It’s that time of year when, as a parent, your head is spinning and you don’t know how you’re going to make it to the holidays, let alone to your student’s application deadlines. We get it! It can be difficult to think through everything your student needs to accomplish before applying and ultimately attending an independent school. Try not to overthink things though!

To help ease the burden, we’ve compiled our top tips from fall 2022 so that you and your student can start the new year on the right foot! If you’ve been looking at private schools this fall, use these tips to sharpen your edge. If you’re just embarking on the admissions process, we know these tips will help you move quickly and hone in on what’s best for your student!

We love your feedback! Let us know which of these tips were the most helpful.

Set Up a Communication Plan

If your student is off to boarding school come January, it's important to set up a time when you and your student can talk. We recommend making this a part of your weekly or daily schedule so that you both know when you'll be available. Although it's helpful to set this up before your student moves in, it might need to be readjusted to their schedule once the academics, extracurriculars, and social life kick in. Print out calendar pages with the school months, and write in the dates you’ll visit them, when they’ll be coming home, and put this up on their dorm room bulletin board!

Providing a visual of the next time they plan on coming home, or when you plan on visiting, creates a sense of calm and something to look forward to!

Read more about how to help your student successfully transition to boarding school: https://bit.ly/3WrG5ut

Use this tip to ensure a school is able to understand your child’s learning profile and work to implement a personalized learning approach for your student:

Complete an Assessment to Understand Students’ Learning Styles

Having an understanding of how your student learns is the first step in creating an effective and personalized approach to student success. Without this data, you may be guessing at what will be most effective for your students and teachers.

We can’t recommend highly enough the value of having an independent neuropsych assessment done for your child! This will give you a baseline understanding of how they learn best, where their learning deficits are but most importantly, what their strengths are!

Read more about approaching personalized learning: https://bit.ly/3BENRsP

Before test anxiety becomes paralyzing, parents can use this tip to help support their students as they experience this type of stress:

Make a Plan

If your student knows when they will have their next exam, encourage them to plan ahead by reviewing their materials well in advance. If this is a course your student may be struggling in, it might be helpful to advise them to talk with their teacher to work through the material.

It’s also important to keep in mind how your student learns best. If it would be most effective for them to study with a group, encourage them to set up a study session with their peers, or if they learn best in a one-on-one environment, advise that they meet with a tutor for extra guidance.

Read more about supporting students as they experience test taking anxiety: https://bit.ly/3WuUW7z

Here’s what you should look for on a school’s website to help you discern if this is a place where your student can thrive:

Take Advice From Alumni

There’s no better way to learn about a school’s environment than to hear from those who have lived it themselves. Make sure you read each alumni or student testimonial on their site to help you get the full picture of what life is like at that school. Check out their alumni magazine, often found on their website. By reading through others' experiences you can get a sense of why this school is worth the investment and how their alumni are going forward in the world!

Read more about what to look for on a school’s website: https://bit.ly/3jgkuXO

Here’s one of our top tips to help students and families have the best experience possible as they find a place for their student to thrive:

Sit-in On a Class

If your student wants to feel what it’s like to be a student at a school they're interested in, ask the admissions team if they can sit in on a class as part of their visit. This is one way that students can feel like they are a part of the school’s community.

They’ll also get a sense of the school’s teachers, assignment expectations, and the feel of the student population. To make the most of this experience, students should pick a class in which they are interested in the subject. It’ll be more fun but also feel more relaxing if it’s an academic subject they are comfortable in.

Read more about how to prepare for a new admissions cycle: https://bit.ly/3jaUrRN

Before arriving on campus, parents can prepare to ask this question during school admission interviews:

Where Families Fit In

Finding your student’s perfect fit isn’t just about what works best for them but also what feels right for your family too. We always encourage our parents to understand how and when they can partner with the school.

For example, ask:

How will we learn how our child is progressing at this school? What does that look like?

What opportunities exist for parental involvement? How do you communicate with parents?

