 | Secondary School Placement Timeline
May
Complete and return the placement office questionaire. This, along with your son's questionnaire, is very valuable to us in creating a list of suggested school's for your son.
August
A list of suggested schools are mailed. View websites/send for catalogs from these and any other schools you may be interested in. Keep in mind that our choices will reflect your son's current level of performance and may have to be adjusted in the fall depending upon his progress.
Once you have looked at information from the schools, decide which ones you wish to visit and make appointments to interview there during Cardigan's long weekend in the fall. A maximum of two additional visitation days can be scheduled at the discretion of the Dean of Students and Director of Placement.
Early September
All interview appointments should be made for the week of October 22–25, 2012. It is far better to schedule an interview now and cancel later than not to schedule one at all. October is the busiest interview month for schools!
September
During the opening weekend of school there will be a placement meeting for ninth grade parents and students.
October 19-20
Parent's Weekend– the placement office will be available to meet with parents of ninth graders.
October 22-25
Fall Long Weekend–SCHOOL INTERVIEWS–Students are free to depart on Saturday after their final commitment. Arrange interviews for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Boys are due back at Cardigan at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday evening. If you need to use extra days, Columbus Day (no classes) works well; as do the days after Thanksgiving Vacation, November 26 and 27 (after the fall term has closed).
After Interviews
Thank you notes (handwritten preferred)–Nothing elaborate or lengthy is necessary, but they should be done in a timely fashion. In the hotel, the evening after the visit is a good time to write them.
November
After school visits, most boys reduce their list to eight or fewer schools. Given how busy boys are on campus, we encourage the boys to complete drafts of their applications over Thanksgiving break and complete their applications during December vacation. We are more than happy to help your son with his applications once a draft is complete. To simplify the process, we encourage students to use an online common application offered by SSAT and TABS. Most schools now accept these common application forms. Gateway to Prep Schools offers a streamlined application process for some of the schools who still do not accept the common form, ie: Hotchkiss, Groton, Deerfield, St. Paul's and Andover.
November 10
Ninth grade SSAT–Your son will be automatically registered for this test by Kathy McHigh, our registrar. Please contact Patti Crowe well in advance if your son typically takes tests with special accommodations so that we will have sufficient time to take care of appropriate documentation. You may want to look into a preparatory guide for some summer study. We reccommend Barrons "How to Prepare for the SSAT/ISEE" and Princeton Review "Cracking the SSAT & ISEE." SSAT also produces a guide, mainly consisting of practice tests. It is available from their website at http://www.ssat.org, which also has practice questions and "word of the day" features.
December 8
Ninth grade SSAT– This is an optional testing date for ninth graders who want a second set of scores for their applications. They will be excused from classes that morning.
January 15
Deadlines for financial aid forms vary from school to school. Make sure the online forms are completed on time. Remember to request that a copy of the report be sent to you, as well as the schools, so that you may see what financial aid officers are looking at as they calculate your need. More information can be found at http://sss.nais.org/
January
Cardigan placement packets mailed to schools. Packets include letters of recommendation from teachers and Headmaster/Placement, fall grades and comments, Cardigan transcript and standardized test scores.
January 15-31
Deadlines for most application forms. Please check deadlines carefully. Late applications are often looked at secondarily and may result in wait-list decisions, at best.
March 10
Schools notify you of their decisions.
End of March
Schools offer revisit days to accepted students.
April 10
Parents notify schools of their decision to attend as soon as possible, but no later than this date. |
Secondary School Open House: An Enormous Success!
2/24/2012
During a three-hour stretch of time on the Saturday of Parents’ Weekend, Frieze House was transformed into a meeting place for some secondary school admissions representatives and interested eighth-grade families (as well as some ninth-grade families) from Cardigan. The living room was full the entire time and abuzz with great conversations about schools and school “fits.” This was a chance for eighth-grade families to dip their toes into the initial stages of secondary school exploration, say hello to Director of Placement Ms. Patti Crowe—as well as Mr. Exton and Mr. LeRoy, who assist with placement—and for a few ninth graders to reconnect with folks from some of the schools to which they have applied. The schools that were represented that day included Brooks, Governor’s, Holderness, Kent, KUA, New Hampton, Northfield Mt. Hermon, Salisbury, St. Paul’s, and Taft. Click [HERE] to see the full array of pictures from the occasion.
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| | Upcoming Placement Events
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Website: sss.nais.org
Customer Service Phone:
(800) 344-8328
Customer Service Email: sss@nais.org
Address to mail applications and required documents:
SSS by NAIS
PO Box 449
Randolph, MA 02368 |
Boarding School Data Sheet
Some families find it helpful to use this data sheet or one of their own design to keep track of all the information discovered about the various schools investigated. |
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