Waitlisted at Top Boarding Schools – Now What?

March 17, 2023 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Since March 10th, my firm has been inundated with continuous inquires (phone calls and emails) from stunned and stressed-out parents because their children are wait-listed. Many of the inquiries are from parents whose children have been wait-listed from ALL schools to which they applied!

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More families are choosing boarding schools for their children; thus, the competition has increased. Boarding 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 top U.S. boarding schools. Choate, Andover, Ext

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 this hypercompetitive environment, in many cases, wait-listed may be “forever”. Top schools rarely “reject” students outright. The outcome, however, remains unchanged…a perpetually waitlisted student has not been accepted and will not have a place in their private school of choice.

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. An understanding of real-time changes, as well as nuances particular to each school at a particular point in time are important for successful outcomes 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 only to be waitlisted AGAIN.

When parents call our firm to inquire about our services, they engage us because they understand the importance of investing in their child’s educational future. The successful outcome is invaluable and preferable compared to the prospect of their child being waitlisted again and again and again.

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Dr. Lowe and his team of diverse admissions experts provide unrivaled, unmatched and unparalleled admissions advisory and educational research services for their clients. Most importantly, you work DIRECTLY with Dr. Lowe and get the benefits of his entire team. By working with Dr. Lowe, one-on-one, you work with his reputation, his expertise, his experience and his success!

Boarding School Decisions: Waitlisted or Rejected? What’s the Next Step?

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March 10, 2022March 12, 2022 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

Boarding school decisions are out! As expected, my firm is receiving continuous inquires to engage us (phone calls and emails) from stunned and stressed-out parents because their children are wait-listed and rejected! In some cases, their children have been wait-listed/rejected from ALL schools to which they applied.

All the parents are disappointed, unhappy and anxious because they are aware of the superior education at top boarding schools and that these schools are stepping stones to the Ivy League colleges and universities.

If your child was outright REJECTED the next step is to either settle for public school or reapply next year. If your child is WAIT-LISTED (which means “although we love your child, we don’t have spot available today, tomorrow or perhaps never”), you may wish to simply wait and see what will happen or reapply next year. Waitlists may be active for just the notification period that a school is enrolling students, or it may continue to be active through the spring and sometimes into the summer. In both cases, you may wish to retain the services of an admissions expert who understands the changing waitlist policies for schools and the off-waitlist as well as reapplication process and nuances because of the hyper-competitive nature of the Ten Schools and other top-tier boarding schools.

Successful boarding school admissions requires expertise and experience to understand how to manage risks, navigate pitfalls, design the right admissions strategies, and most importantly understand the admissions policies and professionals who are making admissions decisions – in other words an admissions expert!

Do you really want to risk mistakes or make the same mistake twice?

betting_college_admissions_Dr_Paul_Lowe_Educational-Consultant — **We find that** **many parents underestimate the risk of failure and over estimate the chances of success based on what they believe**. **This is not the time to take chances – it’s your child’s future!**

When parents call our firm to inquire about our services the first thing they ask is what is your price? Your fees?

It’s amazing that 95% of parents who are willing to spend $240,000 or more over 4 years on private (boarding) high school education for their children waste time attempting to haggle fees for an exclusive advisory service that will will increase the chances of that education! I have discovered that parents who are shopping for services based on price, have already made the decision to not invest in expert advice that will help their children. They ultimately end up saving $240,000 in private high school tuition (their child attends public school) or worse pay $240,000 for a third-tier school education. Our market is specifically the 5%, parents who hire us and their children get into top schools!

**Parents who choose to work with Dr. Lowe invest in the children’s educational future!**

Paul Reginald Lowe is the managing director and lead admissions expert at Pinnacle Educational Center Admissions Advisors Group’s Boarding School Admissions Consultants, an affiliate of 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 schools. Dr. Lowe helps U.S. and international students gain admissions into top U.S. boarding 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.

Top Boarding Schools – It’s Getting More Competitive to Be Accepted!

April 1, 2021 ~ drpaulloweadmissionsexpert

It’s April and parents continue to frantically call our offices or email us regarding waitlists! The common message: My child was waitlisted at a particular top boarding school or several boarding schools. They’re usually referring to one or all of the Ten Schools. Many decide to wait patiently, try to see what they can do on their own and then perhaps reapply next year to the 10th grade on their own.

Here is the problem with this approach. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected boarding school admissions. More parents are interested in the boarding school dynamic and aware of the superior education at top boarding schools. A recently published article in the New York Times: “The Boarding-School Boom” has confirmed what we have been advising our clients who have been accepted to top boarding schools…..there is now hyper-competition in boarding school admissions.

Several schools have reported to us, this year, that they had a record number of applicants and they were able to admit a mere 10% of all applicants (as opposed to 14-18% in past years). What does this mean? Getting off the waitlist will be difficult! More students will remain on the waitlist and will inevitably be perpetually waitlisted (effectively, rejected). For many of the competitive schools, April 10^th is the date admitted students are asked to notify the Admission Office of their enrollment decision. After this date, many parents know if their children will be starting public school in the fall and will have to decide if their children will be reapplying next year for the 10th grade. The reapplication to boarding schools (especially ones where students were waitlisted or rejected) can be tricky and will involve different admissions strategies.

Dr_Paul_Lowe_admissions_Expert — **“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 Boarding School Admissions Consultants, an affiliate of 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 schools. Dr. Lowe helps U.S. and international students gain admissions into top U.S. boarding 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.