<p>This article just about blew my mind. Safeties for preschools?? Thick and thin envelopes expected next week?? Essays for 18 month olds?? I kid you not, in NYC they now have seminars dedicated to "idea starters" for preschool application essays. And a sought after school consultant there claims that it is impossible to overstate the importance of the essay in determining, what else, demonstrated interest!!!!!!! And the icing on the cake had to be, are you ready for this.......an EARLY DECISION option - for PRESCHOOLERs!!!! What is this world coming to? I'm (almost) speechless.</p>
<p>Here is the link - it will probably only be good for a limited time, though:</p>
<p>I once had to write a letter of recommendation for a friend's 4-year-old for entrance to a competitive pre-school at the same time that I was writing a letter of recommendation for a colleague to get tenure at a prestigious university. Guess which letter I spent more time on?</p>
<p>I knew a 4 yr. old girl who lived in NY whose parents were applying to one of these schools. They asked her to draw a picture and she did. The little girl (brilliant and well behaved) liked it so much, she wanted to take it home and didn't want to leave it there. Status, rejected - for being too immature! What's especially troublesome to me is that the children are aware that they are being evaluated even if you don't come right out and tell them, as was the case for this child. She grew up and moved out of the city, the better never to have to expose her own kids to this.</p>
<p>I did live in NYC for a couple of years out of school and loved it, but glad I moved out before kids. Part of the problem is that there are more and more young couples who have decided to stay and raise families and there are just not enough spots in the schools.</p>
<p>driver, You are right, CC higher ups should take note for a possible expansion of the site!</p>
<p>I posted this last year, but it's worth a read if you haven't seen it. Iowahawk is the best parodist I've ever seen. My hero.
[quote]
While area truckers are expanding her crusade globally, Tammi Jo Pearsall continues to take a more local approach to Mommy Madness activism. Along with her children - Cheyenne, 11, Dakota, 7, F-150 Crewcab, 6, and Brandon, 4 -- Pearsall regularly visits Winn-Dixies and dirt tracks throughout North Florida to raise awareness. It is a labor of love, and Pearsall says she will not quit until the children of graduate-degreed mothers in Manhattan and the Back Bay have adequate access to competitive preschools.
<p>I went through this in NYC with my kids. It was so ridiculous. One 2 year old in our group "interview" wasn't wearing diapers (mother trying to impress that the child was potty trained). The child had an "accident" and the mother knelt on the floor in praying position, and actually cried, begging the preschool director not to hold this against her child in admissions!
It is all a joke because while it is tough to get into NY private schools for kindergarten (why everyone wants the "best" feeder preschools), it is not hard at all in later grades if your child is bright. If your child is a mediocre student the child is not headed to the Ivy League regardless of whether the child is at Dalton or Horace Mann.</p>
<p>We were in NYC for almost 2 years, when my older son was 18 months-3+. We made sure to get out in time to avoid the preschool madness. People actually have their children coached (at great expense) to improve their performance during the test and interviews. (The test may be only for Hunter - a NYC public preschool/elementary school for the brightest of the bright.) It is even difficult to have the privilege of applying. There is only one day per year that applications are given out, and the only way to get one is to call (no walkins allowed). I know someone who stood in the hallway of one of the schools with his cell phone, so that he could dial in when he saw the phone was free.</p>
<p>Does everyone know about the financial scandal a few years ago, when a NY stock analyst upgraded his rating of a stock in exchange for help getting his twins into the 92nd Street Y preschool (very competitive)?</p>
<p>Being potty-trained at age 2 is a sure sign of brilliance! I feel sorry for the poor child; imagine the trauma! I'm sure some psychiatrist will be hearing all about that experience someday.</p>
<p>I live in LA and I think I have PTSD from the preschool interviews 15 years ago:p I actually bought a Laura Ashley outfit and wore pearls and sensible heels. D was placed on a waitlist after her "interview" and we were told one day before school started that she was IN. Thankfully it's easier for siblings to get in and S just had to attend a sample class to interview. I'm glad the school went from Preschool - 12 because I don't think I could have stomached any more interviews.</p>
<p>In Seattle we have a lot of co-ops- every neighborhood has a co-op preschool.Even the elementary school where my D attended ( and where whats his name sends his kids- he who could buy whatever school he wanted) started out as a co-op.
