Independent School Waitlists

[Anonymous]

Question for any parents who previously were successful in coming off a waitlist for an independent school: how long did the school give you to decide whether you were going to take the slot? Is there some uniform amount of time that the schools here generally give (say, two weeks)? Is there an AISGW policy on this?

[Anonymous]

This seems like a good topic to bump up to the front page -- how do we play the wait list game? What if you've gotten into one school but waitlisted at a "preferred" school? Do you accept at the one school and then back out? Any difficulties in doing that? Any parents who have previously worked the wait list game care to share your experiences?

[Anonymous]

Yes, can someone explain the "reply date" vs. "binding date"? The AISGW web site is not clear on this, and their statement that an applicant coming off a wait list may have a financial obligation to another school sounds ominous.

[Anonymous]

The schools will ask that you reply to their offer by paying your deposit and returning a signed contract by some date (many are the begininning of April). Those deposits are non-refundable.

The contract you sign will state the tuition binding date. The binding date is the date when you become responsible for the full year's tuition. Some schools may have partial binding dates (for example, you will be responsible for 60% of next year's tuition if you drop out after 5/31/08 and 100% if you drop out after 6/30/08). Many schools have binding dates of 7/1/08. But, each school may have different reply dates and binding dates, so be sure to check your contract very carefully.

Schools will not return deposits and will hold you to your binding date.

[Anonymous]

And, adding to OP's questions, if anyone in the past got slots of of waitlists, can you say where, for what age, and whether you "did" anything to get off the waitlist, other than saying you were still interested? Did you write/call/visit/ try to get alums/other current parents to write call on your behalf? Do you think any of those things help? hurt?

[Anonymous]

When a spot becomes available, the school will go to the waitlist. Waitlists are typically waitpools in that the group in the pool are not ordered. Showing your serious interest by a letter or call to the admission office will keep you alive in the waitpool. When an opening arises, schools will look to fill it with what they need - ie need another boy or girl depending on who accepted them. If offered a spot from the waitlist, parents typically have only 24 -48 hrs to reply. The reason for this is that if you don't want the spot, schools want to quickly be able to go to the next family on the list - seems reasonable and fair to me. The difference between the reply date and the binding date is as follows. The reply date is the date that famililes who have recieved more than one offer in the first round have to respond by. Once schools get all their responses by the reply date, they will then know if they can or need to go to their waitlist. If you have gotten into your 2nd choice school but really want to holdout to come off the waitlist for your 1st choice school, you need to put in a deposit at the second choice school. If you come off the waitlist at first choice school prior to that school's binding date then you can accept your 1st school offer and the only thing you are out is your deposit at your 2nd choice school. If you are going to wait out for your first choice it is critical that you know your second choice school's binding date. A binding date is the date that you are responsible for the full tuition - if you pull your child out of after the binding date, you most likely are going to be paying 2 tuitions the following year. I have heard that schools are really starting to enforce this. Most schools have a reply date sometime in the first week of April and a binding date June 1, June 15 or July 1. I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When a spot becomes available, the school will go to the waitlist. Waitlists are typically waitpools in that the group in the pool are not ordered. Showing your serious interest by a letter or call to the admission office will keep you alive in the waitpool. When an opening arises, schools will look to fill it with what they need - ie need another boy or girl depending on who accepted them. If offered a spot from the waitlist, parents typically have only 24 -48 hrs to reply. The reason for this is that if you don't want the spot, schools want to quickly be able to go to the next family on the list - seems reasonable and fair to me. The difference between the reply date and the binding date is as follows. The reply date is the date that famililes who have recieved more than one offer in the first round have to respond by. Once schools get all their responses by the reply date, they will then know if they can or need to go to their waitlist. If you have gotten into your 2nd choice school but really want to holdout to come off the waitlist for your 1st choice school, you need to put in a deposit at the second choice school. If you come off the waitlist at first choice school prior to that school's binding date then you can accept your 1st school offer and the only thing you are out is your deposit at your 2nd choice school. If you are going to wait out for your first choice it is critical that you know your second choice school's binding date. A binding date is the date that you are responsible for the full tuition - if you pull your child out of after the binding date, you most likely are going to be paying 2 tuitions the following year. I have heard that schools are really starting to enforce this. Most schools have a reply date sometime in the first week of April and a binding date June 1, June 15 or July 1. I hope this helps.

Thanks so much. We're on a couple waitlists and haven't received an acceptance yet but are still waiting to hear from one school. Are the deposits that are due on the reply date generally steep? With the cost of a private school education so high, forfeiting a big deposit is something that would be tough to stomach.

[Anonymous]

We came off the wait list at WIS last year. We were called within about 2 weeks of the original letters going out. We did nothing to illicit this but the director had added a hand written post script on the original letter saying that they would definitey place DC if a space became available. HTH

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering about the possibility of coming off of a waitlist at our #2 choice and then subsequently coming off the waitlist at our #1 choice. Do those offers to people coming off the waitlist have the same binding date requirements? Has anyone done or heard aboud anything like this? (accept at #2 choice from waitlist, and then get offered a spot at #1 choice)

[Anonymous]

To the PP, the binding date in the contract you sign, regardless of when you sign it, will be the date you are held to. So if you get contacted after the binding date has already passed, and you sign and return the contract, you are fully obligated for the next year's tuition at that point. Most binding dates are July 1st or June 30th, but some are earlier so you really need to read the contract closely.

The school will most likely messenger the contract to you right away and give you a day or two to decide- at most. There are many, many people in these waiting pools so the schools want to move on if you are not interested.