Abacus Mom

Some NYC Private Schools Move Into Modern Age with Emailed Notification

Today is Kindergarten D-Day for Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Riverdale private schools, and some schools are now emailing decisions or asking applicants to get them from their websites!

This is a big step forward for NYC private schools.  Why every school isn't making decisions electronic is a mystery to me.  Snail mail increases peoples' tension exponentially.

Good luck today!  (And this weekend, early next week...)

Need a Top Jewish Day School or Yeshiva in NYC, NJ or Westchester?

My educational consultant colleague Toby Glick is an expert in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester and New Jersey Jewish schools, from day schools to yeshivas.  If you need help figuring out which Jewish school is right for your child and getting him or her in, Toby will help you.  A school psychologist who has worked in Jewish private schools and whose children and grandchildren attend, Toby is the New York City, Westchester, and NJ expert on Jewish schools.  Now is the time to call Toby for the inside scoop on the 2012-2013 private school admissions season:  646-300-1881 or toby(at)parentconfidante.com

Into a Riverdale Private School Today

From a client today:  (Child was admitted to middle school.  Identifying details removed.)

Hi! Emily

We just got <Child's> acceptance letter today. Thank you so much for everything!!! We could not do it without your Guidence. He is so happy! We are very proud. Thanks again for everything!

Best!

<Mom's name>

 

How to Interpret a NYC Private School Wait List

Question from the email bag today:  Is a private school wait list a good sign or is it a kind rejection?

Answer: It could be either.  I work with my educational consulting clients to help them understand how to work the wait list--understanding where they are on it and how to increase the chances their children get off it and in.

Manhattan, Brooklyn and Riverdale private school wait lists are active during the period between when you hear and when parents have to respond.  Once you sign a contract with one ISAAGNY school, no other ISAAGNY school is supposed to offer you a contract.  If you don't enroll your child in an ISAAGNY school, you can usually remain on the wait list.

Wait list strategy is tricky and often rewards the strong of stomach. 

Today is D-Day for Private School Admissions 2nd - 8th Grade

NYC private schools are mailing (and fortunately sometimes emailing) admissions decisions to students applying to 2nd - 8th grade today.

Kindergarten decisions will be mailed on Friday.

Good luck to everyone!

8pm Update:  All good news from Abacus Guide Educational Consulting clients today, with acceptances reported so far at top Manhattan coed and all-girls' private schools.

Private School Feedback is Coming in Quickly and Dramatically

Have you ever had to make a critical decision despite possessing incomplete information?

That's the plight of many, many NYC private school applicant parents right now as some schools press for verbal enrollment commitments while others play coy.

You would not believe the behind-the-scenes action on the part of private schools, preschools, and parents.  I'm involved in some very intricate strategy sessions.

"I Wish Private Schools Cost $100,000 a Year," Said a Manhattan Mom

New Yorkers brace for $40,000 a year tuition?  $40,000, $shmorty thousand dollars. 

I recently had a client mom who said that she wished NYC private school tuition were $100,000 a year, so it would reduce her daughter's competitive field.

Her remark encapsulates the situation we're in:  Dalton, Trinity, Collegiate, Brearley, Spence--all the very top schools--can charge whatever they want: plenty of wealthy families will be glad, indeed grateful, to pay it.

With all the talk recently about the 1%, the very top of the 1% wants Manhattan, Brooklyn and Riverdale's top tier private schools, and they can afford them.

So why wouldn't these top tier private schools pay more to attract and retain the best teachers, build the most modern, dazzling facilities, and offer their students the most exciting, enriching experiences?  Of course that's what they are going to do, while raising tuition to pay for all of it. 

Meanwhile, in this same era of a struggling 99% and a government bureaucracy that is increasing standardized tests and test prep while cutting funding for programs and positions, top public schools are fighting to retain inspiring, motivated teachers and breadth and depth of competitive offerings.

This is a good situation for private school  educational consultants but a very bad situation for society.

Mass Confusion about Final Private School Admissions Letters: First Choice, I Love You, Strong Interest, Top Choice, Etc.

Pity, if you can, the poor private school admissions director trying to make heads or tails of the plethora of last minute applicant correspondence.

Parents are claiming to love the school, that they will definitely send their children, that they won't definitely send their children but they have very strong interest, that they have very strong interest but they have very strong interest in five schools, that it is their first choice but they have a second choice, that this school is their dream school but no commitment, they have a commitment but don't what that means...

Given mass parent confusion in light of varying preschool and exmissions director advice and ambiguous ISAAGNY direction, private school admissions directors are having trouble interpreting all the letters coming their way now.  The letters' meanings are blurring...parents are...enthusiastic.

The Wait to Hear From Private Schools is Killing Me

Are you finding yourself involved in constant, elaborate mental calculations?

Deep questions like:

(a)  Spence or Brearley?

(b) Village Community or City & Country?

(c)  Collegiate or St. B's?

(d)  PS 321 or Scarsdale?

While unfortunately NYC private schools give families very little time to make up their minds, I do find that much of parents' mental efforts now may be premature.  Very often, families end up with very different choices than what they anticipate. 

So if at all possible, I'd try to wait to think this all through until you have solid information.

When Will NYC Private Schools Finally Tell Me If My Child Got In?

Notification dates are fast approaching.  If your child is applying for regular admission to a NYC private school that's a member of ISAAGNY (almost all elite schools are),  here's the story:

(Note: Avenues School, the newly opening school that is not a member of ISAAGNY, is busy doing its own thing in an attempt to boost its opening enrollment.  So look at their website for their dates.)

Preschool, ongoing/continuing schools

Decisions will be mailed on Feb. 15.  You must make your decision by March 9.

Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Decisions will be mailed on Feb. 10.  You must make your decision by Feb. 17.  (I find this outrageous.  After all the private schools put families through, they then give you a mere week to decide.)

2nd - 8th grade

Decisions will be mailed on Feb. 6.  You must make your decision by Feb. 29, incidentally, Leap Year.

9th - 12th grade

Decisions cannot go out before Feb. 15.  You must make your decision by Mar. 14.  NYC private schools wish to woo admitted high school students: you get a whole month to decide, and you even can come and see the school again.  Nice. 

So as you can see, not much longer to wait for hopefully, acceptance.  Good luck!