Anonymous wrote:What is the best way to have elementary aged kid look at schools? Are they welcome on the tour?

I would just ask. I inquired and for the schools we were interested in, every AD was happy to have our 10 year old come along. I think they liked that we were involving him in the process, and it also gave them a chance to get a feel for what kind of kid he is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a big deal if your husband can't make it to the tours or the interviews. If you have to pick one though, I'd have him attend the interviews.

I'm not so sure if really matters. I went to all the interviews by myself (my work schedule is more flexible than DH), and DC was admitted to all four applicant schools.

With that said, I guess it might depend on the schools. A couple were two out of the so-called Big Three.

While it would preferable that both parents attend, these schools understand that most families are two working parent households and not all have the flexibility to take off to attend several interviews. For many, their kids are precious but so are those vacation days designated for taking kids on summer vacations. I, too, went alone while my husband worked, and it didn't seem to be an issue based on our acceptances.

Anonymous wrote:It's not a big deal if your husband can't make it to the tours or the interviews. If you have to pick one though, I'd have him attend the interviews.

I'm not so sure if really matters. I went to all the interviews by myself (my work schedule is more flexible than DH), and DC was admitted to all four applicant schools.

With that said, I guess it might depend on the schools. A couple were two out of the so-called Big Three.

Anonymous wrote:Brand new to this process just learning about it for my kids, elementary school age. Want to apply for 14-15, and don't know how to go about it- do I schedule a visit first? And do that, then submit application? Or submit application early, but knowing the teacher recs won't come in until later once they know my child? Do wait to submit application until I have it all done, and all Recs are ready to be sent in? This is all new to me and I have no friends in the process so m hoping someone could help me out. Thanks.

Some schools require an application before an interview and some times they are coupled with a personalized tour. The personalized tour fills up fast. I wouldn't say you need to be aggressive but many parents go ahead and pay the application fee just to get the process moving early. However, do what works best for you. See below a description from one private school.


Upon receipt of Part I of the application, a member of the Admissions office will call to schedule an interview for the applicant with one of the admissions committee members. This interview is a required component of the application process. A personalized tour with a current "name of school" student will also be offered at this same time. These visits are during the school day between late September and the first of February.

What is the best way to have elementary aged kid look at schools? Are they welcome on the tour?

It's not a big deal if your husband can't make it to the tours or the interviews. If you have to pick one though, I'd have him attend the interviews.

You submit the application as soon as you want. Teacher recs, grades, test scores come later, and are sent by the school. These must be sent in by the application due date.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks- and for schools that have tours/open houses in addition to indiv appts with people, how important for the proces is it for my husband to do the tour. He would be there for the appts, but not sure he can do all open houses and the appts.

As long as you can pass on relevant information about the school to your husband before the interview, I am sure it's not a big deal to them. I am certain that many families have a situation where both parents can't make every tour and every interview.

I will say, however, that having my husband along at the tours really helped. It was nice to compare our thoughts afterwards and helped us to digest it all. Especially when we would notice different things - which happened every time. Note that these included both good and bad things. And sometimes we brought of up different things because of how we each felt about what might be important (or not) in the grand scheme of things. Those were really useful conversations to have and I am 100% sure my husband would never have "gone there" with such thoughts if he had not actually been there for the tours.

I also thought it was really useful for us to bounce off each other when trying to remember the different schools and compare them to each other. In the end, there is no perfect school, so it gets a little mind boggling to compare the plusses and minuses of the different programs and weigh which were most important overall. (we were lucky to have choices in where to go)

Anyway - again - if he can't come, then don't beat yourself up about it - but I wanted to share that I found it helpful.

Good luck! And don't get caught up in the frenzy - you'll see what I mean when you start going to the schools. People can get really worked up by the process, so try to take a deep breath and don't get caught up in that energy.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks- and for schools that have tours/open houses in addition to indiv appts with people, how important for the proces is it for my husband to do the tour. He would be there for the appts, but not sure he can do all open houses and the appts.

I attended early open houses by myself. For the schools I was still interested in, I had dh come with me to individual tours, etc.

Thanks- and for schools that have tours/open houses in addition to indiv appts with people, how important for the proces is it for my husband to do the tour. He would be there for the appts, but not sure he can do all open houses and the appts.

I'd go to an open house first and tour so you can get a sense of the school. It will help you focus your application answers and will help you to see how the school is a match for your child. Schools have open houses and tours in the Fall.

Brand new to this process just learning about it for my kids, elementary school age. Want to apply for 14-15, and don't know how to go about it- do I schedule a visit first? And do that, then submit application? Or submit application early, but knowing the teacher recs won't come in until later once they know my child? Do wait to submit application until I have it all done, and all Recs are ready to be sent in? This is all new to me and I have no friends in the process so m hoping someone could help me out. Thanks.