Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 18:30     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here. I specifically asked about Norwood and FA students, since come September I will have one of those.

I just heard that rumor and wanted to know if it was true.


First of all, welcome to Norwood! It is a great community and I hope your family and child have a great experience there.

I understand where you are coming from, but you are asking people to speculate on a public message board about particular families and their financial aid status and needs. I suppose it is possible that a Norwood 8th grade family that receives financial aid would read your comment and respond about their own particular experience, but the probability of that is unlikely. And that will just be a snapshot in any case.

I totally understand and appreciate your interest in this topic as a general matter. If you are looking for information about Norwood families in particular, my suggestion is that in the fall you ask either Mike or Dennis about it (depending on how old your child is) and/or to connect you with the right person to discuss it with you, or you could ask Matthew about it. The PFID leadership may also have some suggestions. If your family identifies as a family of color, you could also explore this through the PSC. But asking on this message board “how did the financial aid kids do” is not likely to get you good or reliable information, and in my experience families at Norwood do not think about or talk about families in this way. Any rumor that you may have heard about something that may or may not have happened in the past is anecdotal, and there’s no reason to think that Norwood kids who receive aid are treated any differently when it comes to 9th grade admission than are kids coming from any other school.


I agree with pp. But I would start by talking with Billy, OP.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 18:08     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:OP here. I specifically asked about Norwood and FA students, since come September I will have one of those.

I just heard that rumor and wanted to know if it was true.


First of all, welcome to Norwood! It is a great community and I hope your family and child have a great experience there.

I understand where you are coming from, but you are asking people to speculate on a public message board about particular families and their financial aid status and needs. I suppose it is possible that a Norwood 8th grade family that receives financial aid would read your comment and respond about their own particular experience, but the probability of that is unlikely. And that will just be a snapshot in any case.

I totally understand and appreciate your interest in this topic as a general matter. If you are looking for information about Norwood families in particular, my suggestion is that in the fall you ask either Mike or Dennis about it (depending on how old your child is) and/or to connect you with the right person to discuss it with you, or you could ask Matthew about it. The PFID leadership may also have some suggestions. If your family identifies as a family of color, you could also explore this through the PSC. But asking on this message board “how did the financial aid kids do” is not likely to get you good or reliable information, and in my experience families at Norwood do not think about or talk about families in this way. Any rumor that you may have heard about something that may or may not have happened in the past is anecdotal, and there’s no reason to think that Norwood kids who receive aid are treated any differently when it comes to 9th grade admission than are kids coming from any other school.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 17:54     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Agree this is a broader issue and has nothing to do specifically with Norwood. But at the same time, no one here has pointed to any specific student in current 8th grade and the PP who pointed back to prior student from "a few years ago" is not identifying either. People should remember that there are students with high grades and test scores who sometimes are not accepted to the highest schools. The assumption that anyone with that profile and was not accepted had that outcome only for FA reasons is just wrong.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 17:40     Subject: Norwood outplacement
OP here. I specifically asked about Norwood and FA students, since come September I will have one of those.

I just heard that rumor and wanted to know if it was true.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 17:28     Subject: Re:Norwood outplacement
“HA” should read “HS” in the above post.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 17:27     Subject: Norwood outplacement
This is an interesting and important topic. But it has nothing to do with Norwood in particular, as opposed to any other K-8 school in the area. Additionally, it would be wrong to speculate on a public message board about which Norwood 8th graders may receive FA (and then extrapolate HA generosity from that), since FA and the extend of any particular family’s need is a private matter. I would encourage those who are interested in this topic to start a new thread.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 17:03     Subject: Re:Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why PP applied/chose k-8 over k-12 when FA was a consideration. Did you only apply k-8 or were the FA offers not as good for K-12?



I am not the PP. But in my experience, the K-12 school dont give out FA to families starting in K. We got waitlisted at all K-12 schools we applied, and got accepted with FA in two K-8. I think the K-12 schools hand out FA for kids starting in high school more generously since those kids are already established as high achievers. A kid entering K is a big unknown in terms of potential. The schools don't want to gamble on a kid by giving out FA to those. Reputation of K-12 depends on college entrance. Reputation of K-8 schools depends on high school admissions. Those affect the FA decisions a lot.


