The blog world is beckoning, even to Manhattan Private School Advisors, my private school advisory firm. So here we go: first blog ever! Stay tuned for many, many more....
Here's the deal. Private
school admissions, even at the preschool level, is a major parental undertaking
just as it is a significant financial investment. If your child enters the independent school system in New
York in 2013, you may expect to pay around $41,500 per year in tuition. In some cases, that does not include
books and study materials, lunch, school trips and never includes private
transportation to and from school or donations to the school. Tuition fees go out 6-8% per year. If a
child attends a school from Kindergarten through Grade 12, the total pricetag
can approach can approach $700,000, double or even triple the cost of a college
education in the United States at this time. Tuition at New York private schools is approximately
parallel to the tuition at the most expensive
colleges in the country.
Ironically, the academically weakest New York independent K-12 schools
cost approximately the same as those in the academic top tier. This is probably
why you have sought our assistance to place your child in the optimal academic,
social and cultural school environment.
Our
educational system in the USA is an odd one. Parents at public schools are parents. Parents at private schools are
fundamentally clients. The yearly
contract parents and schools and schools sign is not just a contract for
parents to pay expensive tuition: it is a contract for independent schools to
perform at top level by providing an excellent academic as well as safe and
stimulating social environment for students (and families). That is, if applicants are lucky enough
to be chosen for acceptance in a private school admissions environment where
the average rate of acceptance now stands at less than one in ten to thirty
with increasing odds every year.
Any
qualified independent preschool or K-12 advisor would suggest firmly that
parents whether private school admissions is “fair” or “unfair”. It’s not fair. Private schools often feature
egalitarian curriculums and cultures, yet, like college admissions, ‘getting
in’ is not really egalitarian in the least. If it were, schools would 900 students per grade! There is nothing anyone can do about
it: this is the private sector.
MPSA exists to make every attempt to facilitate the best possible school
placement for your child, whether he or she is a one year old applying for
preschool or a sixteen year old applying for 11th grade: locally,
regionally and nationally.
In
New York at this time, about 90%
of all successful private preschool and K-12l applicant parents work with some
type of educational advising. If you are not experienced in the preschool or
K-12 admissions processes (and the two are very different), it a good idea to
get expert advice as soon as you can, whether you choose to work with a firm of
our caliber or not.
There
are a few basic guidelines we hope you adhere to in choosing an educational
advisory firm. Parents are well aware of the “dos” at this point, but please
pay strict attention to the “don’ts”.
This almost invariably means the difference between acceptances and
rejections for your child.
Most are pretty obvious.
1. An educational advisor or advisory firm
should NEVER be aligned or affiliated with ANY independent preschool or K-12
school for ANY reason. All information about a given school should be
strictly unbiased and fact based.
It is essential that advisors be familiar will a wide variety of schools
and programs and the history of each.
2. This is of the utmost importance. Parents should not work with individual
school advisors who have worked at any school (particularly in admissions) at
ANY time. The vast majority of “former admissions” staff members now working in
educational consulting have almost without exception left those positions under
acrimonious circumstances. As a result (as we have learned, sadly, from
our parent clients), the outcomes of working with former admissions staff
members are almost universally sub-standard if not devastating in terms of
results.
3. Educational advisors should not be
working directly with children under high school age (and even then never
independently), nor testing children of any age at any time and in any
capacity. School advisors are neither childhood development experts nor
test prep experts: our expertise is in schools and school admissions. We
feel that children younger than the mid-teens, if then, really do not
understand or properly process level of seriousness of the admissions process
and how the outcome may affect them. Please note that even high school and
college applicants often do not fully comprehend the implications of the
admissions process and should not be expected to without adult supervision.
4. Educational advisors should have a very
solid background in communications including but not limited to: writing,
editing, marketing, public relations and general communications but not
necessarily in education itself. All should have attended or have
children who attend private or public schools for which there exists a
standardized admissions process. All advisors should tour and visit ALL
independent preschools and K-12s on a regular basis. We have found that this is
really the only way for advisors to familiarize themselves with this rigorous
and highly competitive admissions process and the vast curricular and cultural
differences between schools themselves.
