the offer to admission. Didn't hear anything back from them but......we don't care! We are soooooooo happy with our school choice!!!!!!!!!

Yah, we didn't hear back from a couple schools after declining admission last year. It's certainly not their job to do so, but I still noticed.