Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

Curious where you applied for high school and were accepted after the deadlines this spring.

We applied to Landon, Georgetown Prep, and SJU. Don’t want to say where we got in for privacy reasons, but considering the fact that all of these schools have healthy waitlists, finding out that they still would not only consider our son but also get us a decision within a week was very telling about how this whole thing works.

Sorry, but this is hard to believe. If true, there must have been a very unique circumstance presented by your family for two of the three schools to have accepted your son at this late date.

Not that hard to believe they were accepted late. We’ve had kids come into our private mid year, even some as late as Feb. There is more wiggle room than you’d think when it comes do class sizes. Especially for the right family

But the strange part is that they were obviously very desirable to these schools, and not at all to the original 3 schools. Why do you think that was?

As the OP family in question, I think it also comes down to fit for 1.

Secondly, we applied for financial aid at these schools during the cycle and I think that definitely hurt us.

Off cycle we didn’t.

Grandparents on both sides read the room and saw that if our kid was going to get in, we needed to NOT ask for aid.

Not saying it was the only factor, but here we are with 2 acceptances at schools with active waitlists. And might I add, that one of these schools was on us sending emails every couple of days to see where we were in the application submission process. Almost as if they were actively courting us. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing like that occurred during the cycle.

Anonymous wrote:Can I assume if a family does not request any financial aid, the child is more likely to come off the wait list?

100%

I am shocked by how far the scales tip in favor of non FA families. If you need financial aid going into this game, your kid better be a Jimmy Neutron who in his spare time started his own 503C foundation to save whales off the coast of Mongolia

Call admissions offices directly.

The political and economic turbulence could very well lead to more late spots in schools than normal years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

Curious where you applied for high school and were accepted after the deadlines this spring.

We applied to Landon, Georgetown Prep, and SJU. Don’t want to say where we got in for privacy reasons, but considering the fact that all of these schools have healthy waitlists, finding out that they still would not only consider our son but also get us a decision within a week was very telling about how this whole thing works.

Sorry, but this is hard to believe. If true, there must have been a very unique circumstance presented by your family for two of the three schools to have accepted your son at this late date.

Not that hard to believe they were accepted late. We’ve had kids come into our private mid year, even some as late as Feb. There is more wiggle room than you’d think when it comes do class sizes. Especially for the right family

But the strange part is that they were obviously very desirable to these schools, and not at all to the original 3 schools. Why do you think that was?

Can I assume if a family does not request any financial aid, the child is more likely to come off the wait list?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

Curious where you applied for high school and were accepted after the deadlines this spring.

We applied to Landon, Georgetown Prep, and SJU. Don’t want to say where we got in for privacy reasons, but considering the fact that all of these schools have healthy waitlists, finding out that they still would not only consider our son but also get us a decision within a week was very telling about how this whole thing works.

Sorry, but this is hard to believe. If true, there must have been a very unique circumstance presented by your family for two of the three schools to have accepted your son at this late date.

Yes, we have a super unique story as a family as does our son. I won’t explain here because it would totally give us away, but I don’t expect that most families would have the same outcome us.

However, I will say that applying off cycle did, I feel, give us a little more individualized attention than we received during the regular cycle. We felt like the schools in the off cycle truly tried to get to know our boy. Of course because admissions teams are much less swamped, but it also just seemed much more straight forward.

We experienced a marginally different version of this a few years ago. We applied off cycle, had a totally white glove process and received admissions decisions within a week or so of applying. It really does happen and probably more often than we assume.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

Curious where you applied for high school and were accepted after the deadlines this spring.

We applied to Landon, Georgetown Prep, and SJU. Don’t want to say where we got in for privacy reasons, but considering the fact that all of these schools have healthy waitlists, finding out that they still would not only consider our son but also get us a decision within a week was very telling about how this whole thing works.

Sorry, but this is hard to believe. If true, there must have been a very unique circumstance presented by your family for two of the three schools to have accepted your son at this late date.

Not that hard to believe they were accepted late. We’ve had kids come into our private mid year, even some as late as Feb. There is more wiggle room than you’d think when it comes do class sizes. Especially for the right family

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

Curious where you applied for high school and were accepted after the deadlines this spring.

We applied to Landon, Georgetown Prep, and SJU. Don’t want to say where we got in for privacy reasons, but considering the fact that all of these schools have healthy waitlists, finding out that they still would not only consider our son but also get us a decision within a week was very telling about how this whole thing works.

Sorry, but this is hard to believe. If true, there must have been a very unique circumstance presented by your family for two of the three schools to have accepted your son at this late date.

Yes, we have a super unique story as a family as does our son. I won’t explain here because it would totally give us away, but I don’t expect that most families would have the same outcome us.

However, I will say that applying off cycle did, I feel, give us a little more individualized attention than we received during the regular cycle. We felt like the schools in the off cycle truly tried to get to know our boy. Of course because admissions teams are much less swamped, but it also just seemed much more straight forward.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

Curious where you applied for high school and were accepted after the deadlines this spring.

We applied to Landon, Georgetown Prep, and SJU. Don’t want to say where we got in for privacy reasons, but considering the fact that all of these schools have healthy waitlists, finding out that they still would not only consider our son but also get us a decision within a week was very telling about how this whole thing works.

Sorry, but this is hard to believe. If true, there must have been a very unique circumstance presented by your family for two of the three schools to have accepted your son at this late date.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^by extension, that doesn’t translate into a lot of waitlist movement because families offered a spot after June 1 would still have to pay full tuition at the school they signed with. Not often do people want to do that, unless they are rolling in cash or kid was headed to public school before getting off a list.

Isn’t there also a tuition insurance option?

You need to attend the school for two weeks to have it kick in

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

What grade? Some grades did not have many spaces in the first place.

9th. Total entry year.

I'm glad you found a place. I believe these things always work out.

There is always room for a kid they want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got waitlisted at Sidwell, GDS, and St Albans. No waitlist movement at all and we even had our DS send a letter every month with updates. Once we realized that the waitlist thing is a joke, we applied to a few other schools. These schools have waitlists, but still told us they have space. We applied and were accepted at 2 schools.

We’re shocked, but very happy that we have a place for our son. However, we now understand that at most schools the waitlist is definitely a soft rejection.

What grade? Some grades did not have many spaces in the first place.

9th. Total entry year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 off the waitlist for Gonzaga

WOW! Really? We got an email saying they were still oversubscribed.

Yes I think it helped that another kid from the same K-8 declined their spot so an even swap plus one more.

Anonymous wrote:I really think the waitlist is truly a soft rejection most places

It definitely is at GDS. They very rarely outright reject applicants.