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Dipping a toe into the water...
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Anonymous
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Hello to all -
My name is John Huber, and I serve as a head of school in upper Montgomery County. I was recently forwarded a link to this forum, and after reading through a number of posts, it became clear that there are substantive, important questions being considered by independent school parents, such as tuition costs, financial aid, value received, etc. My hope is to offer one head's thoughts (as time allows) to some of these issues, while respecting the necessary confidentialities to which I am bound. My intent is not to post items about my own school (which I've intentionally left unnamed here), but to "go where the audience is" to respond to posts and ask occasional questions from the wider parent body. Thank you. |
jhuber
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| My apologies - didn't log in when I posted this! |
Anonymous
| Welcome. You're a brave man. |
Anonymous
| And now that I think of it...could you shed some light on the thinking behind the soft rejection/universal wait list policy? As a parent, I find it extremely irritating. |
Anonymous
| What school are you the head of? |
Anonymous
| I'd try to respect his wish not to post that information. But if you're curious, you can easily find that info through Google. |
Anonymous
| Welcome, John Huber. Your point of view in this forum will be appreciated. |
jhuber
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To the poster asking about soft rejection / universal wait list - not to muff my first reply, but could you further define this experience? Is it a "your child is accepted but we don't have room currently so we'll keep you informed" answer? I'd be interested in how you have experienced an answer from an independent school.
AISGW have principles of good practice regarding admission and financial aid (link: http://www.aisgw.org/school_resources/principalsadmission.asp) that specifically address waiting pools, don't know if this answers your question. |
Anonymous
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"We are unable to offer your child a place at this time, but we will keep him/her on our waiting list." Sometimes the letter says something like, "Although your child is qualified for a place in our class, we are unable at this point..."
I am not complaining about the concept of the wait list, but about the fact that at a number of schools, it seems that virtually all applicants are wait-listed, which makes the wait list meaningless for most. |
Anonymous
Or not...I tried and found nothing. |
jhuber
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My bias is to assume good intent, that fellow schools are grappling with limited spaces and large application pools, and on the receiving end (you the parents), this radio silence makes it difficult to judge and opaque.
I also believe that there is intentional shift in language between "wait list" and "wait pool". While this may seem like semantics, it is (and should be) ultimately about best fit between the child and the school's mission. As with a job search, I do believe that if the match is strong, then things will fall into place. |
Anonymous
I found it easily. But will not post it out of respect for his preferences here. |
Anonymous
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Interesting about the "wait list" versus "wait pool" thing.
Most of the questions that are generated here seem to be about the admissions process. You can see a current thread in this forum about WISC scores and admission status at the "Big Three", for instance. Most of the heated emotion is seen around pre-K and K admissions processes. These are questions that have come up, for example: Why would extremely qualified candidates (99%ile scores) sometimes be rejected outright? What role do parental connections and/or wealth play in the admissions process? Are Ivy legacy applicant children seen more favorably in the hope of impacting college exmission results for the school later down the line? How important are teacher reports? What about the play date? Your thoughts will be welcome. |
Anonymous
From the parents' perspective, that is precisely why the universal wait list makes no sense. We know that spaces are limited and that very few people ever make it off the wait list. So why waitlist dozens of kids? How do you determine the size of your wait list? |
Anonymous
You did not try hard enough - just type his name and "head of school" in Google. Sheesh!!! |