Admissions and Enrollment

5 Admissions Tips for International Students

If you live overseas and are thinking about sending your child to a private school in the United States, pay attention to the following five admissions tips for international students. I assume you are not an American citizen or a green card holder, and English is not your first language. Many students from countries outside the United States want to attend American private schools. International students make up about 15% of the student population in American boarding schools, according to The Association of Boarding Schools.

The I-20 Form

Be aware that not every private school is certified by the United States Immigration Service to accept foreign students. Why is that important? Always confirm that the school in which you are interested is a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certified school. If the school is not SEVP-certified to accept foreign students, it will be unable to issue the I-20 form, which is the first step in applying for and obtaining a student visa from the U.S. Immigration Service. Once you have received the I-20 from the school that you have chosen to attend, you will pay the I-901 Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) Fee. The Immigration Service will not allow your child to enter the United States as a student without the proper paperwork. If in doubt, ask the school if it can issue the I-20 form. Do not assume anything.

Pay Attention to The Deadlines

Applying for

The Writing Sample

At some point in the admissions process, your child will have to write an essay, otherwise known as The Writing Sample. Don't be unduly fazed by this requirement. It is simply one more piece of the private school admissions puzzle. Interestingly enough, writing samples are often part of the admissions process for college and graduate school. Learning how to write well at a young age will benefit her in the future in a great many ways.

What is the Purpose of the Writing Sample?

Very simple, really. The school wants to determine how well your child can express herself in her writing. Many schools will split this part of the application into a series of questions. The Madeira School application, for example, asks her to answer five questions in Part 2. By the way, the candidate must complete Part 2 of Madeira's application. This is very important. The school wants to hear what your child has to say. Not what her uncle or father has to say. One thing you must never do, no matter how tempted, is to use the services of an essay-writing company such as EssayEdge. Most of the time, it isn't possible anyway because the two places where an essay is required are on the SSAT test itself and during the interview at the school. So, put that thought out of your mind right now. The school wants to hear what your child thinks, it wants to

Sometimes things don't go exactly as you'd like. For any number of reasons you find yourself starting the school search process really late. Perhaps you have been transferred and are suddenly faced with finding a place for your child. It's May and the move is planned for July. You need a place for the fall. And fast. What do you do?

Contact Schools.

Contact the schools directly and see if a place is available. Phone the admissions department as soon as you can. That assumes, of course, that you know the schools in the area to which you are relocating. But what if you don't? What if you simply don't have time to do all that careful research? The solution is to hire an educational consultant to do the work for you. Consultants know private schools and have the contacts to find a place for a qualified student.

This video deals with the issue of missed deadlines. While it talks about college admission deadlines, the same principles apply to private schools.

You May Be in Luck If There Are Places.

Back to the original question: what if you have missed the deadlines for entry next fall? You probably will be out of luck when it comes to the most competitive schools. But there are plenty of very good schools which have rolling admissions or no fixed admissions deadline. In other words, they admit qualified

You applied to several schools. But your first choice didn't accept you. Instead, it waitlisted you. What exactly does this mean? And why do schools waitlist applicants? What do you do now?

What does waitlisting mean?

Schools typically offer places to more applicants than they have places for on the theory and experience that they will receive enough acceptances to fill all their seats. Calculating the actual yield from the acceptances which they have sent out is something that experienced admissions officers know how to do almost instinctively. For example, let's say the school has places for 100 students. It could send acceptance letters to 100 applicants. But what happens if only 75 of those families accept the places which have been offered? Having 25 empty seats will wreak havoc with any private school's finances.

That's where the waitlisting comes in. The admissions officers know that if they offer a certain number of applicants over the actual number of places that they have available, that they will receive the necessary yield of acceptances. For example, using our hypothetical 100 places available, the admissions office sends out 125 acceptance letters. The admissions staff know that historically they will receive 90-100 acceptances when they send out 125 acceptance letters. But what if circumstances conspire to produce the number on the low end of the yield scale? Say they only receive 90 acceptances? That's where the waitlist comes into play. The school will send out 125 acceptances. It will make up

They Didn't Accept My Child!

You thought everything was set. The test scores were excellent. She had glowing teacher recommendations. The visit and the interview went well. But the school didn't accept your child. What do you do now?

A private school does not have to accept your child. Nor does it have to give you any reason why it has refused your child admission. How can this be? Indeed, there must be some federal or state laws that govern the situation. There is no legal recourse because private schools don't take public funding. They pride themselves on their independence. They admit who they choose for whatever reasons they decide are best.

Most of the time, parents find themselves in this frustrating situation because they think they can choose a private school for their child by themselves. Of course, technically, you can do it. You can also write your own will or buy a house without consulting an attorney. But would you? Should you? Do you trust your limited knowledge of private schools? That is why you need to hire a professional educational consultant. A consultant offers you a wealth of experience for a very modest fee. While she can't guarantee that your child will get into a particular private school, a consultant knows private schools. He understands the process and knows who to call and what questions to ask.

So unless your father endowed the school or was its first headmaster, don't take a chance. Seek and pay for