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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never even applied to GDS because when we showed up for the tour (that we booked, online, well in advance) it was as if the admissions office had forgotten there was a tour at all--they were super late, we were waiting around the lobby area. Then finally they grabbed a parent volunteer to lead the tour who seemed to know very little about the school (she couldn't answer basic questions). Very off-putting and disorganized.

This was our experience as well at GDS. The tour guide didn’t even show us the whole school, was done in 15 mins, and didn’t show us the art floor - which is DCs interest and something we asked about. The AO was surprised we were done so early and we had to wait in the lobby for 45 mins. Every kid was buried in their cell phone and barely looked up.

We decided to not finish the application and actually thought that this could not possible be the same GDS that had such high reviews. We were googling on the way home to make sure we went to the right school. Now that I think about it… no one even followed up to see how our tour was, if we had any questions, if we were going to finish the application. We have a very high performing DC that was accepted everywhere else we applied. It was weird.

God, this sounds completely off putting. I don’t blame you for not applying.

GDS tour and admission interview were the worst! They acted like they could have cared less that we were interested. DC attended another DC private, thrived and is attending a top 25 university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We applied Potomac (only) and got WL x2. Found them to be helpful and communicative throughout the process. Only thing that surprised us quite a bit was the 1:1 session with our K was extremely basic, with exercises on the order of drawing a shape using the right color crayon. I know it wasn't supposed to be an entirely academic evaluation, but still it was just surprised they weren't asking at least SOME questions to get a better handle on where DC was at in terms of math, reading, writing, etc.

That's not really what a school like Potomac is looking for in a K applicant. If you are interested in that kind of assessment, you should seek out schools with more traditional approaches to pedagogy.

Not sure what you mean by “that’s not what they’re looking for” but my assumption wasn’t that they’d be hyperfocused on academics, but at least show some passing interest in whether the kid can read or do basic addition, etc.

For K?

Yes, as indicated above.

You don’t understand progressive education.

Potomac is not progressive education.

To the other PP, as far as whether they were interested in whether your DC could perform basic addition....are you serious? Counting, number and letter recognition, ability to write letters and numbers clearly, ability to follow instructions, whether your child paid attention, etc. - that is what they would be looking for as a baseline for a Pre-K student. Not whether a Pre-K child could add 3+2.

[Anonymous]

possibly dumb question, but how did people get an in-person GDS tour prior to applying? The only option available via Ravenna was a virtual "tour" (I think they called it an "open house") which was so sterile and unhelpful in terms of getting to know the culture of the school that we ended up not applying. But we hear people here referencing getting in-person tours, so what did I miss?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:possibly dumb question, but how did people get an in-person GDS tour prior to applying? The only option available via Ravenna was a virtual "tour" (I think they called it an "open house") which was so sterile and unhelpful in terms of getting to know the culture of the school that we ended up not applying. But we hear people here referencing getting in-person tours, so what did I miss?

For this current application season that just ended in March....GDS's Ravenna list had in-person and virtual interview options. (Maybe in-person were filled by the time you signed up?) We chose the in-person option, which starts with a tour led by a current student. This was the same process with our older child pre-COVID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:possibly dumb question, but how did people get an in-person GDS tour prior to applying? The only option available via Ravenna was a virtual "tour" (I think they called it an "open house") which was so sterile and unhelpful in terms of getting to know the culture of the school that we ended up not applying. But we hear people here referencing getting in-person tours, so what did I miss?

For this current application season that just ended in March....GDS's Ravenna list had in-person and virtual interview options. (Maybe in-person were filled by the time you signed up?) We chose the in-person option, which starts with a tour led by a current student. This was the same process with our older child pre-COVID.

Got it. So you got to go in person when it was an interview (ie, when you had already committed to applying). I was specifically asking about in-person options *before* applying.

