March 10th, the date designated for boarding school notifications this year, has come and gone. My firm’s regional offices in Manhattan, Greenwich, CT, Woodbridge, CT, White Plains, NY, Fort Lee, NJ, Princeton, NJ, Boston and Los Angeles are inundated with numerous phone calls from disappointed, unhappy and anxious parents (who were not our clients). International parents, from Moscow, another from London, another from Lagos, another from Guangdong Province and another from São Paulo have already scheduled meetings to fly over and meet me in our Manhattan offices. All understand the importance of continuing the process in pursuit of the goal: admissions to a top private school for their children. Their next mission in pursuit of this goal is to determine what to do next.
If your child was REJECTED (or WAIT-LISTED, which means that “we love your child, but we don’t have spot available today, tomorrow or perhaps never”), what can you do at this stage in the process? SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT!
From my observation, there are six crucial potential missteps during the application process: (1) Parents assume that it’s all about connections. (2) Parents and students don’t prepare enough for the interviews. (3) Parents start too late in the admissions planning process. (4) Parents assume that their skill sets and/or titles give them an admissions edge. (5) Parents and students listen to incorrect advice from chat rooms and online communities. (6) Parents make the mistake of retaining an inexperienced educational consultant who is not versed in the admissions policies, diplomacy and politics of top boarding school admissions or does not even visit schools.
In all cases, after careful research, I endeavor to discover the details as to why and how a student was rejected (or wait-listed) and what mistakes were made. I use the information I gather in conjunction with the current admissions policies of each school and the long-term working relationships that I have established with schools to re-energize a student’s application, make recommendations to improve the student’s profile and properly connect the dots within their application and beyond. By careful navigation, it is possible for students to be reconsidered and admitted.
“Admissions is a competitive sport! Why gamble with uncertainty?” – Dr. Paul Lowe
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.
Dr. Paul Lowe - Admissions Expert 