Reply to Outplacement directors that speak in code or total silence; can anyone translate ?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC is very well regarded at her school. She has great reports, is well behaved and did well ( top 3% of class on ERB and 99% on WISC). When DH and I met w/ outplacement we were asked what school we were interested in. I got the impression that our answer surprised the outplacement director, who listened politely, said DD would be a very strong applicant there,then said,"but I also think X would be a great school for her as well" Honestly,I don't see how someone who has never taught my child knows anything about her. We politely listened , but now as the process moves forward the outplacement person seems to have turned a deaf ear to us.We have proceeded to apply to a few schools, but in doing so some questions have come up that we fielded to the OD. This person does not respond  to our emails and we feel like we are being ignored. Should I just send my child's file myself? Is this the way outplacement people give advice?  It feels like the application process is just a window dressing and everything has already been decided in some kind of back room card game between AD's and exmissions people. Anyone been through this and care to share? [/quote]

We felt ignored by our exmissions person, as well.  Our DC was also at the very top of the class, and high SSAT and ERB scores.  I think the problems for us may have been that (a) we weren't lifers - we entered after K or 1st, (b) we weren't in a position to donate major bucks, and (c) we didn't volunteer as much, or at least as obviously, as some of the other families.  Yes, we volunteered some, but we both work full-time, so our volunteering was the kind that involves calling other parents or doing work at home at night, rather than getting under the AD's or head's noses during the school day.

So we got the impression we were really low on the school's radar.  Maybe they thought we weren't as much a part of the school's "family."  Perhaps this is partly our fault, although we did our best.  But I've told people before, if I had endless time, I'd love to do a study about whether or not volunteering in a way that gets you face time with the AD and head is an advantage in exmissions.

At the end of the day, with almost no help from the AD and some truly awful advice when the exmissions person bothered to notice us ("DD will definitely get into Sidwell, you shouldn't bother applying to any backup schools because DD is too good for those!"), we applied to several schools and DD got into a top 3 (which we turned down, but that's another story).  But like you, we give credit to our own research and careful thinking, rather than any advice or help from the school.  It wasn't Beauvoir, FWIW.[/quote]

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