5. Parents should avoid, at all costs,
educational counseling that alleges to use its “connections” with schools to
seek admissions for client families. This is not only inappropriate, it
has also thankfully become very difficult at an ISAAGNY member school or
preschool. That is because it can also become a also a form of
fee-splitting, which is illegal. True educational counseling works solely with
parents and families, never schools, academic coaches or with standardized
testing in any capacity other than to explain and detail processes or results
of testing or scores.
The
2013 and 2014 mainstream preschool and K-12 admissions season and pre-season
are now well underway and are by far the most competitive admissions seasons
yet for two central reasons. The first are siblings. Four is literally the new two when it comes to having kids
in New York and other cities. The
second is cash. Thanks to unstable
stock markets, many applicant parents have never been so cash rich as they are
now and they intend to spend it wisely. Investment in the educations of their
children is obviously a top priority.
In
truth, the process of independent school admissions can be enormously
frustrating for applicant families. That is because schools actually seek
less applicants, never more. This also
why both admissions timelines and age cutoffs have never been as strict. The admissions process is designed, at
every turn and at every point of entry, to make prospective parents not only
jump through often very subtle hoops, but to make those who falter or are
unwilling to simply disappear from the system.
It
this absurd? To some degree,
yes. In New York, for example,
parents are now paying tuition of more than $40,000 all told to the average
K-12 school that is basically akin to joining a club that does not necessarily
want them or anyone else as members.
Is this logical?
Theoretically, of course not.
Practically, yes it is and for one simple reason: we do not have enough
private schools in New York (or elsewhere) and well over 50% of them are not
even particularly great schools.
Their claim to fame is merely that they are private. Which leaves us the other 50% that
parents are willing to go to great lengths to get their children admitted
to. And often, unchecked by
professional educational advising and consulting, simply go to far.
How
did this happen? The public school
system in New York and in the United States is failing our children and has
been for more than thirty years. We are left with a public school system that
shortchanges students in every conceivable way on most levels. In New
York City, we are in an urgent situation: class sizes have been
universally increased and public schools are terribly overcrowded and
understaffed – and under-funded. Non-essential curriculum (arts, gym, music)
has been drastically cut due to decreased school budgets. As a society, we have chosen to do very
little to advance or fix this and, as a result, private schools become that
much more sought after.
Don’t
get us wrong: there are public schools in New York City, particularly at the
high school level, that offer amazing educations. That said, these are harder to get into than any private
school ever was or ever will be.
Admissions is based on a single test, the SHSAT, taken by over 60,000
New York City eighth graders each year for a total of less than 5000 spots.
The
present failure of the mainstream public education system has propelled New
York parents who were considering public school education particularly at the
elementary level (though the cuts are universal) into the independent
school admissions arena, aiding an already overwhelming level of competition
for spots. Applicants to the private sector increase about 11-17% each
year. The numbers are staggering versus the small number of true
(non-sibling, non-legacy) spots.
The
problem is that the number of ISAAGNY schools and available spots at these
schools rarely increase. New, not
for profit schools in New York have not opened in decades and many parents do
not feel comfortable with the new, for profit schools for two reasons. One, for many families the business of
education is education itself and not business. Parents have generally shunned “for profit” schools and
virtually all schools with less than a decade of working history and, as of
yet, no graduating classes..
Parents
work with a qualified school advisory firm for equally simple reasons: to get
the admissions process done properly the first and only time and so that at the
end of the admissions process they do not feel that they have failed their
child or children because of their own lack of education into how to
successfully navigate the admissions process.
The
harsh reality of independent school admissions in New York and, now, elsewhere,
is that it is a very misleading and therefore frustrating process. You
may have noticed that aside from school websites designed by the schools
themselves, it is very difficult to obtain much concrete information about
admissions to private schools and even select public schools and word-of –mouth
information is the worst source. Again, this is because schools hope for
less applicants, never more. Most school admissions staffs are polite,
pleasant and seemingly accommodating to all applicant families. It’s their job to be so.
Admissions outcomes, however, can be a very rude awakening for the families
of very qualified yet consistently rejected applicants -- even siblings
and legacies. This is because there is no independent school that does
not receive many, many times the number of applications as it has spots to
offer equally numerous qualified applicants. It is easy to say
“don’t take it personally” and often quite true: it is not personal at
all. Yet few parents are understandably able to do that in a world where
the schools we attend at the age of five or younger can impact the path of the
rest of our lives permanently. And
few parents, without educational advising, are actually able to do the process
well. That’s simply logical:
academic advisors couldn’t really make it as oral surgeons, either!
