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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We were going to apply for 9th to GDS and the admission officer pretty much told us there are 7 spots for new 9th grade boys. We crossed it off our list...[/quote]

Are you serious?  How is this possible? Don't they accept roughly 35 new students for 9th grade?[/quote]
The only explanation is that 20 of those admits were athletic recruits or something, which is possible. I don’t think GDS has strong sibling preference though. [/quote]

GDS has[b] crazy strong[/b] sibling preference.  They have a separate application for siblings.  It's due in December. 
Last year something like all but five 9th grade boy spots went to siblings.  You can ask admissions about it--they were quite forthcoming.  
I'm not sure if the poster above (the one saying there are 7 spots) is talking about this year or not. 
If it's this year, it's a repeat of last year. [/quote]
Aha. Well that explains it. Thanks![/quote]

Don’t most siblings enter well before 9th grade? Seems unbelievable they took 20 sibling boys last year for 9th. I mean, come on.[/quote]
30% of the graduating class starts in 9th so it’s believable that a lot of siblings would start 9th too. Once you take out the siblings and any athletic recruits, how many open spots do they really have?[/quote]

No it’s not. Families who want to have a strong chance of sibling attendance know good and well to apply earlier. Sibling preferences are for full-pay families who send their kids from the early years on. [b]If you have a kid who gets in at 9th and think there will be a huge sibling preference for your next kid, you are delusional.[/b] Ninth is very competitive, and it’s for the kids who will do well in college admissions *regardless* of whether they go to a fancy private or not (these schools pick winners; they don’t make winners). It isn’t a sibling slush year. [/quote]

This is not true.  I have observed a very strong sibling preference in 9th grade at both of these schools (and at Maret) coming from our k-8.  It's never a guarantee that a younger sibling will be admitted, that's definitely true.  But it's often the case that a younger sibling will follow to both of these schools.  It also happens that the younger sibling is accepted over strong classmates from their 8th grade class who might have otherwise been ranked higher than the sibling. That said, all these kids do fine.  Yes, both schools are highly competitive but a wide range of abilities will succeed at both of these schools. And, let's be honest, neither Sidwell or GDS limits their 9th admissions to 100% high flier students.

I'd also say that most of the families where the younger sibling went to a different school, it was to meet that child's needs or interests (and it's not always that second child attends a less prestigious alternative).[/quote]

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