Manhattan Private School Advisors:
Dear Prospective Preschool and K-12 Parents,
Thank you for your interest in Manhattan Private School Advisors. With a 100% acceptance rate to top tier K-12 independent schools, boarding schools and preschools spanning almost a decade and a half, we are one of the country’s largest and most successful educational advisory firms. We work with families applying to private and public schools as well as the now very complex transition process from public to private school in New York City or from private schools to the selective public high schools. We work with mainstream and late or second season admissions for preschool and Kindergarten through Grade 12 (including boarding school). We also have a separate college advising division, MPSA College. We work with parents not only in New York but all over the country as well as both American and foreign families relocating to the United States from overseas. MPSA, which opened in 2001, has now successfully placed almost 16,000 families in top tier preschools, K-12 independent schools, boarding schools, special needs programs as well as specialized public schools. Depending on the point of entry your child will be applying for admission, some or all of the information below will be applicable to your situation. We strongly urge you to read this email in its entirety as it outlines the highly competitive admissions climate in New York. What’s the real deal with private school admissions? The American educational system is globally unique because it represents both the best and worst in the academic arena . The USA features a number of distinctly different academic paths for students and, in turn, their families. In the private sector, the yearly contract parents and schools sign is a contract for independent schools to provide 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 one in ten to one in thirty with decreasing odds every year. This also says nothing about the widely varied (and contested) quality of independent schools themselves locally, regionally and nationally. At the top tier, however, the playing field is always leveled by intense competition for admission. Any qualified independent preschool or K-12 advisor would suggest that parents not bother to debate whether private preschool or independent school (day or boarding) admissions is “fair””. It most certainly is not and nor It does it pretend to be. Independent schools often feature egalitarian curriculums and cultures, yet, like college admissions, ‘getting in’ is not egalitarian or even representative of a meritocracy in any true sense of the word. If it were, schools would have thousands of students per grade. Why choose to work with am educational advisory firm? MPSA exists to make every attempt to facilitate the best possible school choice and placement for your child, whether he or she is a one year old applying for a toddler preschool program or a sixteen year old applying to boarding school and preparing for college admissions. We offer our services locally, regionally and nationally. Do we “guarantee” admission to top choice schools? No one can do that. Only the schools decide whom they wish to admit and why. Do we use our considerable connections at virtually all top tier preschools and continuing schools to “get students in”? Of course not: that would be so unfair to so many client parents and their children because no advisory firm can use its connections for all of it’s clients. Do we teach and make it possible for parents and students to do this for themselves? That is why parents hire an educational consultant. In New York at this time, about 90% of all successful private preschool and K-12 (day and boarding school) applicant parents work with some type of academic advising. If you are not experienced in the preschool or K-12 admissions processes (and the two are very, 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. This is the bottom line on beginning the school admissions process at any point of entry. The “dos” are easy in school admissions but what are “don’ts”? Parents are well aware of the “dos” at this point, and if not we make them very clear at the initial meeting. Parents do, however, need pay strict attention to the “don’ts”. This almost invariably means the difference between acceptance and rejection, literally succeeding or failing on behalf your child.
1. Above almost all, an educational advisor or advisory firm should NEVER be 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, including ex-missions (preschool and K-8) and schools’ college placement (K-12) which is ultimately as important as admissions even at an early point of entry.
2. Parents should NEVER work with 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” are inexperienced and have, almost without exception, left or been fired from school admissions department positions under less than optimal circumstances. We have learned, sadly, from parent clients who come to our firm after the fact, that the outcome of working with former admissions staff members is almost universally unsuccessful 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). They should NOT test children of any age at any time and in any capacity. School advisors are neither childhood development experts nor test prep/administrative experts. Our expertise is in schools and school admissions not child development. There are hundreds of other experts for that from test coaches to tutors to child psychologists. We feel that children younger than the mid-teens, if then, really do not understand or properly process the level of seriousness of the admissions process. Or, perhaps more saliently, how the outcome of this process may permanently affect their academic path and future life. Even high school and college applicants often do not fully grasp the implications of the admissions process and should not be expected to do so without adult supervision. How many kids have you heard say they want to go to X schools because their friend from summer goes there and it’s “nice”? This is not the basis of a good fit.
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. Former teachers and school administrators are often not particularly competent school advisors and most do not claim they are. MPSA also feels strongly that all members of a school advisory firm ideally should have attended or have children who attend or have graduated from private or public schools for which there exists a standardized admissions process. All advisors should tour and visit ALL independent preschools and K-12s (including boarding schools) on a regular basis.
5. Parents should avoid, at all costs, educational counselors who allege “connections” with schools or claim to seek admissions at those schools for client families. We have yet to encounter a private school or preschool that has accepted a single applicant because an advisor told them to. This has thankfully become next to impossible at most schools. True educational counseling works solely with parents and families, never schools, academic coaches or within standardized testing or preparation in any capacity other than to explain and detail processes or results of testing and scores. What’s the deal with the internet and the social media? Bluntly, applicant families should stay away from parenting websites, Facebook, Yelp, etc. These are sources of disinformation to a large degree, and often brimming with fake information and opinions. Feel free to test it: go on any parenting site that has a school admissions section and ask about admissions to a specific school. It is guaranteed you will receive all sorts of negative reviews of that school in an effort to dissuade you from applying. How many of those people do you think are in real life your competitors? Think about it: it’s the easiest way to make an applicant simply go away. This doesn’t happen all the time, of course, but it happens enough to be genuinely alarming. Steer clear if you have the willpower to do so! Where do we stand right now in independent school admissions? The 2017 mainstream admissions season is well underway and are by far the most competitive yet for two central reasons. The first are siblings. Four is literally the new two when it comes to having kids, and not just in New York City, the bastion of admissions competition. The second is cash. Many applicant parents have never been as cash rich as they are now and they intend to spend it wisely. Investment in the education of their children is a top priority for almost every parent our firm has ever worked with. The third reason for intensified competition is, of course, the many foreign families who have relocated to New York City.
