Making the Prep School Forum Better - Page 2

Periwinkle · 03-12-2008, 07:48 AM

This forum has been invaluable. I would not want many sub forums. I have noticed that parents will frequently step in to quiet a thread which has gotten out of hand. I think it is this mixed audience which helps to keep things civil. The hanna montana stuff I ascribe to nerves. I am annoyed by the tendency of young posters to start a thread on a topic, without doing a search on that topic first. That is due to youth, however.

Chances
Schools
Cafe (I wouldn't divide it into Parent and Student Cafes.)

and a "museum forum" : Useful Advice for Prep School Applicants
Useful threads from the past could be filed in this forum. Posters could also create reference threads on the eternal topics, such as, "timing, interviews, transcript, application dos and don'ts, SSAT, offline reference materials, do you need a consultant?, which school is right for you?, waitlist, revisit days, and preparing to go to school."

allidoiswait · 03-12-2008, 12:12 PM

Limit the number of topics that can be posted in one day/hour/etc. See the number of "Andover" related threads from yesterday for the reason why. The kids are desperate for info, but the moderators need to force them to consolidate the freakouts into one/two threads.

I agree with archived perma-threads for important info such as "Visits/Impressions", "Waitlisted--what to do now?", etc.

Also, it would be wonderful if you killed the "master thread of acceptances/rejections/waitlists", which is entirely too difficult to follow (not to mention stupidly set up---alphabetical order forces us to scan EVERYONE'S name, again and again, to find the person who added the info...a simple "add your info to the bottom" makes more sense). Instead, maybe a simple survey quiz, with percentages? Or a running tally by SCHOOL instead? Something, it's nearly useless as it is.

I don't know how it would work, but it would be great to see something that showed acceptances, AND first choices---so that the waitlisters can see how many spots are likely to open up.

Jonathan1 · 03-12-2008, 04:27 PM

We really do not need sub forums for schools. It's only this busy because it's around March 10--5 pages of post within 24 hours! We should have a sub forum for chances, but that's probably it.

Also, I don't think we need more than two or three permanent threads.

baseballmom · 03-12-2008, 04:31 PM

allidoiswait-Since I started the Master List of 2012 Acceptances thread, I feel the need to defend it. This is of course, if that is the thread you are referring to!

It is set up in the same manner as the college acceptance threads--by username. It is not "stupidly set up". Many of us have been on the board for several years and know each other by these names. Let's say last November I gave lots of advice to "smartkid64" and I know that she applied to certain schools. Since it is in alpha order, a logical format, and is not as you state "stupidly set up", I can easily go to the thread and look her up to see how she fared.

As far as scanning through everyone to find the new information, well, you just see who posted last and scan alphabetically to that name to find their information. What could be easier or an improvement on that?

If the info was not in alpha order by screen name, you would THEN have to scan through every line to find someone's info since it would NOT be in alpha order! It would be in order of who posted last, which after five or six posts, would be on the next page and in no logical order at all.

Jonathan1 · 03-12-2008, 04:34 PM

Quote:

"add your info to the bottom" makes more sense).

I agree .

Burb Parent · 03-12-2008, 04:45 PM

I like the 2012 Master List of Acceptances, and I find it easy to read because it is in alphabetical order. Thank you baseballmom for creating it and keeping it in order.

BrooklynGuy · 03-12-2008, 05:02 PM

I agree: I like the Master List of Acceptances, and alphabetical order is logical. (I haven't added my information yet, I know, but I am waiting till all of the FA info comes in to post complete list.)

I also like the "Meet Your Classmates" list that another posted created. That will be useful to the new students.

Perhaps there can be a form, that posters can submit their schools info to, and a database can create these lists automatically? I don't know if that can work, but I did see something about college applicants submittling lists into a form for all of the places for which they have applied.

jennycraig · 03-12-2008, 05:02 PM

I like the way the Master List is set up (alphabetically) because, as baseballmom says, you can look for your friend's id and know what school she has gotten into. I like the list allIdoiswait set up as well, because you can look up a specific school and see the people that are attending that school.

I personally would like at least one subforum about schools (particularly, the 2nd tier schools.) The majority of the kids on this board ONLY talk about the "top tier" schools, but there are many other good schools that they could look at. There were a record number of waitlists and rejections from AESDCH this year, and many of the kids don't have other options. Had they been aware of some of the other good schools out there, many with extremely generous financial aid packages, they would be going to a boarding school next fall.

D'yer Maker · 03-12-2008, 09:14 PM

The Master List rocks. It is ingenious in its set up. I think the idea is for the new poster to put their own message up top and then include the facts in the alpha section that gets copied. But even when that doesn't happen, it really can't be that awful to look at the 14 point font username to the left and figure out where that falls in the alphabet, can it?

As for Roger's request, I've written before about this and I think its time has come. Roger was concerned in the past about too much fragmentation, but I think a cafe area is important. And chances threads definitely need to find a home...which would improve the quality of the main area and make it even more attractive.

Somewhere there should be a FAQ index to threads that's sticky. One question that came up numerous times this year was along the lines of "Should I send in audition tapes." For a while I tried to include in each thread a link back to the previous threads that discussed that fine point. It was clear, though, that people want an answer to THEIR question and prefer not to first search for other threads that may be on point. So a FAQ thread is either going to be a big help or it will be totally ignored. One or the other....

Periwinkle · 03-12-2008, 10:11 PM

Perhaps the FAQ thread could include the hint, "If you have a question, try the SEARCH function first."

Parents like the master list, and we're old fashioned, so we're also fans of alphabetization.

inspiration08 · 03-12-2008, 10:39 PM

a special stickied girls schools thread would be nice!

Linda S · 03-13-2008, 05:49 AM

Right now I'm finding it frustrating that, for example, there is already at least 1-2 threads about the Deerfield Waitlist and low and belhold someone starts ANOTHER.
How many Andover topics do we need???
Not sure how to address it, but it is crazy.

I like all the ideas above. And a stickied boys school thread might be good too.

hsmomstef · 03-13-2008, 09:54 AM

My input -- too many stickied threads and it is hard to get past all of them to the current topics. I like the idea of the museum threads -- there have been several really excellent threads that would be good to refer new posters to, and I get tired of always having to search past posts. Although the "read this first" post is a good idea, I have to wonder if it ever gets read -- it certainly doesn't seem like it.

I don't like the idea of separate subforums for different schools or different types -- I have found that many kids who start off focusing on the top schools can be persuaded to look at other schools by parent and student input. I would fear that that wouldn't happen if kids/parents could focus their posting on the "top-ten" school forum.

Roger_Dooley · 03-13-2008, 03:01 PM

So what I'm hearing is this:

-Widespread agreement on "Chances" and "Cafe" forums

Is there critical mass for any individual school forums? That might reduce redundancies. One other way to reduce redundant threads is to reply to the newly posted redundant thread with a link to the established one.

Periwinkle · 03-13-2008, 03:51 PM

I'd suggests a "schools" forum only, not a collection of forums for separate schools. I sense that the happier participants this week are the kids who expanded their search beyond the handful of well-known, wealthy schools. They're happier because they're much more likely to have an acceptance, or even two or more acceptances. If there were a forum for the big schools, many kids, and parents, wouldn't look beyond the AEDCH, which would be a shame.