Feedback for admissions offices: what did you like/dislike about the process?

[Anonymous]

To 22:58, to which grade did your child apply? Who interviewed your child - was it a teacher, admissions officer, et.? Our experience was OK. Not as bad as the person who has the gifted child, but not great like yours. While the open house was very informative and run well, our interview day was not so. We also are applying to only Sidwell and plan on sending our child to public if she doesn't get in as we have a very good public elementary school. We felt great about the school until the interview day. We sat around waiting and were interviewed by neither a teacher or admissions officer. We found that very odd. Our daughter is probably an average applicant. I don't know if she is truly "gifted" in any area but she is a good student, likes to learn, makes friends easily. Anyway, we left feeling disappointed/disheartened. Thankfully, our daughter was not phased and will be happy wherever she goes to school next year.

[Anonymous]

Regarding admissions offices being ready for shadow days - our DC did two of them. One seems to have been fabulously well done and the shadow "buddy" was obviously prepped (from what DC told us). Teachers knew who the shadow kid was and integrated DC into class discussions in a fun way. Same at lunch - faculty member sat at their table and was very friendly, as were kids. Math class had a two-kid team challenge that DC said was really fun. One of the classes had a test that day which DC took too. Buddy made sure fellow classmates knew DC was a shadow visitor too. DC raved about his experience, talking on and on about the various activities, classes, and kids. From what we could tell, the school prepared the buddy, made sure the buddy was ready, made sure teachers knew too, and the teachers and students considered shadow days to be important.

In contrast, at another school we were told to get there at a certain early time so our DC's shadow buddy could pick DC up from admissions and go to their first class. DC's shadow buddy never showed up, so someone from admissions - 10 minutes after classes had started (and 25 minutes after we had arrived) - came over to take our DC to the class where the buddy was. At day's end, DC had lots of nice things to say about the school but clearly had not had the bonding or active experience DC had at the other school. He couldn't even remember his supposed buddy's name. And DC said he didn't participate in any classes - seems he felt it was a time for him to watch, not participate, unlike at the other school.

Lessons -
- make sure shadow buddies are well prepared for the importance of their role and they are good ambassadors of the school
- make sure they are on time and are reminded
- integrating shadow kids into the school day such as through class activity, gym class, lunch, etc. will help the child bond with the school.

[Anonymous]

Which schools were these? We had similar experience

[Anonymous]

Does your child always behave entirely as you wish, even when you have prepped them? There will always be an element of randomness with student guides -- comes with the age range.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday we received a thick envelope in the mail from our first choice school. I was giddy as I pulled it out of the mailbox, only to be quickly disappointed when I saw it just contained generic literature about the school. I can't stop thinking about it. Does it mean we are in the thumbs-up pile? Is this a "better-luck-next-year" mailing? Or did they just have extra brochures that they needed to unload? It just seems strange that about 10 days before decision day, they're sending this stuff out. Parents are on pins and needles waiting for a response and if we've applied, we already know a great deal about the school. Strange.

[Anonymous]

One school sent my child a special package. Did not appreciate this - child now expects to go to that school.

[Anonymous]

My DD was so excited to receive the standard Holton package last month. She keeps talking about the uniform. I hope she won't be very disappointed if she does not get accepted. (It's the only school she is applying to...)

[Anonymous]

I really disliked the big crowds at some of the schools, like the Sidwell elementary school events for example. But I'm struggling to think of any productive suggestion for how those popular schools might improve the process.

I guess they could offer a bunch more open houses, so each open house is smaller and less crowded. But I'm sure that would put lots more burden on not only the admissions people, but also all the building maintenance people, the teachers, and the volunteer parents. I'm not really sure how many events those schools had, and how many families showed up, so I can't gauge how they might be modified. I just know my visits were crazy crowded, and sort of demoralizing because there were far more families in that gym than there were slots.

I'm sure some parents like the tours where you walk around the classrooms, but that didn't do much for me. I personally got to know more from talking in small groups with the parent volunteers and the teachers. What I think would be useful is to have a three person panel in each classroom where they each talk for 2-3 minutes about their experiences at the school, and then open up the floor for questions for 20 minutes. That way, parents can ask their questions in smaller groups, and hear feedback from teachers and other parents, rather than the admissions team. Instead of wasting time touring around the building and seeing the classrooms of other grades, I could spend my time in the classroom I care about. If I could go to two different panels like that, I think I'd get a pretty good sense of the school. Maybe there could still be an abbreviated tour for parents who do want to walk around to see all the other classrooms.

That's all I can come up with for ways to make it better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the purpose of requiring IQ tests for young children (or maybe any children). They are really expensive and of such limited utility. I wish it was not the norm around here--I was shocked when I found out it was.

You're complaining about spending around 400 bucks but you're applying to private school? Not getting that.

The obvious purpose is to not have laggards in the room. That's the one main academic benefit vs public, especially combined with smaller class sizes.

