More competitive year than usual?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the flight from public school has ramped up another level. It happened in the 21 and 22 cycles, related to the pandemic and we all thought some kids would leave private when things went “back to normal” (which some did). But this feels like a new wave of people leaving public school and trying for private spots.

This year's 6th and 9th applicant pool got hammered by the pandemic. It'll be bad again next year but should return to normal after that.

Last year’s results were great. This years’s were awful. Please explain why this isn’t the new normal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in admissions - not in a Big 5 - but in a school in the DMV. I have mentioned this before, but a trend we have noticed is families with more children (3-4) in the younger grades that result in over half of our kindergarten slots being taking by siblings. These families are also more likely to have high levels of continued enrollment. If they have several children enrolled and happy, they are less likely to leave on a whim. This results in fewer openings in non expansion years (natural churn rates are at an all time low for us).

Another trend we have noticed with schools in similar size and philosophy is that they are shrinking grades by a seat or two to bring teacher ratios down. I’ll note these were already low but parent surveys have indicated it was a priority. We had to up tuition to cover 2 less seats per grade. These seats were removed due to attrition; we didn’t kick people out just for lower ratios.

Our applications were also at record high numbers. Not all were good fits, but as others have mentioned, we could have filled new classes with excellent candidates we just didn’t have room for.

This is unfortunate. It just makes the schools more and more insular.

Strongly disagree. As a parent with 4 kids, I would argue it is good business. I would be furious if my 3rd or 4th didn’t get into kindergarten at a school to which we have committed so much time and money. Of course, this is assuming the siblings are all qualified.

Good for business, bad for diversity. Totally understand that you would be furious, but your family is taking all the good stuff for themselves.

Parents with children in independent schools should reevaluate every year whether that school is a fit for their child. No argument with that.

However, people who place their kids, threaten to take them out, have the kids announce they are only staying for this year until they get into x school, etc. are disruptive and require lots of personnel time to admit replacement candidates. They are not bonuses to the school community. You may not be those people, but a known family is a safer bet.

If you want to complain about people hogging resources, look at the advanced capitalism which is squeezing everyone for profit that doesn’t trickle down. A family that sends three kids to a school supports the stability of the school. That allows some other people of lesser resources benefits from the school.
Is it fair? No. Is it right that some people have so much and most people have so little? No.

A little school trying to remain solvent needs those multi-kid families. If you prefer the school not exist at all, that’s a fair viewpoint.

[Anonymous]

I do have to wonder if there will be a little more waitlist movement this year. It sounds like several schools offered too many spots over the past year or two so they had to cut back on spots offered this year. It's tougher to manage a tight yield so they may dip into waitlists earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in admissions - not in a Big 5 - but in a school in the DMV. I have mentioned this before, but a trend we have noticed is families with more children (3-4) in the younger grades that result in over half of our kindergarten slots being taking by siblings. These families are also more likely to have high levels of continued enrollment. If they have several children enrolled and happy, they are less likely to leave on a whim. This results in fewer openings in non expansion years (natural churn rates are at an all time low for us).

Another trend we have noticed with schools in similar size and philosophy is that they are shrinking grades by a seat or two to bring teacher ratios down. I’ll note these were already low but parent surveys have indicated it was a priority. We had to up tuition to cover 2 less seats per grade. These seats were removed due to attrition; we didn’t kick people out just for lower ratios.

Our applications were also at record high numbers. Not all were good fits, but as others have mentioned, we could have filled new classes with excellent candidates we just didn’t have room for.

This is unfortunate. It just makes the schools more and more insular.

Strongly disagree. As a parent with 4 kids, I would argue it is good business. I would be furious if my 3rd or 4th didn’t get into kindergarten at a school to which we have committed so much time and money. Of course, this is assuming the siblings are all qualified.

I agree with you 100% that if you were that invested the school absolutely should take younger siblings.

Although I do think that the previous poster could also be right.

These things can coexist. Meaning you can be both right.

