The Admissions Process

Getting into a private school is a time-consuming process. There are many details to keep your eyes on. In particular, you need to keep your eyes on the calendar and all the deadlines set by the various admissions departments of the schools you are applying to. Most of the time you will apply to two or three schools depending on the grade level your child will be entering. This further complicates the process because you will most likely end up watching three or more sets of deadlines. The best advice I can offer as you apply to schools is to begin the process as early as possible. Do not put things off until the last minute.

To help you prioritize all those deadlines, let's look at the most important ones.

The admissions fixed deadline

What I mean by a fixed admissions deadline is that your child's application must be submitted and completed by a certain date. Most private schools have their fixed admissions deadlines occurring on January 31. Some schools position their admissions deadlines a week or two earlier. The issue with fixed admissions deadlines is that you do not want to miss them. This is particularly true when you are applying to a selective school, which has far more applications than it has places for. If your application is submitted after the fixed deadline, it will more than likely be placed in a pile with the other late applications. These might surface if the yield or number

TLTR? Too long to read? Many parents don't take time to read the contract and other documents which the school sends you once your child has been accepted. It is time-consuming. The contract language is often confusing because it is written in legal language.

But you simply must take the time to read and understand those documents before you affix your signature and send off the deposit check. Even if you happen to think that they are too long to read, read every word. Or better yet, have your attorney review the contract and supporting documents for you.

The two basic documents are the Contract and the Discipline/Honor Code. Not only should you read them carefully but make sure that your attorney reviews both documents as well. As Benjamin Franklin said so succinctly: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." It makes more sense to understand what you are agreeing to before you sign rather than to discover material information after the fact. A contract is a legal document. It is enforceable in a court of law.

Contracts

Start with that contract which the school sends you after it has accepted your child. Remember that it was written by the school's attorney, not yours. Since that is the case, you need to have your attorney view the contract before you sign. She will explain any of the legalese which is not clear. She will also explain your obligations as well as the school's obligations. Here's an

Selecting schools that fit your needs and requirements takes much time and effort. However, once that part of the process of choosing a school is finished, you need to focus on the admissions processes for the three to five schools that you have selected. Use this admissions checklist to keep you and your child on track. There is much detail, plenty of forms to fill out, and a standardized admissions test to prepare for.

Testing

I have put admissions testing at the top of my checklist simply because it needs as much advance preparation as your child can give it. While standardized admissions tests are just one of several tools that the admissions professionals at each school will use to assess your child, they are an important part of the assessment process. Most schools use the SSAT and ISEE. But there are other tests out there as well. Review the admissions requirements carefully once you have narrowed your choice of schools to the magic three to five number. With luck, you will discover that all the schools on your list use the same test. That will simplify matters enormously for both you and your child.

This video offers some tips for taking the SSAT.

If, on the other hand, you end up with two or possibly three different tests, you will have those additional test registrations to schedule, register, and pay for. Scheduling works

No, this is not an article about card games. But the reality is that getting your child into private school requires a similar mindset. You must play the hand which you have been dealt. The admissions staff will review the facts in your child's dossier. Not the "might have been" or the "wish they were". As you prepare your child's applications for private school, pay attention to the areas listed below. If you are just starting to think about private school as an option, then focus on these four areas of your child's profile with the goal of presenting her in the best possible light when it comes time apply to private school.

Academics

Since the school needs to know whether your child can do the academic work, it is very important that her academic transcripts and teacher recommendations address her mastery of core subjects such as English and mathematics. Transcripts, teacher recommendations, and test scores ideally should indicate the same thing: that your child can handle the academic work at the schools to which you are applying. An occasional lower grade is OK as long as the transcripts and teacher comments indicate that the issue which caused the low grade in the first place has been dealt with and remediated.

This video offers an overview of life at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts.

Deficiencies? Less than stellar test scores? A score of C in

If you are good at organizing projects, the challenges involved in getting your child into private school will not seem especially daunting. The timeline for the process has some rather elastic sections. They can take a lot of time or can be foreshortened depending on your requirements. For example, if you already have a pretty good idea of what kind of school you want, you will save time. Ditto if you actually have identified a couple of specific schools. That being said, I want you to be aware of at least five challenges I have identified when choosing a private school for your child.

Let's look at five of the challenges facing you.

1. Choosing the right school

Choosing the right school is probably the most time-consuming challenge. It can be as easy as surfing the Web and identifying three to five schools right out of the gate. You can take advantage of this shortcut when you have decided that your child will attend one of the local day schools in your community.

But if you are thinking about boarding school, the choices multiply almost exponentially. There are hundreds of schools to choose from. There are dozens of schools to consider seriously. So, how do you narrow the field in this instance? You do it by making a list of your requirements and systematically checking the boxes until you have a list of schools that matches or come close to matching your specific requirements.

If you can