Do the ADs at Sidwell and Beauvoir confer?

[Anonymous]

Do any kids get admitted to both schools?

[Anonymous]

Really? I think they are probably busy enough that they are not concerned with each other. They admit the students they want to come to their school. They are not going to defer someone to the other school or call each other and say, hey, I rejected this kid, will you take him?

Sorry - I can't contain that I think this is a silly question.

[Anonymous]

OP, it might be informative if you shaed with readers of this forum why you asked this question.

Personally, I have heard that Sidwell will call a family and ask, " if offered admission will you accept" in the days before letters are mailed. When I heard this I assumed that Sidwell had done this because they do not like to not get a 100% yield return on their 1st choice admit roster. IOW, Sidwell does not like to "waste" an offer of admission.

I would imagine that many AD's in this town feel similarly about that and, out of courtesy, would engage in some back door frank discussions with each other.

More probably, outplacement directors are asked, and do provide "odds" to AD's who ask, if they have the info. At times, parents use this very back door: " please tell the Maret AD, Maret is our 1st choice and we will accept if offered there".

Duplicate first choice rosters would be a waste of 6 months of teh AD's work, imho.

Now, where the intel is week: parents do not share with outplacement director or deliberately fake them , then you may have soem ruffled feathers. Hence, the Sidwell AD or their representative calls the family directly, skirting the outplacement director.

As for 2nd and 3rd round admit lists ( schools who don't get their full class as a result of first round of familes they offer spots to) , there is probably less motivation for sharing this intel and less exchange of info and just a "up for grabs"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any kids get admitted to both schools?

If you believe what you read here, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any kids get admitted to both schools?

Yes they do. My DC was admitted to both, and I know several others who were admitted to both and made a decision between the two. No parent has ever mentioned to me getting a pre-admissions will-you-accept call from any AD, and I'm pretty sure that would violate the common agreement they all have not to make early offers. I know from firsthand discussion that the AD at my child's school takes that agreement very seriously, and I assume the other school's AD does as well. HTH.

[Anonymous]

They all do. In fact, you allow them to discuss you (it's in the fine print).

[Anonymous]

My ds was admitted to both. No pre-AD phone call. But I do think that they talk occasionally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, it might be informative if you shaed with readers of this forum why you asked this question.

Personally, I have heard that Sidwell will call a family and ask, " if offered admission will you accept" in the days before letters are mailed. When I heard this I assumed that Sidwell had done this because they do not like to not get a 100% yield return on their 1st choice admit roster. IOW, Sidwell does not like to "waste" an offer of admission.

I would imagine that many AD's in this town feel similarly about that and, out of courtesy, would engage in some back door frank discussions with each other.

More probably, outplacement directors are asked, and do provide "odds" to AD's who ask, if they have the info. At times, parents use this very back door: " please tell the Maret AD, Maret is our 1st choice and we will accept if offered there".

Duplicate first choice rosters would be a waste of 6 months of teh AD's work, imho.

Now, where the intel is week: parents do not share with outplacement director or deliberately fake them , then you may have soem ruffled feathers. Hence, the Sidwell AD or their representative calls the family directly, skirting the outplacement director.

As for 2nd and 3rd round admit lists ( schools who don't get their full class as a result of first round of familes they offer spots to) , there is probably less motivation for sharing this intel and less exchange of info and just a "up for grabs"

+1. This is similar to our experience. The outplacement director at our K-6 was very insistent that families identify a first choice school, and very open that this was going to be shared with the schools families were applying to.

[Anonymous]

Am not saying it happens with Pre-K admits , unless they are at a pre-school that is interested in being known as being" cometitive on exmissions", but in later years, of course, there is sharing of intel on where the family is leaning between outplacement and AD's and likely done to reduce likelihod of duplicate admit lists. Enter the WL phenom.

