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For those that used connections, were they used at more than one school?
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Anonymous
| A board member did the trick for us...we know because the AD kept mentioning it..this board member is very, very prominent and has donated over 1M to the school in question and specifically funded numerous scholarships. |
Anonymous
|
Our top choice school has many parents where I work. We strategically chose not to call on any of these parents (including several Board members) directly. Instead, we just let them know our DD was applying, that it was out first choice, but that we didn't want to add to anyone's task list becoming involved in the process. In effect, we left it to them to decide whether to follow up, and it seems that several did on their own initiative. I heard today that one of these people had heard from the school about our child's play date, ans at the open house the Director of admissions knew things about us that would most likely have been passed along by these contacts, so I'm guessing that there were discussions during the process. We did write a first choice letter, though, and were clear with our preschool Director about our first choice.
As for whether it helped, who knows? Just glad not to have to do this again for quite a while! |
Anonymous
Totally disagree with you. My earlier posts are real. You can choose to disregard, but people have asked on this thread for advice as to does this work? It clearly did for us. Respectively, I struggle with your claim of being in politics for 20 years and not seeing how this would work here. And, this was for 9th grade. |
Anonymous
|
Question for the true believers -- So the Board Member, who let us not forget is not really on campus a lot, picks up the phone and calls the AD from his office and says, 'Say there, look for the application coming through of my great friends the ButtKissies. They're really a quality family and I'm sure their ... is it son? he's great. He'd be a Real Asset to the community. John and Debbie are fine people too."
And then, what you're all saying is, the AD puts Kid ButtKissie in the 'yes' pile because his parents "worked their connection" with the board member. Is that correct? What happened to the kid who had slightly better potential than Kid Buttkissie? He's in the 'no' pile, right? Because non-connected kid and Buttkissie kid were both competing for the, white pleasant boy / son of lawyers / quiet-but-articulate spot. |
Anonymous
LOL! Count me as another who does not believe the connections- got-us-in nonsense. No one can know whether their using connections "worked," as so many claim. Their DCs got in, but how do they klnow that the connections were a factor? I think the people who claim to know their connections "worked" have an inflated sense of their self-importance and no confidence at all in their DCs' merits. Very sad. |
Anonymous
| Believe what you will, as the world passes you by. |
Anonymous
| No offense, I hope this isn't in reference to the school my kids attend. |
Anonymous
I'm happy to say that my DC got into all the schools to which she applied, and we have no connections to the schools except that some acquaintances are current parents (who didn't even know we were applying). The world is passing us by? I don't think so. |
Anonymous
| I have a number opf friends who went it alone and were w/l and/or rejected at the big 3. The following year they used connections, and really worked them, and voila. Trust me, they believethe kids warranted entry all along but they acknowledge that many kids do and the connections put them over the top. |
Anonymous
Yuck that the AD kept mentioning it. How did that make you feel? It would make me feel shitty like my child couldn't get in on their own volition. |
Anonymous
This just shows that applicants are self-selecting to schools. Any applicant not put off the school by the AD's hints will probably fit in very well at that school. |
Anonymous
| can someone tell me how the board members and prominent others communicate a recommendation to the school? Is it verbal, phone call, or letter? I am at a loss here (but my kid was shut out, so I'm willing to learn!) |
Anonymous
| Look, it is hard to distinguish kids at the pre-K/K level. Most are cute, curious and engaging, but only a few are oddballs and/or bad eggs. We kid ourselves if we think it is based on academics. Something has to separate them at this age and often it is the connections. Not in a bad way, but rather one parent or board member or even an AD sizing up a couple and saying, "yes, they are like the rest of us and will fit in." That's just the way it goes. |
Anonymous
All of the above. |
Anonymous
|
I'm compelled to jump into this thread. Why are people acting so surprised by this? Are they actually resisting the notion that connections and relationships assist people in getting into schools? Frankly it is absurd that people even debate this. It happens in every facet of life. Business, social, church, etc. Why would you ever think that school admissions is exempt from this? Please don't be so naive. Do you really think it is a perfectly fair, balanced playing field?
You don't have to like it. But don't kid yourself that this little piece of life works any differently than the rest of the world. People seem to be resentful of others because they have the means to be able deploy this tactic. I commend some of the posters for being forthright about one of the approaches that worked for them. I'm taking this input and adding it to my book of strategy to potentially use for next year. No one says you need to do this. And I'm sure there are plenty of kids that can gain acceptance without it. But don't resent posters for sharing what worked for them. |