"Laggards"?

Trust me, kids who do poorly on these tests at age 3 can turn out to be superstars later. Kids who do well on these test can turn into "laggards" later.

Schools know this. They ask for these tests because it gives the process a false aura of empiricism.

You don't understand statistics, or how to make complex decisions in zero sum game environments.

Those tests, while imperfect, are still better than anything else, when used appropriately.

And you, my friend, don't understand much about these tests. Again: under age 8 or so, there is very little stability in scores. The same child can be 15th percentile at age 3, 95th at age 4, and 60th at age 5. Schools take note of the kid whose scores are the very top and the very bottom, both of which can flag a child whose needs the school will not be able to meet (either b/c the child has severe learning issues or is so advanced he/she will be bored). For other kids the scores are largely irrelevant to admissions decisions -- though at times they are helpful to admissions staff who need to articulate a quasi-objective reason for rejecting Big Donor's kid).

Great job. You are making my same point, at 5 times the length.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The regular requirements of a school will demand that parents have availability to pick up sick children, volunteer at events, be present at school functions, and the like. Whether or not prospective parents are compliant and willing during the admission process helps the AD get a sense if they will be supportive of the classroom requirements should they be accepted. Teachers rely on the AD to send them cooperative families so that everyone is happy, satisfied, and peace abounds.

Most involved parents--even the ones who have a tough time taking off so much in a truncated period during the interview session--would participate in the above activities. And they would be better able to do so if they didn't burn through so many allotted days off during the interview periods.

There's a difference between coming to get your sick child (or sending a relative) once every few months, serving up popcorn on a Saturday during the fall carnival, going to your child's play on a Friday morning once or twice a semester,etc... and taking off three days in one week for interviews and playdates. Families make it work, but it would be good if some of these schools tried to combine some of these activities to take place on the same day.

[Anonymous]

GDS: Allow child to go on tour before day visit and parent application. Seems like a burden on everyone to have child's first exposure be half-day.

All using admissions portals - put pressure on software companies to make it easier to edit applications. On too many it was too easy to "submit" something and then be unable to change it, such as a phone number or address. Why lock out changes on that (at least up to application deadline)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really disliked the big crowds at some of the schools, like the Sidwell elementary school events for example. But I'm struggling to think of any productive suggestion for how those popular schools might improve the process.

I guess they could offer a bunch more open houses, so each open house is smaller and less crowded. But I'm sure that would put lots more burden on not only the admissions people, but also all the building maintenance people, the teachers, and the volunteer parents. I'm not really sure how many events those schools had, and how many families showed up, so I can't gauge how they might be modified. I just know my visits were crazy crowded, and sort of demoralizing because there were far more families in that gym than there were slots.

I'm sure some parents like the tours where you walk around the classrooms, but that didn't do much for me. I personally got to know more from talking in small groups with the parent volunteers and the teachers. What I think would be useful is to have a three person panel in each classroom where they each talk for 2-3 minutes about their experiences at the school, and then open up the floor for questions for 20 minutes. That way, parents can ask their questions in smaller groups, and hear feedback from teachers and other parents, rather than the admissions team. Instead of wasting time touring around the building and seeing the classrooms of other grades, I could spend my time in the classroom I care about. If I could go to two different panels like that, I think I'd get a pretty good sense of the school. Maybe there could still be an abbreviated tour for parents who do want to walk around to see all the other classrooms.

That's all I can come up with for ways to make it better.

So you'd rather give them more opportunities to feed you a line of Bull, than see with your own eyes what is going on in the classrooms. You're an idiot! Total idiot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you'd rather give them more opportunities to feed you a line of Bull, than see with your own eyes what is going on in the classrooms. You're an idiot! Total idiot!

Mr. Trump, is that you posting again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you'd rather give them more opportunities to feed you a line of Bull, than see with your own eyes what is going on in the classrooms. You're an idiot! Total idiot!

Mr. Trump, is that you posting again?

you are really stupid. did you even read the posts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To 22:58, to which grade did your child apply? Who interviewed your child - was it a teacher, admissions officer, et.? Our experience was OK. Not as bad as the person who has the gifted child, but not great like yours. While the open house was very informative and run well, our interview day was not so. We also are applying to only Sidwell and plan on sending our child to public if she doesn't get in as we have a very good public elementary school. We felt great about the school until the interview day. We sat around waiting and were interviewed by neither a teacher or admissions officer. We found that very odd. Our daughter is probably an average applicant. I don't know if she is truly "gifted" in any area but she is a good student, likes to learn, makes friends easily. Anyway, we left feeling disappointed/disheartened. Thankfully, our daughter was not phased and will be happy wherever she goes to school next year.

PP22:58: it was for 6th grade and the interviewer was an admissions officer. What type of person interviewed your child if not a teacher or admissions office?, Aside from being late, what was bad about the process. Don't be disheartened. This is just one piece of the application process.