In a meaningful shift that hasn’t gotten enough attention, Horace Mann, Ethical Culture Fieldston, Riverdale, Collegiate and Brearley have left ISAAGNY and are no longer following the shared admissions calendar. That calendar used to create some order in an otherwise stressful process—everyone applied, heard back, and decided on roughly the same timeline. Now, these schools are setting their own rules, and this year they released decisions earlier than the ISAAGNY schools.
This isn’t just a scheduling tweak. It gives these schools a real strategic advantage. Families who receive an early acceptance are naturally inclined to get excited and, in some cases, commit before they’ve heard from other schools. Meanwhile, schools still on the ISAAGNY calendar are put in the position of competing for students who may already feel “taken.” The synchronized system that once allowed for thoughtful comparison is starting to break down, at least at the top.
For families, this means the process just got more complicated. You can no longer assume that all decisions will arrive at once, and you may be forced to think about one school before you have the full picture. The takeaway is simple: timing is now part of strategy.
ISAAGNY schools still adhering to the traditional calendar risk losing strong candidates who commit early elsewhere, or who are simply less available, emotionally and logistically, by the time later decisions arrive.