[Anonymous]

open house at Holton felt SO well done. they just have girls talk. I love how they let the students shine. Students were bright and enthusiastic. My daughter didn't love every single student she interacted with on her tour day, but that was also nice - I didn't get the sense that the kids were faking it, or told to act any specific way with applicants. Admissions staff were amazing. [this was last year]

child is now a student there in an upper grade and very happy

[Anonymous]

Worst experience hands down was Burke. Interviewer was chilly, rude, and in general seemed annoyed to be speaking to us. My child said for her interview they “seemed almost suspicious”. It was such a turnoff we withdrew our app. Such a disappointment because we had heard good things about the school itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worst experience hands down was Burke. Interviewer was chilly, rude, and in general seemed annoyed to be speaking to us. My child said for her interview they “seemed almost suspicious”. It was such a turnoff we withdrew our app. Such a disappointment because we had heard good things about the school itself.

Interesting because that was our experience a few years ago. Too bad because, by all accounts, the school isn’t like that. Their admissions dept is terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never even applied to GDS because when we showed up for the tour (that we booked, online, well in advance) it was as if the admissions office had forgotten there was a tour at all--they were super late, we were waiting around the lobby area. Then finally they grabbed a parent volunteer to lead the tour who seemed to know very little about the school (she couldn't answer basic questions). Very off-putting and disorganized.

This was our experience as well at GDS. The tour guide didn’t even show us the whole school, was done in 15 mins, and didn’t show us the art floor - which is DCs interest and something we asked about. The AO was surprised we were done so early and we had to wait in the lobby for 45 mins. Every kid was buried in their cell phone and barely looked up.

We decided to not finish the application and actually thought that this could not possible be the same GDS that had such high reviews. We were googling on the way home to make sure we went to the right school. Now that I think about it… no one even followed up to see how our tour was, if we had any questions, if we were going to finish the application. We have a very high performing DC that was accepted everywhere else we applied. It was weird.

Other than automatic email pushes in Ravenna (or other platforms) to remind us of application deadlines - I have never had a school follow up after a tour or ask if we were going to finish an applications. We've gone through the process twice for HS.

I looked at 8 schools way back when - two of which emailed us endlessly regarding getting an application in.

We didn’t apply to either because I was editing down to four schools and they weren’t fits for DC but it was interesting to me that they both emailed constantly and one of the two event extended their application deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:possibly dumb question, but how did people get an in-person GDS tour prior to applying? The only option available via Ravenna was a virtual "tour" (I think they called it an "open house") which was so sterile and unhelpful in terms of getting to know the culture of the school that we ended up not applying. But we hear people here referencing getting in-person tours, so what did I miss?

For this current application season that just ended in March....GDS's Ravenna list had in-person and virtual interview options. (Maybe in-person were filled by the time you signed up?) We chose the in-person option, which starts with a tour led by a current student. This was the same process with our older child pre-COVID.

Got it. So you got to go in person when it was an interview (ie, when you had already committed to applying). I was specifically asking about in-person options *before* applying.

GDS doesn’t offer tours before you apply. You have to have submitted the initial application and paid the application fee before you can take a tour. It gets lots people all hot and bothered, but it works for the school and they have plenty of applicants anyway, so they have no incentive to change it.

[Anonymous]

Flint Hill was awful. We had to deal with their failed Head of Upper school. He was incompetent as an administrator and even worse as an admissions director.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flint Hill was awful. We had to deal with their failed Head of Upper school. He was incompetent as an administrator and even worse as an admissions director.

FH admissions director is a woman, a we thought she was great. No idea who you’re talking about.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is a good test taker, they may not need extensive prep. Our kid took one practice test a week or so before their test date and that’s it (SSAT though).

[Anonymous]

^^ sorry wrong thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flint Hill was awful. We had to deal with their failed Head of Upper school. He was incompetent as an administrator and even worse as an admissions director.

FH admissions director is a woman, a we thought she was great. No idea who you’re talking about.

Not director, he's an admissions officer.