Selective
private school admissions is a numbers game based upon supply and demand, yet
there are many, many unique ways to successfully navigate it and become the
“supply” who is in “demand”. Applicant parents must learn to negotiate
within this complex, competitive, and clandestine process. It looks easy
at first but reality soon dawns (at, for example, the first parent interview):
it is one of the most difficult of all systems to understand and work one’s way
successfully through. That said, there are definite tricks to doing this
process correctly and with a fine outcome.
Parents
must learn, through professional advising, how to literally fit themselves and
their children into this complex web without compromise or a myriad of costly
admissions errors. There is a longstanding myth in the New York area, for
example, which claims that actually getting unto a top private preschool or
private school may be more difficult than acceptance at an Ivy League college
or university. Laughable – except it may be close to the truth. Ivy
League schools accept or reject fully self-realized students while preschools
accept adorable two and three year olds (which is to say every one of them) and
independent schools accept winsome four and five year olds and eager yet
basically unformed elementary, middle and even high school students. None
of which have years of high school grades or ACT, SAT 1 or 2 scores as they do when
they apply to college. And this startling fact: about 90% of the
applicants to top colleges and universities in America are, in one way or
another, fully qualified for admission. They obviously don’t all get in but lower academically often do not apply. Yet who is qualified to apply to a
select kindergarten of third grade or sixth grade? Almost anyone and
everyone – just ask their parents. Private preschools and K-12s, however,
do not really accept the student
of today, but the student of tomorrow. It is a guessing game yet one that
parents and children can turn to their favor with serious steps and hard work
during the admissions process.
Private
schools and acceptances to them are hardly based on pure meritocracy, but
children are not admitted to schools simply because their parents are wealthy
or are alumni of those schools or because they have siblings attending them.
The number of legacy (alumni) and sibling rejections has actually increased
tenfold in the past few years. In truth, most students gain admission
because they and their families are a good fit for a particular school in a
wide variety of ways. Parents learn what the best fits for their children and family are in the
same way we learn anything else: through education. In this case, that
education is offered by qualified, comprehensive admissions counseling.
A myth
that needs to be dispelled is that there actually exists the “perfect” school
in New York or elsewhere. Forget it! Every school from preschool through high school, has
its pros and cons. Additionally, the school that are great fit for one
student or family are actually a very poor fit for another – and vice
versa. The most basically example
of this is acceptance to a “top” school only to get a teacher your kid cannot
stand or who cannot stand your kid.
Perfect goes right out the window at that point and this happens
everyday and to the vast majority of students at one time or another during a
K-12 academic career.
Every
school in the United States today – public, private or parochial -- aspires to
produce the same thing in its students: a self-motivated, independent learner
who has good study and time management skills and can take what he or she
learns in one academic or social area and use and apply it elsewhere.
That is the beginning of true scholarship. Some schools are simply far
better at promoting and inspiring this among students this than
others. Yet this depends on the needs of individual students as
well. Parents should be aware, however, that the myth of school
admissions is that education is all about the school one attends. It is
not. Education is about education.
As
your student moves forward, at any school, his her education is finally about
the student as an independent entity. A solid student really will “do
well” virtually anywhere and a poor student will do badly even at “the best” of
schools with the finest of support. Students learn to excel (or not) at
the schools they attend, but a good deal of intellectual prowess and projected
academic success is hardwired either via nature or nuture. It therefore
behooves parents to really research the schools they apply to in an unbiased,
almost clinical fashion. This is where a qualified advisory firm can also
be of the most assistance.
Please
be aware that due to the huge demand for MPSA’s comprehensive services as well
as the dramatically increased competition for spots at preschools and seats at
K-12 independent schools, we have a very strict quota of parent clients for
EACH point of entry, traditional and non-traditional. This is because our
admissions counseling services are fully guaranteed (please see attached parent
agreement).
The
2013 admissions season is well underway locally, regionally and nationally as
is consulting for the 2014 admissions season. We have been working with
2013 applicant families since January, 2011 and have been working with 2014
applicant families since August, 2011. Please again note that we have a
quota or parent client spots for each point of entry and our full 2013 quota
will be met shortly. Initial meetings are two hours in length and may be
scheduled in person or by phone or internet video conferencing (as we work with
many expatriate families returning to the US from overseas as well as American
families all over the USA). Follow-up meetings, whether in person or by
phone or internet video conference, are at parents’ request at ANY TIME that is
mutually convenient and are unlimited.
