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GDS admission survey
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Anonymous
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I'm the poster who said that if you had a bad experience applying for a K position, you wouldn't be likely to reapply for 9th grade.
Our DC is in middle school and we will NOT be applying to the Potomac School, which was not particularly welcoming the first time around. It was quite clear at the K level that it was "who you knew" that made all the difference. |
Anonymous
Are you spreading rumors? Is this hearsay? Or do you actually know from working at GDS or speaking with those who work at GDS? |
Anonymous
That's a little small of you, don't you think? |
Anonymous
I'm not so sure that other schools are any better or that they are lacking in applications from minorities. We're a minority family who applied to and was waitlisted at Beauvoir and rejected at Sidwell. We were accepted elsewhere at other "top" schools, so I assume our child was "qualified". And we know other minority families in the same boat. |
Anonymous
Look, I'm just stating my impression based on what I saw when I toured. I'm not trying to spread rumors. |
Anonymous
NP here. You certainly stated your earlier post like you had inside knowledge of their admissions procedures. Thank you for clarifying that your comments were just supposition. |
Anonymous
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We did not apply to GDS because the woman answering the phone/scheduling visits, etc. was extremely rude and couldn't have cared less if we applied or not. I was truly shocked at her attitude. This was several years ago, so I hope that they've found someone new to replace her.
As for wait lists, I think it would be great to get Rejected rather than sit, pining away, hoping that the phone call comes. I went through it elsewhere and it was stressful. We ended up getting the phone call, but I know many others who worried and waited for months with no call. Let parents know so they can move on and make other plans and get excited about wherever they end up going. Particularly, if they don't have a chance of getting in. |
Anonymous
Educational consultant? Not to derail this thread, but people hire consultants to help get their kids into schools? Preschool? 
BOT...I think it's interesting to get the perspectives shared in this thread. I would be interested to learn if the perspective is the universal among admitted families and those wait-listed or denied admission. (Rejected sounds so cruel.) I think it's an overstatement, or maybe a tad naive, to think that all current parents at GDS are Kool-aid sippers. As you would expect with any institution, there are distinct voices of dissent or disagreement with some of the school's policies or programs. I know families at GDS, and many of them have shared feelings about admissions, diversity, academic rigor, and the administration that is not always flattering. Despite some misgivings, many keep their children in the school because the kids like the school. As for the minority applicant piece...I think, again, this is rather subjective. There are plenty of "diverse" families to go around in DC, but it appears that many of the "elite" independent schools honing in on the same subset of families; thus, creating an artificial supply-and-demand issue. I don't think a lot of schools in the area do a great job actively reaching out to minority families beyond open houses. By that, I mean the day-to-day operation of the school and curriculum doesn't reflect the commitment one might infer from the spectrum of hues found on the glossy admission materials and websites. In the end, I think that the voices of those who felt they were treated poorly by GDS could help the school--if it's willing to listen. As the old adage goes, there are three sides to every story--your side, my side and the truth. The challenge here is to find that elusive last piece. Hopefully, more people are willing to be candid about their experiences--tempered with a good dose of introspection. |
Anonymous
I agree with you, but with a caveat. I think it's a two-way street. Parents should always have plan B (and C and D) for their kids...particularly with schools. I think as a parent, I am responsible for imposing my own deadline. I have to bring myself to move on and get excited about another choice for my child. I think it puts too much power into the hands of a school for my happiness to sit around worrying if I will get the call. Maybe for a while, but when it becomes stressful...it's time to move on and not look back. (Including not carrying ill will or animus toward the wait-list school.) |
Anonymous
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I agree that we as parents need to take ownership of the process, but as we do so, it helps to have good information. Having your child be one of six or eight names on wait list at a school that typically takes one off the wait list every year is good information. Being on a wait list that might have 20 or 30 names--but who really knows--and that is rumored--again, who knows--to have signalled to some of those families that they are more equal than others is not good information. Even so, I would not object to the latter if there were some clear benefit to the practice--to the school, if not to the parents--but I can't for the life of me see what that might be.
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Anonymous
| 20 or 30 is very high, but Maret and GDS's one of 150 or 200 is just nonsense. |
Anonymous
We're not talking about preschool; we're talking mostly about schools that go through high school or middle school. |
Anonymous
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I'm assuming (don't really know) that the waitlist can be long because this area has an inordinate number of qualified candidates. So the schools waitlist the qualified candidates because they have no idea what the yield will be like (i.e., how many of those that were actually accepted will enroll). Remember that parents are applying to 3 or 6 or 9 schools and can only accept one spot, and the schools have no idea if they're your first choice. The schools have to ensure adequate enrollment to meet operating expenses, while meeting their other objectives (i.e., ethnic and socio-economic diversity, gender balance, etc.) It's not an easy job. I don't think the schools intentionally want to cause anxiety for parents, or want to have us hanging in the balance.
Perhaps it would be better or easier for the schools (in predicting enrollment and shortening the number on the waitlist to a meaningful number) and thus better or easier for the parents if admission were similar to college admission at some schools. You know, first choice/early decision in the winter where if you get in you go and withdraw all other applications (kind of like what happens to Beauvoir students applying to NCS/STA). Declare only one first choice, see if it works out and still have the option to apply to other schools (normal cycle) if it doesn't. |
Anonymous
In fairness to those with complaints, one would/should expect to be treated very well when dealing with a school that charges nearly 30k for preK. 
I agree being armed with information would help. I don't know if schools reveal how many other families are also wait-listed. Knowing that would help determine whether it's worthing remaining on the list. I remember being on the "preferred waiting list" at for prestigious laws school. Being on the "preferred" list didn't make the pill any easier to swallow. I know that my acceptance was wholly dependent on someone else turning down an admission offer. |
Anonymous
This would be reasonable if the school just opened its doors. It is not reasonable, however, for certain schools that know they have not had to turn to the waitlist for more than one or two spaces in the last three or five years. This is their business and they would be incompetent if they didn't keep track of their yield and trends. |