Agree these can both be right. The school trades diversity for stability/predictability. Even a less qualified sibling is a better business bet. And in the end, these are businesses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve see numbers from a bunch of schools that indicate they have been getting more and more applicants each year post-Covid. I think it’s a reflection of how bad the publics are getting, even in wealthy areas with “good” schools. A huge number of people we know didn’t plan on private, but are there now because they just couldn’t take MCPS anymore.

Same with DCPS. Families who were very committed to public education just 5 years ago are all of a sudden getting a wake-up. It must be really bad.

This. We weren’t considering private until DD went months without teachers at her public middle school when the kids went back in-person

+ 1. Yeah we never considered private until the post pandemic clusterf%*% that is DCPS middle school. Gave it a shot but it’s clear our child isn’t learning much. I know MS isn’t anyone’s “best years” but the bar is SO LOW.

[Anonymous]

Schools do actually care about parents too! It creates large logistical problems to not be able to have your kids at one private school. The loud pushback when siblings get on the WL or rejected is real too. The school will have a higher % chance of student matriculation with a sibling, will make things easier for a part of their community, and will avoid substantial headaches (that can also cost them $$).

In terms of caring about parents, schools also don't need or really want 80% of kids with an attorney parent. Now that there are more options for the schools, they might as well get some fresh parent profiles too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the flight from public school has ramped up another level. It happened in the 21 and 22 cycles, related to the pandemic and we all thought some kids would leave private when things went “back to normal” (which some did). But this feels like a new wave of people leaving public school and trying for private spots.

This year's 6th and 9th applicant pool got hammered by the pandemic. It'll be bad again next year but should return to normal after that.

Last year’s results were great. This years’s were awful. Please explain why this isn’t the new normal?

The rising 9th graders missed almost their entire middle school experience and got a really bad first impression from 6th and 7th. They also had a lot of learning loss and would be the cohort of kids that might have switched to private k-8 for middle school during the pandemic. Last year's class would have had a mostly normal 6th grade. That impression might have given them enough hope to try another year at public for high school.

The rising 6th graders had a bad 3th and 4th grade with the learning loss from that showing up in 5th as academics get started for real. Last year's class would have had a similar profile but the hope of a clean post-pandemic start for 6th. They also would have heard all the pandemic mishaps about their middle shool.

There probably is a new wave and a new normal forming but this year has some anomolies that make it unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do have to wonder if there will be a little more waitlist movement this year. It sounds like several schools offered too many spots over the past year or two so they had to cut back on spots offered this year. It's tougher to manage a tight yield so they may dip into waitlists earlier.

I wonder if it'll be less. I may be misreading the posts, but it sounds like more people have gotten in to just one school among similar level schools. Also hearing this anecdotally.

[Anonymous]

Every single year it is the most competitive year, or more competitive than usual. Look back in this forum. This is something schools say to make everyone feel better, or that we tell ourselves to rationalize things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every single year it is the most competitive year, or more competitive than usual. Look back in this forum. This is something schools say to make everyone feel better, or that we tell ourselves to rationalize things.

My mother was in admissions for 25 years. They told parents the same thing about “more kids, more competition”, every year. And, every year, parents with kids who didn’t get in were outraged at waitlisting or rejection, but then somewhat calmed by that detail.

My kid didn’t make the cut this year, but we’ll try again next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the flight from public school has ramped up another level. It happened in the 21 and 22 cycles, related to the pandemic and we all thought some kids would leave private when things went “back to normal” (which some did). But this feels like a new wave of people leaving public school and trying for private spots.

This year's 6th and 9th applicant pool got hammered by the pandemic. It'll be bad again next year but should return to normal after that.

Last year’s results were great. This years’s were awful. Please explain why this isn’t the new normal?

The rising 9th graders missed almost their entire middle school experience and got a really bad first impression from 6th and 7th. They also had a lot of learning loss and would be the cohort of kids that might have switched to private k-8 for middle school during the pandemic. Last year's class would have had a mostly normal 6th grade. That impression might have given them enough hope to try another year at public for high school.

