What did you or your child do during the admissions process to make you facepalm?

[Anonymous]

It was the pandemic and so we were trying out new hairstyles and having fun. I totally forget that we had an interview that day and DD had these long Rainbow bright braids in her hair. The interviewer when she saw us I can tell was a bit taken aback (It was via Zoom) but we were able to sway away from it by saying she has a colorful personality which my child said no I don't (she was only 10).

She still got in but was a super cringe moment.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why people had an issue with OP's post. A lot of these stories are hilarious and I have enjoyed reading them.

My DH has provided a couple facepalm moment for ourselves this admissions cycle. Glad to hear we are not the only ones!
Kid starts interviews/shadow visits next week... let's see how those go!

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if anyone remembers when Gmail changed how it handled email threads? I was an outlook user and only used Gmail for school applications and emailing my mom. It was a big change for me when it shifted to batching together every message in a thread.

Anyway, DH and I received some kind of cursory scheduling email from the admissions director at a school, and the new Gmail display confused me and instead of replying to the message DH has forwarded to me, I unknowingly replied directly to the message from the admissions director. I was frustrated with how DH was handling admissions events and was super curt and said “we need to make this happen, you need to cancel your meeting” to DH. Except I was replying to the admissions officer.

The director kindly said that she thought I meant it from someone else and she would see us in x day. I sent a very apologetic email that she was very gracious about and my child got in. We are long gone from that school as is she but once in a while we run into each other and I think of that email. And I always delete the “to” field when writing an important email and don’t add the recipient until I triple check the content.

[Anonymous]

A friend's daughter interviewed for a spot in K at one of the top girls schools in NYC. She talked about how she likes to touch herself "down there." Her parents nearly died.
She got in.
Being a legacy and having your family name on a well known financial firm helps too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend's daughter interviewed for a spot in K at one of the top girls schools in NYC. She talked about how she likes to touch herself "down there." Her parents nearly died.
She got in.
Being a legacy and having your family name on a well known financial firm helps too.

Ok I'm having a really stressful day and this made me crack up for a solid two minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No I am not expecting frequency teacher communication or anything. I do not have the time or interest to do all the things I asked about. I realize my actions were crazy... thus the facepalm people.

And no I am not pushing my child too hard. WPPSI is a part of the admission process and the test is crazy long. It is reasonable that they noped on the the last section, but it is still facepalm worthy.

I thought this post would lighten some of the admissions discussions. You guys are jaded

NP Isn’t the WPPSI only for the 4-5 year olds? They are still pretty enthusiastic at that stage. Noping seems like a red flag.

Not necessarily. Kids don’t really understand the whole testing thing and you can’t really tell much from it at that age. When I was in preschool, I thought the whole thing was a waste of time and refused to do anything but the bare minimum, to the point that the tester told my Mom I was very low IQ and learning disabled. Thank goodness my Mom was a teacher and knew better (I went on to be a National Merit Scholar, so I clearly do ok with standardized tests). When my DC was tested, he refused to answer a question if he wasn’t 100% sure he knew the correct answer. No matter how many times the tester told him it was ok to guess. Maybe he thought they only count the questions you actually answer? Anyway, he did well enough, and is now at the top of his class in HS.

Yep. My sister and I both took the WPPSI for kindergarten magnet program admission.

I answered all the questions happily. She told the tester “I don’t know.” It took 3 sessions to get a valid result for her.

I tested out at 147. She tested out at 153. She was just a very shy kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, during a zoom interview for middle school, when asked about his favorite books, DS explained that he didn’t have any favorite books because he hates to read and finds books boring. Then, when asked if he prefers working alone or in groups, he replied, “Groups, definitely, because you can get the other people to do all the work.” After his interview finished, I asked him how he thought it went and he enthusiastically responded, “Great!”

Miraculously, he got in and is the Language Art teacher’s pet! She told me at the beginning of the year that it’s her personal mission to find books he enjoys and she has. He is now reading more. This is one example of why private school is worth the tuition.

