by NYC Private Schools on April 29, 2009
The spring season usually brings parents out to the parks in NY, and that brings families together to talk about their kids, their futures, and the schools their children may be attending in the coming years. For parents of young pre-schoolers, it is a time of intense information overflow coming from all sources and discussing all sorts of different school options.
Believe it or not, a part of what you are doing as a parent at this stage is networking for contacts for future private schools and researching the success and satisfaction levels of families who have attended those schools. It’s a natural behavior and is a vital step in finding the right school match for your child. It can also, however, be a frightening distraction full of horror stories that may, or may not, be true.
Networking and social circles that discuss private school choices and applications are as subject to gossip mongering as any other topic. They are also subject to grudges, pride, habits and viewpoints that themselves were based on gossip. The fact is, the reputation that Susan is talking about when discussing one school may actually be a reputation that a school had 30 years ago, when Susan herself was a child. That school may be nothing resembling the information that is floating around during that talk.
So what is the best advice, when discussing future private schools? Listen and network, but don’t believe everything you hear, and don’t count any one school out until you have some facts behind the stories.
by NYC Private Schools on March 3, 2009
You can increase your child’s chance of acceptance to a NYC private school by appropriately reacting to a waitlisted application. You can also decrease your child’s chance of acceptance with behavior that schools view negatively. Sometimes it’s a fine line between the two.
Talking to the admissions staff at the school and expressing your continued interest in the school is the best option, but you should not go overboard by calling them repeatedly. They call it “pestering” for a reason.
Dampening down the urge to call repeatedly is one of the most difficult things for any parent to do. You are not alone in this situation. The waitlisting process is one that happens in private schools all over the country during this time of year.
A San Francisco Blog has been writing about the Private School admissions process and many have chimed in on the stressful subject of waitlisting. One helpful poster responded with this:
the quick answer is that it is a true waitlist. There is a lot of movement after the acceptance letters go out. Some kids have multiple offers. other parents decide on public school or a move to the suburbs. It is a fluid situation. We were advised, after you get a waitlist letter, if you are interested in a spot, to definitely let the Admissions Director know. It might be a tiebreaker between you and another more family since there is no formal ranking.
When discussing waitlisting, however, it is important to remember that some associations have their own rules.
If you have contracted with an ISAAGNY school and accepted a private school spot, no other ISAAGNY school may offer you any acceptance, even if they had previously waitlisted your child.
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