Guiding Families Through the Wait-Pool Process

Guiding Families through The Wait-Pool Process Tips for Independent Secondary School Admission Teams In early March, tens of thousands of applicants to independent secondary schools will check their mailboxes or go online to see the long-anticipated decision notification from their dream school. Many youngsters will take a deep breath, open it….and find that they have been placed in the wait-pool. The disappointment will sink in, and the questions will arise as the candidates and/or their parents begin to make their calls or send their emails to the Admission Office: “What exactly does this mean?” “How many students are in the wait pool?” “What are my chances for acceptance now?” “Is the wait pool ranked in some way?” Here are a few tips on managing the message and easing applicant and parent stress during this difficult time.

• Keep in mind before placing a candidate in the wait-pool that the compassionate decision may actually be a “Deny.” A wait-pool decision by nature is an invitation to an ongoing and potentially frustrating relationship.
• Anticipate candidate and parent questions. Consider stating in the letter/notification that the wait-pool is not ranked and that Admission will not be able to predict the chances of ultimate acceptance.
• You can reduce the volume of phone calls and emails from wait pool candidates or their parents by letting them know that Admission will contact wait-pool candidates on a case by case basis should spaces become available.  And you might consider adding that, in any case, wait-list movement is not likely until the point (early May?) that the school has a clear picture of its enrollment from acceptances.
• Be gentle but firm in not allowing wait pool candidates or their parents to push you for a detailed explanation of why they were placed in the wait-pool or how you are shaping your school community with acceptances from that pool. You will compromise the confidential elements of your admission process, and you may create false hopes that another admission test, a second interview or parent conference, improved grades, or additional recommendations will be the formula for an ultimate acceptance.
• The wait-pool is a critically important enrollment management tool, and it is truly where “art” meets “science” for the Admission team; our independent schools all have their particular needs, yield issues, and timelines, and each wait-pool candidate is unique. But by anticipating candidate and parent concerns and kindly but firmly communicating your process regarding the wait-pool, you will help ease some of their stress—and much of your own as well! 

Fred McGaughan is a 30-year independent school admission and marketing professional. He currently works for Gowan Group, an educational consulting firm that specializes in Strategic Enrollment Management. Learn more about Gowan Group at http://www.thegowangroup.com or email Fred at fmcgaughan@thegowangroup.com

Admission: Four Tips on Increasing Yield for Acceptances

Admission: Plan Now to Increase your Yield on Acceptances March decisions are right around the corner, and Admission Directors can take a few steps right now to ensure the highest possible enrollment yield from acceptances.

1. Involve your school’s program directors. Everyone has a stake in the yield success for acceptances. Whether it’s the Academic Dean or the Music Director, the Debate Coach or the Soccer Coach—all program directors can help the yield cause at large and impact their programs. Plan an early February meeting of all program directors—before end of term madness takes hold and March break arrives-- to discuss strategies for getting them in touch with accepted students (and/or parents) who have expressed a strong interest in specific programs.
2. Plan or refine your accepted student special events now. Whether it is a full-day visitation program for accepted students or an evening reception for the kids and their parents, you don’t want to wait until mid-February to create or refine these plans. Successful schools enlist an all-star cast of teachers and administrators, as well as current students and parents, to assist in these critically important events. They need to plan. So do applicants and their parents who need to save a date should they be accepted. Send out an e-blast to your applicants about special events and follow up visit programs for accepted students, and get the info on your website well before admission notifications are sent.
3. Use your admission software to anticipate and (later) track likelihood of yield for an acceptance. Sure, in many cases you just won’t have a strong sense of whether a candidate will enroll after an acceptance, but your best guess on likelihood for yield is better than no guess as you enter admission committee meetings. And you will find that tracking the real data after acceptances and comparing it to your intuition will help inform your committee discussions and yield efforts in the future.
4. Consider adding to your acceptance letters alerts for school events or news, and include a link for these to your website. You may have your winter musical right at acceptance time, an end of season playoff game, an art exhibition, or a special speaker at your school. Perhaps you are at the point where you can announce an exciting program that will launch in the coming year. These are all terrific opportunities to get soon-to-be accepted candidates and families back to campus or at least to keep them thinking about you without any “sales” pressure.

Creating or refining a yield plan for your acceptances at least six weeks before decisions are mailed will ease stress, involve the entire school team, and keep applicant families informed and excited until they sign that contract and send in the deposit!

Fred McGaughan is a 30-year independent school admission and marketing professional. He is Managing Director for Gowan Group, an educational consulting firm that specializes in Strategic Enrollment Management.

Three Tips on Managing Parents' Responses to Admission "Deny" Decisions

For those of us in the secondary school admission world, March means decision letters, and of course with it comes the inevitable--sometimes emotional-- responses from parents regarding “Deny” letters. These conversations can be difficult, especially when we are dealing with the parents of an enrolled sibling or any family with whom we have developed a strong bond during the admission process. Here are some tips on how to navigate the tough ones:

1. For deny decisions for a sibling, consider making a phone call to the candidate’s parents in advance of your letter mailings or electronic notifications. While these conversations can naturally be a bit awkward, the parents will respect you for it and appreciate your personal touch. You are letting them know that they are family.
2. For all candidates and their parents, do not allow them to press you for specific details regarding an admission deny decision. There are simply too many moving parts to an admission committee decision, and pointing to one or two specific reasons for the denial will compromise the confidential aspects of your committee’s work. A firm statement (delivered with a soft touch) such as, “It was a difficult decision, but we had a very competitive pool of applicants this year” is the best way to go.
3. You will often be pressed by parents to prescribe ways that their child’s application in the future will result in an acceptance. Don’t go there. While you understandably want to soften the blow after a deny decision, there are too many moving parts and unknowns in the coming year, and you will be inferring to the parents that a few improvements will in fact increase chances for this child's future acceptance.

I’m reminded of a difficult Deny decision in my early years as an Admission Director: The parent pressed for the reason, and I wanted to be helpful. I agreed that the student’s testing was in line with our averages, his report card was quite good, and his interview was strong. The parent immediately went to the child’s teachers and bullied them about their “weak teacher recommendations”! In sum, Admission Directors and staffs should always be warm and caring, but when it comes to Deny decisions, it is far better to avoid specific reasons because you want to bring closure to the situation and protect the integrity and highly confidential nature of admission decisions. Parents have an agenda--to push as hard as possible for their child. Your agenda in Admission is to be firm-yet-kind in advancing your school with mission-appropriate acceptances that will define the school’s culture and support its programs.

Fred McGaughan is a 30-year independent school admission and marketing professional. He is the Managing Director of Gowan Group, an educational consulting firm that specializes in Strategic Enrollment Management. http://www.thegowangroup.com