Anonymous wrote:It's a very strong preference, and I believe that if a sibling is going to be rejected they give you a hint of that.

No they don’t. Too many people have been applying lately.
Maintain a high donation record annually, that might help. And vice versa.

Anonymous wrote:Admissions very strongly encourages that younger siblings apply early (and, if necessary, often). In my experience, siblings almost always eventually get admitted. The only reason they wouldn't is if they wait until 9th and if they have needs that the school cannot accommodate.

The siblings we knew that came in were v strong students and come in from other privates and often single sex schools.

Anonymous wrote:How strong is the preference? Do they ever reject siblings for ninth grade?

I would think siblings would have in long before 9th grade. 9th grade entrants is for rounding out the class diversity, teams, clubs, bespoke national level competitors, and high flyer academic kids.

Anonymous wrote:You know that knowing the acceptance rate won't change your likelihood of acceptance, right?

Not the OP but no need to be snarky...obviously it doesn't change the likelihood of acceptance but it does help to understand the landscape/set expectations.

You know that knowing the acceptance rate won't change your likelihood of acceptance, right?

Not the OP and I did ask the admissions (of another school) this question and they were a bit cagey..."we anticipate getting about 300 applicants for 50 spots and we do take sibling status into account but they are by no means guaranteed a spot..." and they didn't say anything about the yield rate or number of siblings in a given year. So there was no way to back into an acceptance rate.

heavy sibling preference.
Don't think most wait till 9th. I would be surprised if it was half for that grade.
9th is a bigger entry year for GDS than for many private schools.
Would be surprised if yield is as high as PP suggested - lots of these kids apply to many places.

Why don't you ask admissions this question. Answering these questions is their job.

Admissions very strongly encourages that younger siblings apply early (and, if necessary, often). In my experience, siblings almost always eventually get admitted. The only reason they wouldn't is if they wait until 9th and if they have needs that the school cannot accommodate.

I know of one sibling applying for ninth who would not have a chance if they were unhooked. The proof will be in the pudding.

It's a very strong preference, and I believe that if a sibling is going to be rejected they give you a hint of that.

How strong is the preference? Do they ever reject siblings for ninth grade?

The yield is much higher than 50%. I think a typical yield at these schools is about 80% but can even be higher.
NCS had a recent year with close to a 100% yield... which led to a huge class.

I don’t think anyone can answer this who does not work in admissions at GDS. Everything else is just speculation. There is a strong sibling preference, but I don’t think that half the spots in 9th grade go to siblings, since many siblings are already there. I think there are closer to fifty spots available in 9th but I think the acceptance rate is much lower than 20%. But again, I am speculating. Maybe someone else knows better. Good luck!

I've been trying to get a sense of the "real" acceptance rate for GDS (grade 9)...that is, how many "real spots" there are (after taking into account siblings) and how they factor in yield....so, for example, if they have 40 spots for ninth grade but half of those spots are going to go to siblings, they really only have 20 spots available to nonsiblings...but if their yield is 50 percent, they may make about 40 (non-sibling) offers...if they get 200 (nonsibling) applicants, the acceptance rate is about 20 percent. Two questions:

1) Is this the right way to think about it?
2) If so, what are the (approximate) right numbers to plug in here?