Wait Lists

[Anonymous]

Has anyone actually been selected from a waitlist yet?

I'm new to this and not really sure what the time frames are. I assume spots open only after the deposits are due, some time in April?

[Anonymous]

My daughter was wait-listed at several schools. She finally got into GDS in June after much campaigning on our part (pride and shame went out the window in May that year). We were on tenderhooks and I certainly empathize with your situation. Good news: DC is pretty transient and you never know when plans or jobs change. Bad News: the closer it gets to July the more solid the class lists begin to look and the chances of being pulled off the wait-list get slimmer. Chin up and check at the ready, 'cause ya never know! Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

And here I was (silly me) hoping that there was nothing left to do except wait. Would you mind elaborating on what you mean by "much campaigning"? Did you call regularly? Write? Enlist others to call on your behalf?

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Yes, does anyone have past experience with getting in off wait lists? Does most movement tend to be in the week or so after each school's reply date, or do wait lists often continue to move over the summer?

Our 2 boys are waitlisted at several schools, and I already sent notes to those schools to say that we remain enthusiastic about the school and would like to stay on the wait list. Is it worth calling again to check in? I don't want to bug the admissions people (but maybe I should? Maybe the think you are not really interested if you don't bug them politely?)

At the same time, I am almost wondering if we should just withdraw from most of the waitlists. Our story is too complicated to go into here, but we have a decent back-up option if none of the private schools work out, and basically, if one of our two boys got in off the wait list at any given school, it is hard to see accepting if there was no space for the other. (Not impossible-- if each got into a different school off the wait list but the two schools were geographically close, we could maybe, maybe make it work). But the odds seems really low: I mean, odds of one child getting in off a school's wait list somewhere are low to begin with, odds of each child getting in off wait lists are lower still, and odds of both getting in off the wait lists at the same school are really, really low. All this probably means that even if one or both got in somewhere, we would end up having to decline, since the likelihood that we could make things work for both boys (and therefore for the whole family, in terms of coordinating commutes, drop offs, pick ups) is so small.

Sorry, I am rambling. But all this makes me wonder if it is even worth staying on the wait lists? The argument for staying on the lists is that while the odds of both getting in at the same school are low, nothing's impossible, so we might as well wait and see. The argument for withdrawing from the wait lists, I guess, is that if we can't make this work this year, we would probably try again next year at these same schools, and I have heard that schools really take offense if you reapply after turning *them* down.

Anyone have advice on this? If we got one child in off a wait list but not the other, and had to say no because we could not make things work for the whole family, do you think the school we declined would hold it against us a year later if we re-applied for both boys?

thanks for any thoughts.

[Anonymous]

I highly doubt they'd take offense if you turned them down for the reason you describe. That being said, if one of your kids got in, the odds of the other getting in the next year would be much higher.

[Anonymous]

Last year I was offered a place at Country Day School in McLean in May after being on the waitlist.