It is
important to understand that private and select public school admissions in New
York City (including at the preschool level) has now reached a critically
competitive level at all points of entry. The reasons for this are very
clear. We are in a “perfect storm” situation for a number of reasons, not
the least of which is that the New York Department of Education has now made
enormous budget and teaching staff cuts at all levels (including, for the first
time in New York history, at the specialized public high schools) which will
continue through 2014 at the earliest. More than one million national
public school teachers will retire over the next decade, and many others will
be laid-offf, adding to the public education crisis. Families who would
have considered sending children to public school are retracting that choice
now and opting instead for private school admissions. As a direct
result of this and other factors listed below, the demand for our services is
unprecedented – at about 90% more than 2009. The other underlying issues
include:
1.
There are now over 750,000+ children under the age of five living in Manhattan
alone as compared to around 250,000 in 2003. Only a fraction of these
children will be private preschool and K-12 applicants. That said, there
are only around 16,000 places at ALL private nursery and continuing schools
combined.
2.
Once again, “Four is the new two” when it comes to having children in New York,
thus creating a serious “places” issue at almost all schools. Yes, once
again we are also back at the numbers game.
3.
The concept of “contacts” and “connections” at the schools is very overblown
and tenuous at best. “Contacts” often cannot be of real assistance
because admissions directors do not want to feel as if they are being dictated
to by board members, alumni or parents. In point of fact, over 90% of our
clients DO NOT have any contacts or connection at the schools they are
ultimately accepted to. The concept of “buying” a contact or connection is
reprehensible and something we cannot morally condone at any time.
4.
The ERB/ECAA. ISEE, SSAT, Stanford Binet, etc. testing is now taken very
seriously by school admissions (for right or wrong). . That said, it
is a myth perpetuated by parents that a child needs top scores to seek
admittance to top tier K-12 independent school at any level. It is
untrue: most schools take the testing process for what it is – about ¼ of the
general admissions process. What will raise almost instant red flags at schools
are large discrepancies in verbal and performance areas of the testing or its
sub-tests. If, for example, a younger student scores in the 90th
plus percentile in either the verbal section of the ERB and many points less in
the test’s performance section, it suggests a wide variety of issues (that may
or may not be real) ranging from non-compliance and an inability to stay on
task to genuine defiance. These are the most serious issues (and failings) in
standardized testing of children as young as four years old. The test itself,
however, is merely a snapshot of a particular moment in time for every student
and scores (except on the Stanford Binet or any IQ series) change over
time. With the exception of bonafide IQ testing, which is very costly and
never required except as entry to select gifted public kindergartens, none of
these tests is either “perfect” or completely accurate but the fact is: they
are all we have at this time.
5.
Parents who work in the financial services industry USED to have almost have
carte blanche in terms of admissions. This ended very sharply and very suddenly
in October of 2008 and has never restarted in New York (and
elsewhere). This is lucky for everyone else but not for this
sub-group of parents: it requires a great deal more work to get their kids into
top schools than it did during the period from 1995-2007. And that myth
about the kids with the richest parents ‘getting in’? Forget it.
This is New York where private school education can or will in the near future
cost $750,000+ from K-12 (and that is before college): almost every
non-financial aid applicant has parents who can well afford the tuition. Not to
mention that some of our private schools don’t really need most parents’
donations: some are as wealthy as quite well known upper tier colleges thanks
to boards of trustees and a school’s financial investments.
6.
For the vast majority of our parent clients as well as many private school
applicant families, a recession
never really happened at all. What is more important is that top
tier private schools, even preschools, did not really feel the effects of
recession to any major degree at all: applications are up as much as 35% since
2008 as are endowments. Nowhere is this more clearly reflected than in the
price of tuition. Beginning in 2012, many if not most private schools’
tuition (K-12 not preschool) will exceed all told, $40,000 per
year. Tuitions are raised about 6-8% per year at ISAAGNY member
schools.
Digesting all of this? Visit us at privateschooladvisors.com whenever you'd like for more information for applicant families!
