Since March 2nd, my firm has been inundated with continuous inquires (phone calls and emails) from stunned and stressed-out parents because their children are wait-listed! We have been receiving many inquiries from parents whose children have been wait-listed from ALL schools to which they applied.
Because of the effect of COVID-19 and private school admissions (more families are choosing private school) the competition has increased. Private schools that were competitive are now hyper-competitive and schools that were marginally competitive are now competitive. We have observed an increase in applications (and therefore waitlisted applicants in schools in the tri-state area and even the Fairchester (Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and Northern New Jersey.
WAIT-LISTED means that “we love your child, but we don’t have spot available today, tomorrow or perhaps never”. Two factors are important to consider:
- SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT in your child’s application process. Parents make a lot of mistakes on their child’s application.
- In many cases, wait-listed may mean “perhaps never” or “forever”. Top schools rarely reject students outright. They would rather state – wait-listed rather than wait-listed perhaps never!
Many parents are mistakenly drawing from their skills as corporate executives, tiger moms, financiers, etc. rather than accepting the benefits of a consultant’s professional skills and years of experience in private admissions diplomacy and understanding real-time nuances and changes needed in private school admissions to top schools. Many parents also fail to fully appreciate and understand the human element of diplomacy in the selection process and decisions in private school admissions. As a result, after the waitlist, they reapply again on to be waitlisted AGAIN.
When parents call our firm to inquire about our services the first thing they ask is what is your price? Your fees? I guess my answer to that is what is the value of your child being waitlisted again and again? And, we are talking about the investment in our child’s future not a price to be negotiated in an open-marketplace.
Dr. Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group’s Private School Admissions Advisors. Dr. Lowe specializes in providing exclusive concierge-type admissions advisory services for U.S. and international students who are interested in applying to top U.S. boarding and day schools. Dr. Lowe helps U.S. and international students gain admissions into top U.S. private schools even after they have been wait-listed and rejected. Dr. Lowe and his team of admissions advisors also visit prestigious and elite private schools, where they have the unique opportunity of interacting one-on-one with heads of schools, directors of admissions and senior admissions personnel. Dr. Lowe provides parents with the knowledge they need to decide where there children should attend and the admissions strategies they need to be admitted into their top-choice school.
