When Should We Begin the Independent School Search?
Perhaps for the first time in years, schools have been the forefront of our conversations. No longer are inquiries relegated to “Where do your kids go to school?,” as now parents are commiserating together about the disparities of their local school experience—virtual learning hiccups, digital platforms, Zoom fatigue, mental health challenges, and more. If anything, this has shed more light on education as an industry but also has challenged parents to take a more active role in their students’ educational experience as they have been ushered into a front row seat into their learning. Which brings us to the whirlwind of heartache this year. We have had more inquiries and interest into an independent school system than ever before. Coming from both families who are relocating to the Atlanta area and responsibly exploring all of their options to die-hard public school families who are realizing that this “new normal” is not supporting the unique way their child learns, we’ve heard story after story of frustration and loss—and it’s heartbreaking.
One of the most popular questions we field from inquiring parents is “When should we begin the independent school search?” While so much of an intentional answer is grounded in a specific student’s needs, academic strengths, pain points, goals, and timeline, we also recognize that today’s school landscape demands a high-touch and strategic preparatory approach. We wanted to share information about a “standard” timeline of school exploration:
Traditionally, families come to us late spring to early summer to explore school options for the following school year. We recommend this level of preparedness because it gives us an opportunity to intentionally partner with parents and students. We become a part of each family’s advocacy team as we help navigate each family’s non-negotiables when it comes to considering another school option for their student. A comprehensive intake process (with both parents and student) gives us a lens into what we develop as a Family Mission Statement. This is our North Star as we explore additional schools that would be a best-fit for their student. Because of the level of intentionality and specificity in which we dig into each family and student’s needs, we recommend a long enough runway to do our homework and to allow for curiosity and exploration. A late spring or early summer engagement gives us ample time to do this.
By Labor Day: We’ve had ample time for discovery conversations with all family members. Parents are armed with a short list of schools to explore further (we send over school brochures, recaps from our pre-pandemic visits, and photos of learning, classrooms, and facilities). We’ve spent time researching on school websites and have outlined overlap of the student’s needs and how those would be met in each school environment. Parents enjoy their long weekend armed with a blueprint of what the next few weeks will hold as we set up 1:1 connections with current families and admissions team members.
October: When applications open the first part of the month, we are ready for it. We help guide parents through a comprehensive deep-dive on how to set up their Ravenna profile, building the necessary biographical information and adding in the required data. We help them build their Student Dashboard and add well-researched schools from their short list. From there, we develop a weekly meeting schedule complete with tangible action items to tackle each time as we work our way through securing letters of recommendation, parent statements, transcript requests, testing prep, JATP/SSAT registration, and interviews.
By Thanksgiving Break: By this time in the process, we are largely complete with a good bulk of the workload. Parent statements are in their final stages, SSAT tutoring (if applicable) is well underway with registered test dates spanning from mid-December to early January. We’ve registered for the JATP and delegated the appropriate psychologist in Ravenna to ensure a speedy process. We’ve worked 1:1 with students to brainstorm and draft their student supplement statements and prepare for evaluations and interviews.
By Christmas Break: All applications are complete! Can you believe it? Parents actually can go into the holidays without stressing about final details or required components.
January: We loop back with parents in January to finalize required steps—such as requesting fall semester transcripts, setting up additional meetings, and submitting all financial aid components (due February).
February and March: We support parents and students during the waiting period. We continue to help connect prospective families with current parents to answer any specific questions as they weigh their options. We chat through rankings and how their short list racks and stacks now that we’ve completed the process.
April: Decision Day! A big day for our families, we are there every step of the way. We help support parents during the time period where they consider their admissions offers and help answer any final questions as they make the final decision.