This is funny and similar to our situation recently. DS was asked during interview where else he was applying and if he had any favorite schools. He named two schools he was most interested in, neither of which was the school he was interviewing with. Oh well.

My kid did that too and got in anyway. I was at an open house this year where a kid listed all the schools he was applying to and went into great detail about which was his favorite and why. He was talking to two teachers and a board member of a different school. He presented himself very well, was thoughtful and confident, and I have no doubt that he will be accepted. Adults are not insulted by kid's opinions. They'd be happy to have him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. No I am not expecting frequency teacher communication or anything. I do not have the time or interest to do all the things I asked about. I realize my actions were crazy... thus the facepalm people.

And no I am not pushing my child too hard. WPPSI is a part of the admission process and the test is crazy long. It is reasonable that they noped on the the last section, but it is still facepalm worthy.

I thought this post would lighten some of the admissions discussions. You guys are jaded

NP Isn’t the WPPSI only for the 4-5 year olds? They are still pretty enthusiastic at that stage. Noping seems like a red flag.

Wait, OP, this wasn’t event for a college but instead elementary school?? Please take all the other posts regarding slowing your roll and times by 10!!

Wait are you saying that if OP asked about chaperoning field trips for her college student that would be less embarrassing?

[Anonymous]

Stare blankly and give no more than one word answers.

This kid is an early talker, usually every sociable with kids. But just panicked, I guess?

[Anonymous]

Since we are poking fun at ourselves I’ll share my own story. The year was 1978, maybe 1970 and my mother and grandmother took me for an interview at Sidwell for first grade. I was beyond annoyed and could not have cared less about getting in because I liked my current school. The interviewer asked me what I liked to do for fun and I said ‘pick my nose’ (I was not actually a nose picker). I can still hear/see my mother saying WHAT?! and practically running off the road when she asked me how things went and I told her. I did not get in. Fast forward 8 yrs land I am back at Sidwell to apply for high school, against my will because I wanted to stay at my current school for high school (why my parents force-applied me to schools across the DMV is another story). I have little memory of that interview but whatever I said must not have been compelling enough to overcome my earlier transgression because I was rejected again. I’m pretty sure the nose picking comment was still in my file. I also wrote on one of my college applications that I liked to read Cosmopolitan magazine in the ‘Interests’ section.

[Anonymous]

I meant, 1978, maybe 1979 (not 1970).

[Anonymous]

At a St. Alban’s open house a teacher (who was one of my teachers when I was on the Close 30 years prior) asked my DC about his favorite subject. DC - who usually can’t be quiet for a moment - stared blankly and was mute. I guess I should have done some role-playing to prepare him prior. Oops!

[Anonymous]

Child fell asleep during interview. In their defense it was a warm, windowless room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two.

1) On the tour I asked way too many questions about parent engagement opportunities (e.g., book fairs, science fairs, field trips, classroom engagement, etc.) and think I came across as crazy. In the follow up "thank you for your time" email I considered noting "I have a full time job and promise I won't harass your teachers/staff" but that also seemed like something a crazy person would write.

2) My child simply refused to do one of the memory components of the WPPSI (~ the last section). Score is still fine (I think) but ...sigh...

Yeah, you definitely need to let go. Too involved, possibly to a detriment to your child’s mental health. Are you also expecting to be in communication with her teachers too?

OP is trying to have a fun post! Don't be a buzz kill. . .

[Anonymous]

Five years ago, we were applying to 4 schools for K. In one of the in-person play dates/assessments DS told the head of admissions that he was “definitely going to attend [different school], but if she got fired from [current school] maybe she could get a job at the other school. Later, when I asked him why he spontaneously said that, he said he liked her and didn’t want her to worry when she never saw him again. And she didn’t…he got put in the wait pool. 😂 He did end up at the school he told her he would attend and has been very happy. I guess he knew all along!