applying to several schools

[fishperson]

Our DD will be taking perhaps 4 or 5 private secondary school entrance exams in Jan for Sept 2009 entry. I'd be interested to know how many schools other children apply for.

Some schools are asking to know what other schools we're applying for. Does anyone know how they use this information?

For example, if a child is bright, does a middle-ranking school not offer them a place because they assume she will get into a more academic school?

Thanks

AFAIK they only use it to get a feel of their "market" - like Amazon keeping info on "people who bought this also looked at that" to inform their marketing people of patterns.

I think 4 or 5 is quite a lot if they have to do assessments and interviews for all of them, but it depends how likely you think places are at each of them.

It is common for girls to apply to more than one school (unlike boys). 4 or 5 is a heavy load; three is more common.

The schools in a given area know their pecking order, with the more selective ones going first in January. They will make their offers within days and give you a timeframe to respond which allows you to juggle offers with their closest competitors, which includes the state school offers which come out towards the end of February. I do not think that schools hold back on their offers - if they want your daughter they will offer. If they really want her, they will offer a scholarship.

The very best thing is communication with the school. Their application forms may feel intimidating, apparently asking you to put all your cards on the table while holding their cards close to their chest. In reality, the goal is that every girl gets into the right school.
I think most parents have a favourite school because of its academic profile, pastoral care, ethos etc., and that's the one to favour. Your top school is not everyone's top school.

Thanks very much for all your comments. We have a favourite that I think she can get into but what if she doesn't?!

The consenus from you seems to be that 5 is overkill. But when you hear how oversubscribed they are it makes you want to cover all bases. Thankfully not all require interviews which I think is usually the really stressful part. But perhaps we need to rethink if 5 is really necessary.

Does anyone know how easy it would be to get into a less academically ranking school if she failed to get into our first choices during the Jan/Feb round? Is it common for lots of schools to have places they can offer a few children say in March/April? Thanks for your comments - much appreciated!

Non-selective schools will have vacancies all the way up to and beyond September.

Basically, there are plenty of places to go around. The selective schools will offer out all their places, just raising or lowering the pass mark as applicable.

Don't worry, your DD will get into a good school.