My daughter attends loomis chaffee. her sister applied for next term. I am really anxious because younger sister is smart has good grade and is a top athlete but not as outstanding as her elder sister (elder sister all A +, smaller sister A -) my question is , would loomis chaffee consider sisters applicants a little advantage not to separete siblings? or is as if she had no conection to loomis.
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Yes, almost all schools commonly discussed here, including Loomis afaik, consider sibling legacy as an important factor in admissions (for donation reasons and things of that nature).
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A sibling at a school can be a heavy thumb on the scale.
Schools recognize that you know their culture. They like to create a family-like feel, and ehat better way to do that than have families? And the schools know that it is easier for families to have tgeir kids at one school and have a good chance of yielding that applicant. As long as the applicant sibling is likely to do well, there are few reasons to say no.
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even if soliciting financial aid? would that be a reason to say no?
No, it’s not usually an issue.
Unless you have been a difficult family! 
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Let me comfort you by offering an unofficial stat here. At some of the schools that I’ve spoken with, the acceptance rates for siblings are usually 2-3 times the average. As others have noted, they know that you are already familiar with the school and therefore most likely to enroll if accepted.
Did that help ( )?
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I do not think the A- would give the school reason to pause accepting a sibling. I think most schools try to give consideration where possible, however we know many families where this has been the case. Consider each class and child are unique. The schools need to ensure they are building the right class. So it is a positive criteria (providing current student and family are well integrated), but not a slam dunk.
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I agree with Sroo. An A- is not bad enough to overwhelm the sibling bump. My suspicion is that they need a good reason NOT to let a sibling in. That happens, like if there are behavioral issues or serious concern about a sibling’s academic ability. Since you only mentioned your daughter’s A-, I assume that is the only thing that might derail her chances, but I can’t believe an A- (even if that is her average, not just a grade in one class) would be that damaging. That’s especially true since your daughter is a top athlete. Nothing is 100% and there may be other things I don’t know, but you should sleep well on March 9th.
I’ve read on other posts that schools typically call parents of siblings in early March if they need to deliver bad news. I don’t know which schools do that – maybe others have more information? If that is indeed the case, you can sleep even better on March 9th if you haven’t gotten a call from the school.
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That is generally accurate.
I am not sure about this. In my experience, schools would only reach out and discuss with parents IF they are extremely likely to accept your child. 75-80% of the class is usually already formed by mid or late February, with the balance being rounding out by special interest students (recruited athletes, strong musicians, etc.). If a school ever reaches out in early March, it would be to ask questions like “What’s the likelihood of you accepting, if we were to offer you admission?” A lot of schools do so to protect their yield. Other than that, direct communications are rare this late in the game.
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Schools sometimes have a practice of reaching out to “connected” applicant families before the official release date. Which schools, which decisions (positive or negative), who is connected-- it varies.
I know families who have received bad news early. All were meaningful donors, so yes - good reason for handling a denial with delicacy. But better a rejection than a miserable 4 years. Either could destroy a donor’s connection but the latter could also destroy the kid.
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Such words of wisdom, @gardenstategal! I agree with you that “fit” is everything, and that denials are never taken well, no matter how delicately handled.
So far this year, I’ve heard a number of connected families receiving early feedback from their schools of choice. The conversations seemed to be all positive, at least from the sound of it.
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We’ve received very encouraging feedback from two of the schools our daughter applied to (out of seven), and know enough thanks to you all not to read anything good or bad into the absence of communication from the others. We’re unconnected to all of them. And at the end of the day, the only communication that matters will come in 11 days 
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Yes, we got an early soft-rejection (waitlist) call as a legacy at a particular school. It was clear that my DD was unlikely to attend if accepted so it made sense for them to do so and the courtesy was appreciated.
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Sending over good thoughts!
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you were right! she got accepted to loomis!! we are thrilled! that the sisters are going together. she got waitlisted to Lawrenceville!
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So glad to hear, congrats as we have heard of a large handful of siblings at varying schools that are not as fortunate.
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