Do you have to take your first choice?

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Jazz-UK
Posts: 237
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:05 pm

Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by Jazz-UK »

Hi,

Just about to complete the selection form and I wanted to know if we apply for a school and do get it in, do we have to accept it. I know it sounds like we're messing around, but (1) first choice would be a borderline score to get into that school, and (2) it's a lot further away. I know there's a lot of debate about going to local grammars compared to ones further away with higher marks, but just wondering if DC did get into first selection, but then changes his mind can we decline it and go to second choice?

Thanks in advance,

Jazz
scary mum
Posts: 8840
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by scary mum »

You would have to go on the waiting list for the second choice. Better to make up your mind now if you can.
scary mum
RedPanda
Posts: 283
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 10:56 am

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by RedPanda »

Jazz-UK wrote:if DC did get into first selection, but then changes his mind can we decline it and go to second choice?
Short answer is no. :)
Jazz-UK
Posts: 237
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:05 pm

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by Jazz-UK »

scary mum wrote:You would have to go on the waiting list for the second choice. Better to make up your mind now if you can.
Thanks, we're hoping to make our choice today, but was also considering a contingency. Based on 2018 marks and DC's results, he is borderline for first choice, but would definitely secure a place in his second choice. In this instance, would this put him towards the top of the second choice waiting list?
Tinkers
Posts: 7240
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 2:05 pm
Location: Reading

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by Tinkers »

Are you sure you wouldn’t rather put your second choice first? It sounds to me like you prefer your second choice anyway.
mad?
Posts: 5621
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 6:27 pm
Location: london

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by mad? »

Jazz-UK wrote:
scary mum wrote:You would have to go on the waiting list for the second choice. Better to make up your mind now if you can.
Thanks, we're hoping to make our choice today, but was also considering a contingency. Based on 2018 marks and DC's results, he is borderline for first choice, but would definitely secure a place in his second choice. In this instance, would this put him towards the top of the second choice waiting list?
If he is borderline for 1st choice and does not get it, he will get his 2nd choice (assuming your comment about definitely securing a place there is still correct). Put your first choice first, irrespective of score, if you cannot decide then ethat is another matter. Good luck either way. :)
ETA crossed posts with Tinkers but +1 to that as well
mad?
scary mum
Posts: 8840
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by scary mum »

He would be placed on the waiting list according to their oversubscription criteria. So if it was on score, the highest score would be higher on the list, if distance the closest, or siblings if that is part of it etc etc.
scary mum
kenyancowgirl
Posts: 6738
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by kenyancowgirl »

The “risk” of not making a decision now is that nobody can tell you if the score you have last year would put you at the top of the w/l for your 2nd choice school, if you changed your mind. W/l time is when those late applicants get added (so they may appear above you) and, w/l are notoriously hard to judge generally in terms of movement.

If you want school 1, put it down first - if you aren’t sure, then maybe that is telling you that it isn’t really your favourite? Ask yourself this, if you didn’t get it, but were allocated your second choice, would you think oh no! Would you be wanting to stay on the w/l for your first choice? (Bearing in mind, if you did stay on the w/l for the first choice and were then offered, in theory, the LA can withdraw your second choice offer , although in practice usually give you a chance to accept the new offer)?

If you think that if you got an offer from the second choice and would be happy with that, maybe that should really be your first choice? I think, personally, not deciding and risking not wanting your first choice and playing chance with the w/l is less sensible than making a choice now.

Crossed with mad and Tinker and scary
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by Daogroupie »

You still have three days left to work through this decision.

Choice can be hard but tread carefully because there are many members here who did not score high enough in the exams to get any of their choices and would love to have just one of your options.

When you place a school first you are telling your council to turn down every other school that you are offered.

You have told the council that this is the school you prefer over all the others and you will lose all the other schools by putting that school first.

So make very very sure in the next three days that the school you put first is the school you want your student to go to above all others.

There are no special deals for super selectives or any other schools. The council is authorised to make the decisions on behalf of the schools and it will do just that based on your rank order.

Even if you were to put a school 300 miles away from your home first and one at the top of the league tables in the next street second they would turn down the latter for you and give you the former.

When we were applying for primary a friend of ours put the wrong code on the form and selected a school 20 miles away instead of the one in the next street and were given that school.

Every year we know of parents who put the selective school 2nd and the local school first and seemed very surprised that the council had no idea that they really wanted the school they put second.

Don't put a school first just because you did well in their exam, put it first because you want your DC to go there.

DG
ToadMum
Posts: 11945
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Do you have to take your first choice?

Post by ToadMum »

Serious advice - check your local authority's rules on reinstating applications to schools you placed lower down on your CAF. It may be that these are dealt with after (even if only some) late applicants who are requesting a place at a school as an additional preference - Bromley do this, for example.
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
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