This year’s admission process at Top 20 schools seemed really competitive as many sibling priorities students around me were waitlisted including my younger child.
My younger child had solid STATS, essays & EC so I am just baffled as we are full pay and my older child is a great student at her BS.
Any one noticed a similar trend this year? I was under a impression that sibling priority is a big hook.
Any comment or feedback would be much appreciated.
In past years, there have been posters here who had the same experience as you and were surprised. It’s especially disappointing when you feel like you had a foot in the door.
Not sure how to know if there was less preference given this year.
It’s possible, because you already have a connection to the school, that you could ask admissions if it’d be worth it to reapply for next year and what would strengthen the application. Perhaps reclassing?
Of course, if you have another option you like, no point in that.
I have seen this happen for the past few years with families I know. They all had success with applying a second (and in 1 case a 3rd time with a reclass). They all say that their child took things a little more seriously and put more effort in (mainly interview prep) and were more mature the subsequent application processes but who knows if that had anything to do with the results. It may be somewhat school dependent also.
Editing to add that it also may have a lot to do with the variability of the applicant pool each year and that is completely outside of their control. Also, every child is different and who knows what admissions may see or not see in the individual.
I have sort of an opposite question— Will decline an acceptance from a school affect future application of the sibling?
We had to decide between my son’s final two schools past weekend, and it was very difficult and stressful. We love both schools but finally he chose the one with stronger sports. However the school he turned down would be a great fit for his younger sister, who is not athletic but has her own strengths. They have been great to us and he got in as a day student although the spots are very limited. Will his decline of acceptance affect his sister’s future chances?
I can’t speak for every school or every family, but my younger son was accepted and decided to attend a school that his older brother declined 3 years earlier. We loved the school and it had been our older son’s runner up.
Would having older child at one of top schools work against the younger one if she decides not to attend the same school as the older child? My first one attends one of the GLADCHEMS but the younger one is open to explore on her own when she applies next year. I remember schools ask if they have older sibling who attends boarding school and if so which one.
I don’t want the schools to automatically think that my younger child will attend the same school as the older child; hence getting penalized in the process.
It shouldn’t work against them. BUT it’s probably important that both the younger sibling and the parents make it clear (in interviews, parent statements, etc) that the family is fully supportive of the siblings being in different schools. There should be that acknowledgement that they are different people looking for different things in their schools.
I think if handled correctly, it may help to have an older child enrolled and successful in any boarding school as it demonstrates that the family understands what boarding schools are all about. I personally believe that the schools are in the business of boarding school “together” more than they are in “competition” with each other. I think their real competition is day schools (public and private) and a family that already values what they offer may be attractive.
Interesting question! It’s impossible to have knowledge of what goes on in the minds of admissions officers, BUT based on our experience, our DD has been admitted to 6 schools and waitlisted at 2 others. Interestingly, both of the waitlisted schools had admitted her brother the year before. These two schools that he declined were an even better fit for my DD!