you know you are at the bottom of the reject list when...

[Anonymous]

...the school doesn't even bother to call or write to let you know. Losers. I want my application fee back.

[Anonymous]

Have you called them? Could the letter have gotten lost in the mail? I know these questions seem obvious, but maybe there's a good explanation. You've got to call.

WHAT IF you were mailed an acceptance but it got lost?!

[Anonymous]

This happened to me a few years ago and I was really furious. It is terribly unprofessional.

[Anonymous]

Among the top 8 schools that I have encountered, the only off-putting in terms of a admissions is Potomac. And sure enough, no letter or phone call from Potomac arrived. GDS Admissions Office would be close second-worst.

On the other hand, Sidwell, Bullis, Landon are truly amazing in the admission process.

Would be interested to know whether the professionalism and quality of the Admissions Office influences the composition of students...

[Anonymous]

To 11:05, yes I do think that the quality of Admissions offices influences the composition of schools. We ended up accepting at a school that hadn't even been in our top two choices in part because we just loved the admissions team -- and the current parents they introduced us to. GDS just completely alienated me. We crossed it off our list after they were extremely rude to us a couple of years ago. No way was DC going to attend a place where parents were treated with such contempt. Should representatives of a school have some sense of decency and good manners?

[Anonymous]

OP why would you NOT call!! You spent all that time going through the process and spending the money to apply! One free call to clear up what might be a case of mail error! The funny thing is they may have offered your child a spot and are wondering why they have not heard from you! Just call. If you find out they were wrong and jut did not send you a reply. Nicely let them know how upset you are and cross them off your list for nest year!

[Anonymous]

oops I mean " next" year!

[Anonymous]

Even the best admissions offices may misplace a file, or things get lost in the mail, or that you actually got an admissions slot but that package got lost in the mail--agree with 11:55, you should follow up with a phone call ASAP.

Did you see if they cashed your application fee check or, if you applied online, if your credit card went through? You could mention that you noticed that the funds had gone through, but that you had not received word.

[Anonymous]

Interesting comment about GDS. We were treated rudely and unprofessionally there also. Tjey could not have paid me to send my child there. Prior to the interview, it had been our first choice.

[Anonymous]

It's a relief to know that we were not the only ones totally put off by the GDS Admissions Office. In the end, we did not even wish to consider the school (unfortunately, we interacted with the GDS Admissions Office only after paying the admissions fee).

Part of the problem may be that GDS knows exactly whom they want to accept prior to the formal admission process.

Last year (for the current school year) many spots were reserved for the administration's new appointees. Sibilings of the current students were among those not considerd for admission ... with the explanation that spots must be held for the kids of the new appointees (I know this from the family of the student whose sibling was rejected with this explanation).

[Anonymous]

10:55 -- in my case, when I called the AD (won't name the school) she told me that they mailed out acceptance letters but had not gotten around to sending rejection letters. Oops. WTF?

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did call the school. The AD apologized for the oversight but of course there was no good news.

[Anonymous]

I've never heard of a school that didn't send out accept, waitlist and rejection letters if for no other reason than they don't want a bunch of people calling them.

[Anonymous]

Holy Trinity did the same thing to me this year! I'd be surprised if they even looked at our application except to cash the check. The playdate was so unorganized that I would not have accepted just because I found the admissions process totally unprofessional.

[Anonymous]

We had same issue - no letter phone call anything. When I finally emailed them, they said well they had been waiting to contact us b/c they had no news as they had no spots. HUH?!! This is for an opening year and if all spots are filled by siblings then why even accept my application, cash my check and make me and DC perform like a circus pony and jump through all your interview hoops etc?! I have better things to do with my time than try and get in a school that has no spots. Beyond frustrated and have to sau a little angry with this school. We are into an "elite" school and will be very happy there but this was actually a strong contender even though it is a small school that no one has ever heard of. Never expected to be treated like that at a small school.