Thanks elh and crisc.

Does anyone know approximately how many people apply to DSY on any given month? And how many are accepted? I was also curious if anyone had a rough guess as to how many kids of a certain age there are in this program? (How many 5-year olds or 8-year olds?)

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around basic numbers... How rare is it to have a kid accepted for the DYS program? I noticed on their main web site that they boast over 1300 kids are in the program. That's over a wide age range. I also didn't know if that included kids who had graduated from the program past the 18-year old mark? (provided that the program is old enough to have had any significant number graduate?)

Once kids graduate, they leave the program, so the > 1300 number reflects those kids currently in the program. From their published annual reports they accept about 150-250 kids per year (recent years). Those numbers are probably fairly distributed throughout the year. I have no idea how many applications they get! They don't publicly post the age breakdowns, but the numbers increase somewhat with age during those early years, as more families learn about the program.

The very basic 145 score is statistically about 1:1000. The Davidsons have quoted their kids as rarer than that, and as they do require consistent scores at that level, perhaps that does make them closer to their estimated 1:10,000. I suspect DS lands somewhere in between those two rarities!

It's about that time again, folks should hear about June applications any day now. Best wishes to those waiting.

If you have DYS numbers for both IQ and achievement, do you still have to send portfolio information in? I seem to recall it was IQ and portfolio, if you couldn't afford/obtain further testing but I wasn't sure if you need portfolio if you had DYS numbers for both IQ and achievement. Do they turn down applicants even though they have 145+ on both IQ and achievement tests?

With IQ/achievement numbers, you only need to fill out the lengthy application form. I do know of a few cases where qualifying scores were turned down. This seems (from my very limited peek) more likely with younger applicants and very borderline scores. If the scores are close, and you have other evidence, I'd send that in as well.

And if you're asking if you have to worry about not getting in during a given month with lots of applicants, ebeth, I don't think that's a concern.

They say something to the effect (my words, not literally theirs) that they take applicants who can demonstrate that they meet the qualifications. Period. The qualifications aren't sliding. It's pretty much a fixed bar, so some months they might have no one get over it, while other months they might have dozens get in. It shouldn't matter which month you apply. There's no monthly quota. I think that approach is rather unusual in nonprofits, and it might seem confusing.

Please forgive me if I read between the lines there too much. It just sounded to me as if that was what you were really wondering about.

Thanks, Kriston. I was wondering about that myself.

I'm one of those people waiting to hear from them. I hope my mailman gives me the letter today. I've been so anxious this past week.
Thanks Dottie for the best wishes again.

If they are true to past form, something really should come this week, but keep in mind that their big annual trip was late last month, and it may slow the responses somewhat.

Moni, I'm not sure how close you are to Baltimore, but a friend is trying to round up HG/PG families for an outdoor get together in a few weeks. PM me if you are interested in that. (Anyone else too, but I know Moni is at least reasonably close!)

Actually Kriston, that wasn't my concern. We aren't anywhere near being able to apply. Probably not until December at least, since we aren't going to have achievement testing done until fall with the school.

I was more interested in how large a group of age appropriate peers my DS8 might find if or when he joins. I was scoping out the support network that he might get socially.

Could anyone expound on this?