Enrollment Management

Rolling Admissions

When applying to private schools, you will encounter two kinds of admissions: regular admissions or admissions with a fixed deadline and rolling admissions.

• Regular admissions or admissions with fixed deadlines are self-explanatory.
• The school will publish a specific date by which applications must be submitted.
• Rolling admissions are a little different and more flexible.

Canva generated this picture of a parent pondering admissions deadlines.

What is rolling admissions?

Rolling admissions refers to a school's practice of accepting applications until all their available seats are filled. The school will send an answer to your application within a couple of weeks, as opposed to waiting until a fixed deadline.

How does rolling admissions work?

Let's assume that the school begins accepting applications for the following school year on September 1.

• You could submit your completed application on September 2 and expect to have a decision back from the school within a time frame from two weeks to a month.
• At a school with a fixed deadline for admissions, you could submit your application on September 2 but not hear whether your child had been accepted until sometime in March, assuming the fairly common January 31 deadline.
• Many schools with rolling admissions have a priority deadline.
• You should submit your application before that deadline.
• Once all the places are filled, applications from candidates who would otherwise have been accepted will go on a waitlist.

Professor Allen Grove

There are many reasons why a private, independent, or boarding school could be the best option for your student. They typically offer thrilling academic challenges, extensive STEM or arts programs, or other remarkable resources. Their student-teacher ratios are excellent, and faculty may have advanced academic degrees and strong professional reputations. While only about 10 percent of students attend private schools nationwide, private school admissions are selective and competitive.

To help distinguish applicants, private schools use standardized testing. The admissions process, especially for those migrating from public to private, can be an eye-opening experience. The Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) and Secondary School Admissions Exam (SSAT) are the most commonly used admissions tests for private, independent, and boarding schools. The High School Placement Test (HSPT) is often used by Catholic schools for entrance into grade 9.

The ISEE and SSAT are long multiple-choice tests lasting 2-3 hours and potentially covering above-grade-level content. For the 4^th grader applying to private middle school, this might be the first time they have undergone two hours of solid testing with only one or two short breaks. The best starting point is always to have your student take a full-length diagnostic test. It’s important to know where your child is starting from so that you can help them get to where they need to be.

This video offers an overview of the ISEE private school standardized admissions test.

Editor's note:

I asked Attorney Sara Goldsmith Schwartz, whose "practice is focused on the critical issues facing school administrators and leadership," to answer my questions and provide some general guidance regarding best practices for enrollment agreements. This article is intended for the information of owners, administrators, and trustees of small to medium size private schools. ~ Rob Kennedy

The relationship between parents, students, and the school is determined by contract law. Can you tell us what that means?

The relationship between parents, students, and the school is based on a lot of documents, including the student/parent handbook, the code of conduct, the enrollment agreement, and more. The enrollment agreement, however, is the only legal contract, and it memorializes the relationship between the parents, students, and the school, binding the parties to the terms and conditions laid out in the agreement. The agreement assists schools in collecting tuition and fees in cases of non-payment and in assessing late fees in cases of late payment. However, a comprehensive agreement addresses far more than tuition and fees.

This short clip explains why contracts are important legal documents.

How can a professionally written enrollment agreement prevent litigation in the future?

A properly drafted enrollment agreement is a cornerstone of a school’s risk management strategy. For instance, it can help deter parents from bringing claims against the school, as well as help the school prevail on such claims.

An enrollment agreement