Decision Letters from High Schools

On March 18th, Catholic and Independent high schools in the Bay Area will send decision letters to all applicants. Boarding schools send decision letters March 10th. Decision letters may be mailed or emailed, and you may also be able to check your status online. Please be in touch about your decisions and questions so I know how to help.

Instructions for Hillbrook families before and after letters are received:

Before notifications are mailed, discuss with your child how you will respond to all possible scenarios. In doing so, you can act confidently and swiftly on Monday morning, 3/21. Swiftness will help the entire process, especially waitlists, move along expediently.

Please allow your child to open high school decision letters at your house. Adults must work together to be sensitive to the feelings of every 8th grader, and keeping letters at home is an essential part of this.

Honor your child's wishes about opening his or her decision letters. Most 8th graders want to be the "opener," and some wish to do this in private. Discuss beforehand what your child prefers.

Admit:If your child is accepted to a first choice high school, contact that school first thing Monday morning to tell them you will enroll. Next, contact all other schools that accepted or waitlisted you to tell them you have enrolled at another school. Your swiftness with these phone calls is critical because it allows schools to move to waitlists as quickly as possible.

Wait-list:If you are waitlisted at a school you would like to attend, first contact that school to tell them you would like to remain on their waitlist. Next, contact the high school that accepted you and you will attend if you do not get admitted off a waitlist. If you are not admitted off the waitlist of your school of choice by the end of the enrollment period, you must enroll at another high school.

Decline:If you were declined admission from your first choice school, you should not feel badly. Schools turn away very qualified applicants on a regular basis for the simple fact that the schools are not large enough to accept every qualified applicant. Nonetheless, it still doesn’t feel good to be turned away from your first choice school. If you were offered a space at another school, then you clearly need to accept another offer, even if your heart is set on school #1. The good news about the schools in this area is that they are all excellent, so even your second and third choice schools provide excellent programs. So, hopefully the plan allowed for a second or third choice school and you did receive an acceptance at one of those schools. If not, then registration at your local public school is even more important. What is most important is not to be too down on yourself if you were turned away from a school- again, these schools turn away qualified candidates specifically because of numbers. They wish they could take all of their qualified applicants, and that would include you.

January Update

The High School Decisions course wraps up this week and transition into 8th Grade Spring Project. More information on the spring project is forthcoming.

Please note the following:

January 22 and 23: Last No-Homework Weekend

January 22: HSPT (Catholic Entrance Exam) and ISEE

January 26: LGHS 8th Grade Student-Parent Orientation 7pm in LGHS Large Gym

January 28: LGHS Parent Visitation Day 8am at LGHS Main Bldg

January 26 and 28: Notre Dame and Presentation applications are due

January 27 and 31: Saint Francis Interviews 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
February 2: Saint Francis Interviews 5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

February 3: LGHS information question and answer session for students and parents from private schools and Lakeside District 3:30pm in LGHS library

February 4: Teacher recommendations and transcripts due to Catholic schools. Within a week after the deadline, you should see a check mark on your online application indicating that all required forms have been received.

March 18: Decision letters mailed!