Membership Agreement
Member schools agree to uphold the mission of ISAAGNY by adhering to the terms of this agreement:
- Confidentiality
- Connected Applicants and Early Notification
- Correspondence (Between Schools and Applicants)
- Correspondence (Between Schools)
- Dates
- Dues
- Equity
Confidentiality
All applicant and family information, including details contained within submitted forms, must be kept confidential within the receiving school's admissions committee and appropriate school personnel.
All applicant and family information, including details contained within submitted forms, may not be shared with anyone outside of the receiving school's admissions committee and appropriate school, including but not limited to consultants, board members, donors, family members, and anyone acting in the interest of the applicant family.
Connected Applicants and Early Notification
Connected applicants are siblings of current or former students, legacy (a parent or guardian matriculated at the school), children of current faculty or staff, active congregants of an affiliated religious institution, and/or children of current faculty/staff/students of an affiliated academic institution. Children enrolled in affiliated pre-2s programs at ISAAGNY schools also qualify for Early Notification to preschool; these families can be notified on the Early Notification date, but they cannot be required to reply prior to the regular reply date.
Member schools may choose to extend Early Notification to connected applicants. In doing so, they (1) may choose to narrow the aforementioned qualifiers, but may not expand on it, and (2) will adhere to the Early Notification opt-in, file completion, notification, and reply dates as stated each year.
Member schools must equally consider applications from connected applicants, regardless of whether an applicant has designated the connected school as a priority.
Correspondence (Between Schools and Applicants)
Member schools may not use undue influence in recruiting students, either directly (via communication with families) or indirectly (via communication with representatives of families’ sending schools).
Member schools may not ask students or families to divulge the schools to which they’ve applied or their school preference. After a family declines an offered seat, member schools may ask them where they did decide to enroll.
Member schools will refrain from requesting and/or requiring “first choice letters” from applicant families. Should member schools receive such letters, they are not obligated to accept them. Note that the letters are neither binding for parents nor reflective of a sending school’s guidance.
After notifications have been sent out, member schools may:
- have admissions professionals reach out to individual admitted families. Member schools are encouraged to refrain from repeated outreach that may overwhelm families.
- answer specific questions from admitted families.
- host optional revisit events that are open to all families admitted to a given grade, division, or residential status (day/boarding), or from a given region.
- connect admitted families with a member of the school community (i.e., enrolled student and/or parent, faculty member, athletics coach) to facilitate decision-making, upon request.
- extend offers to waitlisted families.
Correspondence (Between Schools)
- Sending/Current School
Enrolled students at member schools may consider other educational options. Should a student apply out to another member school, they must not be required to re-enroll at their current school before the Regular Admissions notification date. Any re-enrollment financial aid offer must be preserved in whole. Past the notification date, each member school is responsible for clearly communicating their deadline to their community members.
- Receiving/Prospective School
Member schools may not offer admission to a current ISAAGNY student without completing the admissions process, including receiving the Confidential School Report and/or an official transcript directly from the sending/current school. If neither a report nor a transcript can be obtained, the receiving/prospective school must take the following steps prior to sending notification: (1) use best efforts to secure whatever records may be available, and (2) provide written notification to the sending/current school.
Dates
The admissions season formally begins on August 1st.
- Application materials will be available to prospective families no earlier than August 1st, and will not be viewed or considered before that time.
- Admissions offices may start to conduct interviews, events, and/or appointments with applicant families after August 1st.
Member schools will adhere to the ISAAGNY notification and reply dates as stated each year. Schools that primarily serve students with learning differences and/or disabilities may admit and enroll students on a rolling basis.
Member schools may only process applications for the current or following academic year.
If a family has more than one child, and each of those children is applying for entry to different grade levels at the same school, member schools may choose to send notifications to all applicants within that family on the earliest notification date of the grades to which they’ve applied. The reply dates will remain unchanged.
If a child is being considered for entry to two different grade levels (i.e. preschool and kindergarten), member schools may choose to send notifications to that child on the earliest notification date of the grades for which they are eligible. The reply dates will remain unchanged.
Member schools may accept postseason applicants, or those who submit after the respective parent reply deadline. Students accepted in postseason must be given at least one week to consider the extended offer.
Dues
Equity
In accordance with applicable law, ISAAGNY’s mission, and the missions of our member schools, a school will not discriminate on the basis of: race, ethnicity, family structure, physical ability, gender identity and expression, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and neurodiversity, or any other protected categories under applicable law in the administration of its admission policies. Nothing herein, however, shall be construed to prevent the operation of a single-sex or religious school.