Received this email from a client, a lovely woman, today:
Thank you again for everything -- your big-picture guidance, coupled with your precise and specific feedback on multiple essays, interview preparation, and even thank you notes, ensured <child's name>'s admission into our first-choice school. Getting into private school in NYC really requires a strategy plan, and we are grateful for your guidance in crafting one that was successful.
Bloomberg News reported on Friday that ERB test takers and applications to private schools were slightly down.
True, many people's finances have been battered, and many no longer want to take on the burden of private school tuition. However, there's more to the story:
Families have received decisions from private schools for kindergarten, 6th grade, and 9th grade.
Overall, 2010 was a more challenging year than 2009, and more in line with 2008. Last year, schools over-accepted, figuring that due to the economy, many accepted applicants wouldn't come. They were wrong. This year, schools were more conservative in their acceptances and more likely to wait list.
So far we have heard from our clients about acceptances to Dalton, Trinity, Collegiate, Brearley, Nightingale, Trevor Day, St. Bernard's, Sacred Heart, Saint David's, Friends, Chapin, Packer, Allen-Stevenson, Riverdale, Horace Mann, Hewitt, Fieldston, and many more...
For better or for worse, lots of people are very interested in where NYC private school grads go on to college. From time to time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Worth and other publications publish studies. Now a new website has the data, with a handy dandy sort feature.
You've finished with applications, interviews, thank you notes, I Love You letters, first choice letters, references...
You may have gotten feedback.
Now, it's very quiet.
You just have to wait for decisions.
And that's not easy.
Realize you're not alone. Many say this time is the hardest part of the process.
Good luck! It'll be over soon.
Thanks to Jennifer Senior of New York Magazine, for a penetrating, insightful, original look at testing and test prep for the preschool set. The article's key points: the ERB, Stanford-Binet, and OLSAT don't do a good job predicting intelligence, and the children of wealthy, educated, savvy parents benefit most from all the preparation options now available.
Senior explores what would happen if the private schools put less weight on the ERB:
That doesn’t mean, however, that the selection process will become more democratic. “I’m afraid schools will be judging the child in ways that aren’t any better,” says Emily Glickman, founder of Abacus Guide Educational Consulting. “There’ll just be more weight on the school report, and what the nursery-school director says about the child verbally. And often kids who come from expensive, high-cachet nursery schools have elaborate evaluations written about them, because the preschool directors themselves have a high stake in the class’s placement success.” And in the case of private schools, she notes, even more emphasis may be given to a family’s socioeconomic status: “The kindergarten-admission process has always been about openly judging a 4-year-old and secretly judging the parents’ wealth, connections, and likeliness to give.”
Brokering is when NYC private school admissions directors talk privately to nursery school directors about which students they want. Nursery school directors often pass this information on to parents, who then may have a choice whether they want to communicate orally or in writing their intent for Junior to attend that school. If they do, Junior may get in.
The obvious problem with brokering is that parents must make decisions with incomplete information. (They don't know yet which other schools will accept their child.)
I am glad to be able to privately advise my clients on a process where they are at a disadvantage.
To learn more or call 212-712-2228 9am-9pm EST. Please book early because prime slots in late spring go quickly.
Gawker reports that The New York Times is creating a new beat: private schools. I've always said that people are obsessed with schools, and no place more than in New York. It's fascinating that private schools now merit such intense coverage from the paper of record.
This is the time of the year when I get multiple calls a day (and night) from accomplished, otherwise secure people. What's on their mind? Private school feedback.
The admissions process is winding down. Admissions directors are starting to whisper in preschool directors' ears about which kids interest them. Brokering is starting.
My clients and I strategize. What should they say to their preschool directors? Should they do an "I love you" letter, a "first choice"? So much hubbub, so many decisions in such a short time.
As we close out 2009, here's what we'll remember about this eventful year:
Here's to a happy and successful 2010!!!
For our help with your child's 2010-2011 application, or call 212-712-2228 9am-9pm EST. Limited enrollment available so please reserve your child's space early.