The rising 6th graders had a bad 3th and 4th grade with the learning loss from that showing up in 5th as academics get started for real. Last year's class would have had a similar profile but the hope of a clean post-pandemic start for 6th. They also would have heard all the pandemic mishaps about their middle shool.

There probably is a new wave and a new normal forming but this year has some anomolies that make it unique.

3th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the flight from public school has ramped up another level. It happened in the 21 and 22 cycles, related to the pandemic and we all thought some kids would leave private when things went “back to normal” (which some did). But this feels like a new wave of people leaving public school and trying for private spots.

This year's 6th and 9th applicant pool got hammered by the pandemic. It'll be bad again next year but should return to normal after that.

Last year’s results were great. This years’s were awful. Please explain why this isn’t the new normal?

The rising 9th graders missed almost their entire middle school experience and got a really bad first impression from 6th and 7th. They also had a lot of learning loss and would be the cohort of kids that might have switched to private k-8 for middle school during the pandemic. Last year's class would have had a mostly normal 6th grade. That impression might have given them enough hope to try another year at public for high school.

The rising 6th graders had a bad 3th and 4th grade with the learning loss from that showing up in 5th as academics get started for real. Last year's class would have had a similar profile but the hope of a clean post-pandemic start for 6th. They also would have heard all the pandemic mishaps about their middle shool.

There probably is a new wave and a new normal forming but this year has some anomolies that make it unique.

3th?

Parental learning loss too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the flight from public school has ramped up another level. It happened in the 21 and 22 cycles, related to the pandemic and we all thought some kids would leave private when things went “back to normal” (which some did). But this feels like a new wave of people leaving public school and trying for private spots.

This year's 6th and 9th applicant pool got hammered by the pandemic. It'll be bad again next year but should return to normal after that.

Last year’s results were great. This years’s were awful. Please explain why this isn’t the new normal?

The rising 9th graders missed almost their entire middle school experience and got a really bad first impression from 6th and 7th. They also had a lot of learning loss and would be the cohort of kids that might have switched to private k-8 for middle school during the pandemic. Last year's class would have had a mostly normal 6th grade. That impression might have given them enough hope to try another year at public for high school.

The rising 6th graders had a bad 3th and 4th grade with the learning loss from that showing up in 5th as academics get started for real. Last year's class would have had a similar profile but the hope of a clean post-pandemic start for 6th. They also would have heard all the pandemic mishaps about their middle shool.

There probably is a new wave and a new normal forming but this year has some anomolies that make it unique.

What was wrong with 7th grade? In Arlington, we were back full time by then. Only missed 6th grade doing virtual. I feel like we've basically recovered from that already.

[Anonymous]

Standardized testing and the high rates of mental health diagnoses and self-reported surveys show kids are nowhere near recovered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the flight from public school has ramped up another level. It happened in the 21 and 22 cycles, related to the pandemic and we all thought some kids would leave private when things went “back to normal” (which some did). But this feels like a new wave of people leaving public school and trying for private spots.

This year's 6th and 9th applicant pool got hammered by the pandemic. It'll be bad again next year but should return to normal after that.

Last year’s results were great. This years’s were awful. Please explain why this isn’t the new normal?

The rising 9th graders missed almost their entire middle school experience and got a really bad first impression from 6th and 7th. They also had a lot of learning loss and would be the cohort of kids that might have switched to private k-8 for middle school during the pandemic. Last year's class would have had a mostly normal 6th grade. That impression might have given them enough hope to try another year at public for high school.

The rising 6th graders had a bad 3th and 4th grade with the learning loss from that showing up in 5th as academics get started for real. Last year's class would have had a similar profile but the hope of a clean post-pandemic start for 6th. They also would have heard all the pandemic mishaps about their middle shool.

There probably is a new wave and a new normal forming but this year has some anomolies that make it unique.

What was wrong with 7th grade? In Arlington, we were back full time by then. Only missed 6th grade doing virtual. I feel like we've basically recovered from that already.

Exactly. This poster doesn’t make any sense.