For the question about reclassing—it’s entirely up to the family to make this choice. Sometimes parents will ask the admissions team what they think, and they may get an opinion, but typically they leave this up to the parents. Reclassing is so common now, that a few boarding schools report 1/3 of the incoming boys are reclassing! It’s really a lot!
There are some clear benefits—time for personal growth, maturity, to improve grades, to show the colleges 5 years of HS work, which will include more advanced work than if they only showed 4 years;plus for athletic recruits, it may be essential. The cons to reclassing is that for some kids it can be hard to still be in high school at 19 years old, or they may not benefit from the time for extra maturity and organization if they already are strong in those areas. Kids who were hoping to get recruited for a sport but don’t, may have trouble feeling good about that last year of HS knowing that sports didn’t work out. These are things I’ve noticed over the years.
Often, folks here are considering reclassing because they feel like it will be easier to be admitted to 9th rather than 10th grade. Yet we see many schools that increase the class in 10th. What criteria/expectations are different- if any - in assessing 9th grade applicants vs. 10th?
I wouldn’t say that the criteria is any difference for evaluating an incoming 9th grader vs. 10th grader. And as you say, most schools increase the class size for 10th grade, so although there are fewer open spots, there are also fewer applicants. I would make the decision on reclassing based on whether it is a fit for the student rather than as an edge in admissions.
@Kristin_White Hi, I was wondering how should I keep contact with AOs after the interview, I wouldn’t want to badger them constantly but I also don’t want to leave them with radio silence.
I’d start with an email to thank the AO who interviewed you. I also suggest giving an update in the winter—-let the interviewer know anything that is new—grades, activities, awards, visits to their school, level of interest in their school, etc. I agree, you don’t want to badger them or contact too often, but two or three outreaches over the entire admissions period is the typical range.
Since I was just working on them, any general advice on Parent Statements? My basic instinct is to play it pretty straight, meaning try to give thoughtful, direct, honest answers to the questions.
Yes, and I’ve always found that stories or little anecdotes work well. Rather than giving many adjectives about your student, give some examples of what he or she is like.
That’s always a bit of a struggle for me because I am often tempted to be pretty conceptual/philosophical.
But as cheerfulmom also pointed out, that is consistent with good writing advice in many contexts–people like a vivid narrative. And in very short pieces, it probably helps even more to get the reader actively using their imagination on your behalf.
Oh that’s hard to say! The student essays and the interview are both conveying to the team what your student is like, so they are so pieces of the same puzzle. But I’d say interview is the one that can hurt kids the most if it is not good—admissions staff are people who often live in the dorms and work with the students, so they may be asking themselves, is this a kid who I want to live with in the dorm? So if the applicant comes off as difficult in some way, or reluctant, or immature,that is more likely to come through in the interview than in the writing.