I don't think this is true. It's just true that there is more competition for any spot at a top k-12 than at top k-8's. So the k-12 can be more selective in all aspects of the admissions process, including on who they give FA to. From what I have seen, being in both K-8 and K-12 is that FA is used more at k-12 for diversity (sometimes race/ethnicity, sometimes geographic) and also at MS/HS to encourage students to come for athletic slots.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 16:34     Subject: Re:Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why PP applied/chose k-8 over k-12 when FA was a consideration. Did you only apply k-8 or were the FA offers not as good for K-12?



I am not the PP. But in my experience, the K-12 school dont give out FA to families starting in K. We got waitlisted at all K-12 schools we applied, and got accepted with FA in two K-8. I think the K-12 schools hand out FA for kids starting in high school more generously since those kids are already established as high achievers. A kid entering K is a big unknown in terms of potential. The schools don't want to gamble on a kid by giving out FA to those. Reputation of K-12 depends on college entrance. Reputation of K-8 schools depends on high school admissions. Those affect the FA decisions a lot.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 16:28     Subject: Re:Norwood outplacement
I'm curious why PP applied/chose k-8 over k-12 when FA was a consideration. Did you only apply k-8 or were the FA offers not as good for K-12?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 16:12     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:I would like to know how the kids did who are on FA. I heard a story of a kid a few years ago who was very smart, high test scores but got WL everywhere because they needed too much aid. We are a FA family and will be joining the Norwood community, and they have been very gracious with the aid, but I am a bit concerned about what happens when child graduates.



Never too early to start researching which schools give scholarships. This could help fill the gap between lower FA. FYI many of the scholarships available aren’t for sports!
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 15:59     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:I would like to know how the kids did who are on FA. I heard a story of a kid a few years ago who was very smart, high test scores but got WL everywhere because they needed too much aid. We are a FA family and will be joining the Norwood community, and they have been very gracious with the aid, but I am a bit concerned about what happens when child graduates.


FYI - if your high achieving child is shut out of a Big 3 or Big 5 because of FA, but gets into another school with FA - they will still get a great education and do well in college. Unfortunately, you can't always be choosy if you need aid. (Same is true for college admissions and needing to apply places to get merit aid in case you don't qualify for enough financial aid.) But it's also true that a bright student will make the most of wherever they are. I know it's hard to see it this way if you get shut out, but it's true. So apply broadly, but don't judge your child's prospects or even their educational potential purely based on where they are accepted in terms of prestige or ranking.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 15:52     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:I would like to know how the kids did who are on FA. I heard a story of a kid a few years ago who was very smart, high test scores but got WL everywhere because they needed too much aid. We are a FA family and will be joining the Norwood community, and they have been very gracious with the aid, but I am a bit concerned about what happens when child graduates.


I can't tell you specifics or certain students/families, but it's true that if you need FA your child will have an extra hurdle to cross - they won't just need to be a fit in the broad context of what students they are looking to fill the class - but also how they fit into the set of applicants they want to support financially. If student X has the same profile as student Y and only student Y needs FA, student X is likely to get the acceptance. This leaves room for student A who uniquely fits at the school (there is no student B like him/her) and also needs FA.
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 15:50     Subject: Re:Norwood outplacement
Siblings or not, what percentage of the class goes to the schools that people talk about as having highly competitive admissions?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2022 15:03     Subject: Norwood outplacement
I would like to know how the kids did who are on FA. I heard a story of a kid a few years ago who was very smart, high test scores but got WL everywhere because they needed too much aid. We are a FA family and will be joining the Norwood community, and they have been very gracious with the aid, but I am a bit concerned about what happens when child graduates.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2022 22:03     Subject: Norwood outplacement
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Envy is in the eye of the beholder. It is relevant when there are sibling ties and that is worth disclosing when someone is asking about outplacement. But that doesn't equate with knocking it down.


But there always has to be a first sibling to establish those ties. Who almost always graduated from Norwood as well.


In the year my child graduated, 2 of the 3 St Albans acceptances were the oldest child in the family. Please stop trying to say it's all about siblings. St Albans makes siblings apply in normal process with everyone else (no early nod or feedback from admissions) and are not necessarily given preferences.


You and I are in agreement. I'm not saying it's all about the siblings. My point is that people pointing out siblings as if Norwood has nothing to do with it is a dumb distraction. Doesn't matter if we are talking about placement at St. Albans or GDS or Sidwell or some other high school.