Honestly, when the outplacement director asks , or listens very intently, to your feelings on choice of school do you really think it is just because they care so much about dear Jonny ? These people have a professioal role to build and protect , a job to do which, to be effective, means they must develop relationships with all the AD's in this town, deliver kids and familes who are a good fit to the school, can make it and more academically, will support the school, and wont be a PITA. They need to build that rep, and their relationship with other AD's in town over years. Unlikely, that they supply no info at all and put accepting schools in a position of offering admission , and at times significant FA, to a family that will not even accept. What a waste of time for everyone. If a family courts a school in the admissions process, the school wants the kid, the outplacement director gives a rave rec as does Head of School and then, after admit offer is made, family does an about face, NOT good for that relationship between that outplacement director and taht AD, or kids from taht school in the future, particularly if said school is a feeder , but many familes at that school want otehr options than the waiting US's from that feeder.

School's have outplacement directors for a reason and it is not just the stated one : "to help the family find the fit". Most parents recognize this and use it to let a given AD know that a school is their first choice. This is the biggest advantage of applying as a family already in a private school, or in some cases pre-shool.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 9:30 that outplacement directors will often relay a family's preferences to the ADs, as part of their effort to sway the school into accepting the child. E.g.: "Little Mary's family absolutely loves GDS, and I'm sure they'd come to GDS if admitted."

I would hope that no outplacement director would tank a family's chances by explicitly telling an AD that the family is not really interested. E.g.: "Let me be frank. Beauvoir is the family's third-place choice for Little Mary, so don't waste a spot on her." But I cannot know for sure what some outplacement directors might do.

Although I know ADs at different schools will confer with each other on various issues, I doubt they carefully compare notes on each candidate, to coordinate their admissions decisions. That would be inconsistent with how many people get multiple admissions from these schools. It might even be a criminal antitrust violation.

Of course, in a one-off case, if an AD gets conflicting info on a particular family or suspects a family is playing two schools against each another, it wouldn't surprise me at all to hear that the ADs from those schools would compare notes.

[Anonymous]

I have absolutely no inside information. But I would point out an additional reason that ADs might confer -- to help with yield estimates. For example, if I know that X number of applicants will be receiving offers from both my school and close competitor, and that historically Y% of the dual admits make certain choices, that would help determine how many folks overall to offer spots to this year in the first go around. (In contrast, if in given year the number of dual applicants is particularly low, this might suggest a higher yield and the need to place more folks on the wait list.)

[Anonymous]

At the high school level admissions are via committee and they do not seek input or leak results to other schools. At the most competitive schools the attitude is that they will take their chances on convincing kid/family that their school is the right fit. (Independent schools do not lack for institutional self esteem!). At schools that might be slightly less competitive they make more offers to account for a lower historic yield percentage -- this is why schools track yield so intently. They are aware that to do otherwise could look collusive and inappropriate.

The only situation I know of when institutions may talk is when there is an application from a student loooking to move from one peer school to another in the later grades. (Sometimes after a disciplinary situation.) This contact may be at the head of school level. Nobody wants to be known for "raiding" other schools, but every school knows sometimes kids need a fresh start. They may check to see if it is "good kid made a bad decision" or "problematic kid probably did a lot more than we knew about and family not supportive of discipline efforts."

[Anonymous]

My child was admitted to both for K. We did not receive a call from either, but we did have a preschool director who knew we felt strongly about both of those schools, and I assumed that was conveyed. We did not make a first choice committment. For what it's worth, Beauvoir's AD plays thing very close to the vest. I respect and like her very much, but would be surprised if she was conferring.

[Anonymous]

My child applied to four schools that go thru 12th grade for middle school out of a great K-6. The four schools were 2 most competitive (Xs) and 2 slightly less competitive (Ys). Current school approved each school we were applying to as extremely compatible with child's academics and other interests.

Our child was considered by current school as a top "exmissions" candidate. They firmly believed all 4 schools would want child. We liked all 4 schools but ranked them according to in what order we would accept (1X, 2Y, 3X, 4Y). Current head told us he would be having frank discussions which each school about level of our family's (child's) interest.

Interestingly our child was accepted at our top two choices (1X and 2Y) wait listed at the bottom two choices (3X and 4y). So, results were exactly per our ranking but not necessarily logical if you ascribe to the whole ""big 3" vs. "next 4-6" theories. Yes, this could be a coincidence but it is at least interesting enough to consider that maybe the schools do have some kind of rationale for who is accepted and who is wait listed everything if else about the candidates being equal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any kids get admitted to both schools?

My DC was accepted to both for K a couple of years ago.