Accepted, Waitlisted,Rejected

If you are following our timeline for choosing a private school, you will notice that this process starts almost two years before the fall in which you want your child to start school. The process begins in a leisurely fashion as you gather your thoughts and think about schools. The intensity builds in the final six months before the January admissions deadline most schools seem to have.

Here's a recap of the steps you need to follow to find the right school for your child. Work through the process in sequence from beginning to end.

Why Private School?

Is private school right for your child? Learn about the things you should consider and the unique benefits of a private school education. Once you are convinced of the value of a private school education, then you must determine which private school is going to be best for your requirements.

Which School is the Best for Your Child?

It depends on your requirements. But in the end only one thing matters most anyway: the fit. When you get the fit right, you will have a happy child.

Boarding or Day School?

Many parents agonize over sending their child to boarding school or keeping them at home and sending them to day school. There are benefits to both kinds of schools. This is an important choice to make.

Single Sex or Coeducation?

You ought to consider a single sex school

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