11+ Will you take a selective private school waiting list place over a less selective firm offer?

Oh and by the way call! I made sure we were top of mind when DD was on waitlist of a highly academic school. She got the place and is thriving. Loves the school and wants to now stay into 6th form. We even got our deposit back for the other school. That may not happen but is a possibility.

Surely you accept the place you have been given and then sit on the waitlist for the other place. You don’t need to choose. You can do both. Then if you get the waitlist place you take it and decline the other one. You may lose a deposit or you may not. They can be quite nice about this and you don’t sacrifice the deposit. As to whether your child will thrive if ‘only on the waitlist’. I don’t see why not. These places are ever so slightly random anyway and if she is on the waitlist she is definitely good enough. So then go for it.

My son have 4 schools to choose from. They occupy different places in the league table. We will take his preference into account but I’m thinking of sending him to the one lowest in the rank. Why, he is likely to be a big fish in a little pond. He is very bright with academic scholarships so I know he can hold his own at any of these schools but with the more selective one, I think the mindset of the students will be geared at competition to stay at the top. I would rather that he does not get bogged down with this. It’s too one dimensional of a life to live.

But why do you think the more selective school is better than the less selective one?

Your child will thrive at either one. The more selective schools add very little value. The kids are usually tutored, under pressure, with their self-worth bounded to their scores or how well they are doing.

Make a choice based on the right school for your child rather than which one is more or less selective. How well your child does at GCSE ir A Levels will most certainly be down to how much extra work you/tutor do with them. Thereafter, in the grown up world, nobody cares which secondary school you went to. It’s your university that matters more. Your child would likely end up at the same university as those from super selective schools. That will also be the case for kids from state schools.

Choose where your child will thrive because that is what will determine her success for the stages that really matter.

if they don't rank the wait list, they may have a whole set of criteria for different things they want to be reasonably balanced across a cohort. depending on the character and ethos of the school they might be keen to ensure a certain proportion of the pupils are quite sporty, a certain proportion quite creative or musical, and a certain proportion quite quiet and nerdy, etc etc (it will be more complex than this, with all sorts of different things) - so they will know from experience that of the first tranche of offers they have made X% will turn it down, so after the deadline they will look at the cohort who accepted, and see what kinds of characteristics are out of balance and if there's not enough of a particular characteristic they will select from the wait list accordingly.

or it might just be a lottery.

Make sure the WL school know you will sign the paperwork and pay the deposit as soon as you are offered and hold out until the last min for the offered school. It's easier if you know the WL isn't ranked so it's a matter of getting your dd to the top of the list.

Wait list means that they’ve met the standard and the school thinks your DC will thrive there .

if that is your and your DC preferred choice then take it if it is offered. My DD was initially waitlisted for a selective indie but ultimately outperformed many in the year group .

So if a place is ultimately offered please don’t give the fact that it was via the wait list another thought . good luck

waitlisting doesn't mean they will struggle. a waitlisted child has met the required standard, and wouldn't be given even a waitlist offer if they wouldn't be able to hack the pace.

have they said when they will tell you the waitlist outcome? and how much money would you lose if you accept the less-preferred offer and end up being offered (and accepting) from the waitlist?

Do you know where you are on the waiting list to see if an offer is likely?

Which does dd prefer? I don't think there's all that much to pick between kids who get offers and those waitlisted.I'd follow her preference.