Read more about how parents can prepare for private school admission interviews: https://bit.ly/3V7zyUT

After years of working with hundreds of students, we’ve put together our best tips students can use to prepare for a school interview:

Don’t Memorize Answers

It can be tempting for students to want to walk (or Zoom) into the room and riddle off as many perfect answers as they possibly can.

To help your student so their answers don’t sound forced, we encourage them to try and think of a few examples of stories or experiences they are comfortable talking about. What are some illustrative ways they can share and tell their story? That way the interview will flow more like a conversation and your student can share their own thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

Read more about how help your student if they are nervous about school interviews: https://bit.ly/3WpSQ8N

After hundreds of open houses, we’ve rounded up some tips on what to look out for when visiting schools to make the most of your time:

Viewpoints to consider: Wide Angle Lens vs. Single Focus:

When you’re on a school campus, consider learning about the school through multiple lenses. For example, look at things through a broad, wide angle lens and also through a single focus, zoom lens! This means you should ask questions such as:

What does the integration of student support look like across the curriculum?

What is the residential living structure like? By grades or vertically across grades?

What role does the advisor play each day or week in a student’s life on campus?

What are the required courses in the various academic disciplines?

What is the “runway” available to your student now versus down the road?

Read more about how to to approach open houses: https://bit.ly/3v3GpUo

After helping many students, here’s how to know who to ask for letters of recommendation so your student’s application stands-out on the admission team’s desk:

Who truly knows your student?

It doesn’t make sense to ask for a letter of recommendation from someone your student has not spent much time with. Instead, help your student think through the past few years of their school experience to understand the leaders, coaches and teachers in their life.

When you’re trying to come up with a list of possible letter of recommendation candidates, consider everyone your student knows from the activities they’ve been involved with over the past few years. This will help you create a solid and reputable list that will allow your student’s recommendation to shine.

From this list, have your student consider each person and how well they know them. The stronger the relationship your student has with this person, the better they will be able to provide your student with a recommendation that captures their true self.

Remember that a great letter of recommendation doesn’t have to be from individuals who your student has worked with in the past year. Some of the best letters of recommendations might come from people that your student has known for many years now.

Learn more about how to create letters of recommendation that shine: https://bit.ly/3YpSsJr

Use this tip to help you narrow down schools so you can find your student’s best fit:

Dig Deep & Double Check!

Now that you’ve attended an event at a school that’s appealing, whether virtually or in-person, it’s time to look through the nitty gritty. Check out the course catalogs or courses of study, affinity groups, student clubs, musical groups and more! How does this match with what your student wants and needs?

At this point you’ve gathered enough information about the school’s you’re most excited about. Make time to look through your must-have list to see which schools most closely align.

Now consider your experience on campus or through a virtual event. Which school did you feel most comfortable and confident about?

Don’t rush this process! We can ensure that no parent has ever regretted carefully reviewing all the necessary materials before their student submits an application.

Learn more about how to thoughtful narrow your private school list: https://bit.ly/3v0BeVi

Here’s a bonus tip you need to know before saying yes to a school’s financial aid offer:

What is the “True Cost” of Attendance?

It’s easy to gloss over all the other costs that come with sending your student to private school. From extracurriculars to class trips and school projects, there are always so many items to consider!

To get the full picture of how much a private school will cost, make sure to take note of what your student may be involved in while attending this school. Ask if those activities are separate from the financial aid your family might receive. Don’t be afraid to ask what the additional costs are that may not be on their website too! Understanding this number is called “knowing your true cost of attendance.”

One way to help you understand what you might be expected to contribute is through a particular process and the use of a financial aid calculator. Ask your school if they have this calculator set up so you can see exactly how much you can expect to contribute given your income and number of students attending.

Learn more about how to understand your student’s financial aid: https://bit.ly/3j6A3kB

We hope that these tips help you and your student stay on track with private school applications! We know that this process can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve never been through it before!

Wherever you’re at in the private school admissions process, we’re here to help!

Your journey to finding your student a place where they can thrive starts here: https://bit.ly/3WocMcf