From the category archives:

Admissions Process

Accepted to NYC Private School, Now What?

by NYC Private Schools on March 17, 2010

As a NYC Private School Parent, or a hopeful Private School Parent, the past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and anxiety. Not knowing if your child was accepted to a certain school, waiting for the mail to come in, tracking others’ acceptance letters through a network of parents in chat groups and online associations, all of these moments come to your own mailbox in March.

By now, you know if your child has been accepted to the NYC Private Schools for which you applied. Whether your child was young and waiting for the very first Pre-K or Kindergarten program acceptance, or if your older child was waiting for acceptance to a High School program, the answers are in. This moment actually leaves most parents in a sort of quandary of what to do next?

Accepted, Now What?

  1. After your child has received their acceptance letter, the Private School will give you a deadline date by which you must respond. You will need to respond with either an acceptance or a refusal of their admission. For those parents with children who applied to and were accepted by multiples schools, this will be decision time! For those who received an acceptance to the one school they wished for, the response is an easy one.
  2. When you send back your formal acceptance, you will need to send the acceptance forms in together with a payment or a deposit for next year’s tuition. For many Private Schools, this is usually 10% of the fee charged for tuition. As an example, if next year’s tuition is $24,000, you will need to return the acceptance forms with a payment of $2,400.
  3. Remember that you have a limited window of time to send an acceptance letter back to the school. If you do not reply within the deadline time, your child’s spot will almost certainly be given to a child who was waitlisted.


{ 0 comments }

NYC Private School Waitlisted But Moving

by NYC Private Schools on March 5, 2010

Many schools have unofficially closed out their waitlists, telling parents who call that the upcoming admissions are now complete and no more acceptances will be made. Other schools still have their waitlists open. There seems to have been less movement off the waitlists than there has been in previous years but there are still options and choices for many parents, even well past the usual timeline that is expected.

Waiting Against the Odds

There are many instances where a family has received an unexpected call very late to tell them that their child has been accepted to the NYC Private School of choice. In one case last year, the parent was called exactly 1 week before school was set to begin.

If your child was not accepted to any of the Private Schools that you applied to, you do have options. You can (and should) stay on available waitlists and contact the schools to talk to them about your desire to have your child attend.

Moving On, Not Changing Course

Another option that is not as widely discussed is the age-old custom of try, try, try again. Though less publicized, many parents with children who were not accepted into a Private School waited, enrolled their child in public and then reapplied with renewed dedication the next year. Some children simply need another year to mature into them before schools are ready to look at them with fresh eyes and decide if they are a good match. Some children are accepted into 1st grade Private School programs after attending public for Kindergarten.

The right education for your child is your first priority. If you believe that education should include a particular private school then remember that you do have options, and applying for first grade may be one those options.


{ 0 comments }

Choices in Private School Admission

March 2, 2010

Having options is a basic factor in our society and having and selecting between your NYC Private School options is important even down to the very last minute of your decision. If your child has received an acceptance from their Top Choice school then there probably isn’t too much of a decision left. [...]

Read the full article �

NYC Private School Responses Coming In

March 1, 2010

The end of February is a time when the cyclical nature of NYC Private School Admissions gives this year’s applicants an answer to questions and applications that have been a family-wide focus for months. Many Private Schools have contacted their applicants and either offered them a seat, declined to accept them, or offered a [...]

Read the full article �

Private School Admissions Tales

February 26, 2010

The tests used by many schools to determine admissions to private schools can offer up conflicting and sometimes unexpected results. There are different tests for just about every age group and school type. There are tests for elementary, middle and high school Private Schools, tests for Catholic Schools and Public School gifted and talented programs. [...]

Read the full article �

NYC Private High School Interview Tips

January 28, 2010

Applying to High School is difficult enough, especially when you add in the act of interviewing. Interviewing is hard work, and interviewing for your spot at a NYC Private School can cause some very sleepless nights. Everyone will tell you not worry and to just be yourself, but the fact is that a [...]

Read the full article �

The 4 Ps in Private School Tours

January 24, 2010

A tour of your child’s potential NYC Private Schools can give you the opportunity to stand apart from the rest of the application crowd, in every way possible. You can make a wonderful and lasting impression of your self and your family, or you can make a very bad and unfortunately lasting impression of [...]

Read the full article �

Legacy Discussions Continue

January 13, 2010

At a popular NYC spot, a group of parents had gathered for some good food, good drinks a little grown up time. Because all four sets of parents have young children, however, the topic eventually turned to NYC Private Schools. Because two of the parents in the group had themselves graduated from NYC [...]

Read the full article �

NYC Private School Admissions Process

January 5, 2010

NYC Private School admissions are competitive and aggressively thorough. Parents of very young children spend an enormous amount of time preparing admissions materials for the schools that they have painstakingly researched and chosen. Parents and older students have worked together to find the best school possible and prepared for interviews and admissions essays. [...]

Read the full article �

Stay Focused for NYC Private School Admissions

January 4, 2010

There are multiples steps towards the completion of admission into a NYC Private School. Interest, research and first contact are all incredibly important steps for parents and children alike. So many pieces go into an admissions application for schools that keeping track of them all is easiest with a spreadsheet and some [...]

Read the full article �

Bad Behavior has blocked 466 access attempts in the last 7 days.