The Successful Independent School Application Process: Essential Family Guide 🎒📚
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Gina Parker Collins discusses the critical aspects of navigating the admission season for independent schools. She emphasizes the importance of using checklists, timely requests for recommendations, and preparing for interviews. The conversation also highlights the significance of expressing gratitude throughout the process and maintaining confidence in the child's abilities.
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The admission season is quickly approaching its end.
Checklists are essential for keeping track of application requirements.
Request recommendations from teachers in a timely manner.
AI can assist in crafting concise responses to application prompts.
Interviews should be a two-way conversation, not a one-way street.
Students should be encouraged to express their true selves during interviews.
Gratitude towards those involved in the process is crucial.
Confidence in a child's abilities is key to a successful application.
Engagement in the application process is important for families.
Gina Parker Collins (00:00.63)
Hey, Riisers, It's your indy school OG, Gina Parker Collins, founder of Resources in Independent School Education, also known as RIISE, and co-host of Articulating an Independent School podcast. Guess what? It is the beginning of the ending of the admission season. It really goes that quickly. If you live in the New York City area, November 15th is the start of the close of applications for many schools.
And that does go as far as January or even February for some boarding schools, but we are here. And today we wanted to make sure that we inspired the rest of this journey for you and just picked up on a few things that you really want to pay attention to, to have a successful application experience. Most platforms that you will find your applications on will have a handy checklist.
What a godsend, right? It's really hard for you to forget anything or to miss anything that is required of you during this application process. So please continue to use it as you move along. And it's also very gratifying to see, you know, that list just dwindle down. So even after the preliminary application is in, you still reference this checklist to make sure that things like the recommendations are in on time.
We're going to talk more about that. So back to those recommendations. Now is the time that you will request of your current teachers, like your English teacher, your math teacher, maybe a guidance counselor to share what they know about your child as a learner. And you're not the only one that's requesting this information. So get this request to them in a timely fashion. Like now would be a good time, I think, between September. Now they have a good grasp of who your student is, they've had some assessments, get those requests in. The platforms themselves can do it internally, asking for a name, email address. Other times you will have to print the request out and hand it or email it to your educators. In either case, make sure that they are timely with it and a box of donuts, some flowers, know, some coffee does not hurt in making sure that they understand that you appreciate the extra time that they're taking to get things done. Let's talk a little bit about the responses, your responses to questions or prompts with the application. There can be many for parents and students, depending on the age of the student. Always have someone read it over for clarity to make sure that you are actually answering the question.
And if you find that it's really hard for you to respond to a question in 500 characters or 500 words or less, utilize AI. It's not a bad word. AI can only give you what you put in. So it can help save you some time and crunching down to the word or character limit. When you're on your interviews, make sure that you're prepared to ask a question or two about the school culture, the curriculum, extracurriculars, how Black and Brown students experience their school community. These are important questions to ask. It is not a one-way street. The interview is not a one-way street. It's a conversation. So be prepared to have a conversation. There's no gotchas. If you know what you wrote, you can stay in line because saying the same thing over and over again, as we well know, kind of sticks, but be flexible and spontaneous and above all, be curious during your process of interviewing.
Now we talked about interviewing for parents, but what about our young scholars, depending on their age? It might be a group activity that they are being observed with through rather, or it can be one-on-one, but make sure that you let your student know that they get a chance to have maybe a teacher all to themselves, or they get to have a play date or be among their peers trying to problem solve. So this is a really great opportunity for them to just be who they are and to bring their whole selves into the community and for them to be curious and excited.
Whenever you have the opportunity, please express gratitude and thanks for those who are assuring you through the submissions process from the person who extended the tour to the person that interviewed you, whoever greeted you when you entered into the building that really made you feel as if you belonged. A quick thank you note goes a long way. So make sure you get the name, the email address, or if you can't get the email address, get the name, you can easily find that on the website. But gratitude is always in season.
So that's it today, folks. If you have any other questions, concerns, if you're curious about anything, do not hesitate to reach out. The link to do so will be below. And we wish you the utmost success in this process. Remember that you and your family and your young scholar are the gift to these school communities. It is a give and take. So please walk with a sense of confidence in your child's ability to thrive in these communities. And that really only happens if you show up. So continue to show up in the submissions process. Apply as if you are already enrolled. And we'll see you on the other side.