It can be hard to get into a boarding school. Our articles have information that can help your child get a head start on the admissions process. We'll help you figure out the best way to apply, give you tips on how to stay organized, and tell you why school visits are so important. Should you read the essay your child wrote to get into school? Does studying for tests help? Why do I need someone to recommend me? You can find the answers to these and other questions here.

Check out the most-read stories in Admissions:

• How to Sign Up for a Boarding School

• How do schools choose who to let in?

• The process of getting into boarding school

• Checklist for Applicants to Boarding Schools

• Using the Form for Admission to Boarding Schools

After doing research, visiting schools, going on interviews, and taking tests for months, you find out that you've been put on a waitlist. Relax. This is not the end of everything. What should you do?

You sent in applications to a few boarding schools. But the first place you applied to didn't take you. Instead, you were put on a list. What does this really mean? And why do schools put people on a waiting list? What do you do now?

I've been there, so I can tell you that you wonder what you did wrong. Did you make a poor impression at the interview? Didn't you get enough points? The questions are never-ending. As a father whose two daughters both went to boarding schools, I remember all the second-guessing. So, I'm writing this essay from the point of view of both the candidate and you. Please give it to your child if one or more of the boarding schools she applied to put her on a waiting list.

What does it mean to be on a list?

Most schools offer more spots to applicants than they have available because they think and have seen that they will get enough acceptances to fill all the spots. Admissions officers with a lot of experience know how to figure out the actual yield based on the acceptances they have sent out. Say, for instance, that the school has room for 100 students. It could tell 100 applicants that they were accepted. But what happens if only 75 of those families take the places that are offered? Any private school's finances will be messed up if it has 25 empty seats.

This is where waiting lists come in. The admissions officers know that if they offer a certain number of applicants over the actual number of places they have available, they will receive the necessary yield of acceptances. For example, using our hypothetical 100 places available, the admissions office sends out 125 acceptance letters. The admissions staff know that historically they will receive 90-100 acceptances when they send out 125 acceptance letters. But what if circumstances conspire to produce the number on the low end of the yield scale? Say they only receive 90 acceptances? That's where the waitlist comes into play. The school will send out 125 acceptances. It will make up any shortfall from the pool of applicants on the waitlist.

I hope that explains how listing works wait. However, bear in mind that each school has its unique way of deciding who gets an acceptance letter and who gets waitlisted. Your professional educational consultant will be able to tell you how each school on your list handles wait listing.

What are your chances?

After all the time, hard work, and effort you and your child put into finding, visiting, and applying to the right private schools, you discover that you are waitlisted at the one school you both liked. It just doesn't seem fair. The other two schools to which you applied have offered you places. But you want to go to the school which waitlisted you. So now, what do you do?

Do you stand a chance of being offered a place if your child is waitlisted? If she is waitlisted at a very selective school, probably not. The most competitive schools are least likely to offer places to applicants on their waitlists. This is not the answer any parent wants to hear, of course, but it is what it is.

So, if your first-choice school waitlists you, what do you do? Be practical. Treat that waitlisting as the equivalent of a rejection because, for all practical purposes, that is what it is. Don't fret about the school's decision. It makes more sense to accept a place at one of the schools which has accepted you. The adage applies: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Don't give it another thought. After all, you have already determined that all the schools you applied to were great fits. They meet your requirements. Your child will thrive in any of the schools on your shortlist. Honestly, in the end, that is all that matters. Be content with the fact that your first choice thought highly enough of you that it waitlisted you.

How to avoid wait listing

Are you just beginning the process of choosing a school for your child? Then keep the idea of waitlisting out front as you start to define the list of schools you would like to consider. That list should include three categories of schools:

• Schools which are very competitive or a reach

• Schools which your child stands a good chance of getting into

• Schools which are almost certain to admit your child (safe schools)