Waitlist Newark Academy

Prep School Admissions
1

What does the waitlist in the Newark Academy mean? They mentioned that wait-list process doesnt begin in mid-April and ends by early summer and student on the list is considered for admission as openings occur in the grade level for which she/he applied. Can someone please shed some light on this.

thank you
Mom

2

In essence, it’s based on how many people don’t take their seats. Let us say, 100 people, got into NA. Let us also say that 10 people were put on their waitlist. If 5 people decided to go to a school that wasn’t NA, those 5 people’s spots would be given to 5 of the e10 people on the waitlist. How they pick the 5 students out of the 10 is unknown, but they obviously have a system in place. That’s pretty much how the system works in real life, except with more people in the accepted pool and the waitlist pool. The reason it happens in mid-April is that they need to know who’s decided to attend NA, and who’s going somewhere else so they know how many spots they can give to waitlist kids. I wish your child good luck! :smile: I got accepted into Delbarton, but got waitlisted at NA and Pingry.
Hope this helps. :wink:

3

The use of a waitlist is the primary method that private schools use to ensure that enrollment targets are met. Once offers go out, the students typically have one month to decide whether or not they will accept. To offset this, most schools will admit more students than they have seats for. This is known as yield.

So if the yield is lower than expected, then the admissions office will start going to the waitlist. The waitlist is not a simple ranked order list. Instead it will be broken down into different buckets: gender, financial aid, etc. So after the yield is assessed, the school will then try and ensure an equal balance of all priority categories. Then they will pull kids from the waitlist that fit the needed criteria. It highly depends on what the yield will be this year at Newark Academy.

In recent years, very few of the private BS have taken kids off the waitlist. So while its okay to maintain hope, move onto other schools that have accepted your child. Best of luck.

4

Thanks guys … this really helps… Any recommendations to get consider from the wait-list… I understand that it depends on many parameters as you mentioned above… but anything that my child could do at this point to improve chances to get into NA.

5

@NotsoConcern I would highly recommend going on the waitlist thread for that- there’s a ton of info there

It’s pinned so it shouldn’t be too hard to find but heres the link anyway:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1300302-the-wait-list-p1.html

6

Here is what I would do:

  1. Ask your counselor to reach out to the school admissions office. And get candid feedback. Try to find out what the issue was (low grades, low scores, etc). If you don’t have a counselor willing to do this, as a parent reach out to the admissions rep who your child met with and ask for a quick phone call. They are often more willing to tell you things verbally.
  2. Figure out how to address the deficiency. Perhaps an additional letter, or a recent report card.
  3. Seek support from within Newark Academy - coach, teacher, or someone else that you know personally. See if they would be willing to reach out to admissions.
  4. Have your child send a handwritten note – emphasizing why they would attend if offered.

Wait until after the deposit deadline to optimize the plan. The best target date would be 1-2 days after the deposits are due. Show interest (without being pushy).