I did look at a lot of co-ops I admit - and neither one attended preschool in our neighborhood- because I liked ones out of the area better, but it was more for the playground and the teachers- not the "prestige"( well and for older D, I needed it for child care- the one in the U district had child care)
( and believe me- that school where D went- is not the most prestigious)</p>
<p>Here in San Diego I had to go interview with day care providers to enroll my daughter. But <em>I</em> was the one who had to pass the audition. D was only 4 months old at the time. Fortunately I passed. </p>
<p>When D was 4 years old we moved to Miami for one year on a work assignment, and I immediately had to shop preschools. I spent a whole week interviewing at preschools, but unlike in the NYC or other big cities, I was interviewing them and not the other way around.</p>
<p>This is the sort of stuff that is so annoying about living in big cities. All the prestige crap. Yuk. I just dropped my kids at the YMCA and bolted. Heck, they even learned to swim in preschool! :)</p>
<p>There is a great memoir style novel on the subject of getting into NYC elementary schools called Admissions by Nancy Lieberman. Fabulous read. </p>
<p>Our experience in northern New Jersey was that kindergarten was the easiest entry point because you had about 100 4-year old kids vying for 30 slots (18 years ago); nobody left unless they moved. That meant an average of only one or two spots for all subsequent grades. Because a lot of parents wanted to keep their kids in Montessori through K and start in first grade the competition for 1st grade was just as tough, but there were only a fraction of the openings. It's not like there are that many schools within reasonable commuting distance for a 5-year old in the suburbs, so it's very stressful. I don't think it is a prestige thing as much as a severe shortage of product. Preschools were tough because they were the feeders to the kindergarten. Unless somebody starts running a lot more private schools or starts improving the public schools, I don't see this dynamic changing.</p>
<p>When we moved, we made it a priority to go public because we wanted the kids to be able to have a single best friend or group that they saw both in school and the neighborhood. We moved into a supposedly top school district, but the quality of the educational experience is about a 2 at our public school compared to a 10 at the private, in our view. Our kids, however, don't seem to care one way or the other. </p>
<p>Parents just starting out and trying to decide what to do have nothing but sympathy from me. It's a difficult choice with no easy answers.</p>
<p>A child of NYC, I was recently lementing to my mom that everyone was smarter than me. She said she often wondered if she had done the right thing by sending me to schools, starting in pre achool, that always required an IQ test or similar. She claims 've never been in school with a kid with an IQ under 140.</p>
<p>The article is an eye opener to a scene that doesn't exist here (in Vermont) or in many parts of the country. I read the novel, The Nanny Diaries, and it depicted this very scene (and others) with the preshool admissions in NYC in wealthy families. It was a huge eye opener to me. I am thankful I'm not living that life. Here, as someone else posted, the parents are more interviewing the preschool to pick which they would like their kids to go to. However, it can be hard to get a slot but that is a matter of signing up ahead of time, not being "accepted". I actually didn't realize that one would have to sign up so far in advance, however, when I had my first baby. I still recall riding up the chairlift (I live in a ski resort community) with a friend who is a preschool teacher at the preschool here that is very well thought of. We got to talking. My oldest was an infant. I must have said something like some day signing her up when she turns three. My friend said, "don't worry, we put her name down to reserve a slot as they are filling up for that year" (about two years ahead). What did I know? Glad she did as it was a wonderful preschool where both my girls each attended for two years. But nobody has to get accepted. You do have to pay tuition, however. </p>
<p>And even now, the college admissions frenzy is very low key where I live. I know that those who live in suburbia or some other communities, the talk of colleges and WHICH colleges, begins very young. And for that, I am glad we ended up raising our kids in a rural area because none of that atmosphere exists here. And ya know, they still ended up going to good colleges. :D</p>
<p>I'm just going through the same situation! Just glad I'm not the only one. Suburbs are just as competitive as in NYC, at least it's the same in Westchester county. :-(</p>
<p>"I live in LA and I think I have PTSD from the preschool interviews 15 years ago"</p>
<p>I'm guessing we're in different parts of L.A. We went to the lovely preschool that was closest to our house where the kids were loved. There was no pressure to get in. The real pressure started when we applied for the magnet school system. My daughter, now at Yale, recently told me about a college friend from who went through the whole "get into the right preschool so you can get into the right prep school so you can get into the right college." When I heard about it, I thought it was a Manhattan thing but I've heard that it is happening in areas of Los Angeles, which your post confirms. However, your post mentioned the school was preschool through grade 12. I can imagine that in that situation, the heat is on if the preschool the best way to get your kid into a long-term academic situation that is your first choice. I think if you're just looking for a preschool and are planning to go to public school, it takes on less significance. Certainly, I wanted a wonderful environment, but since nothing else hinged on it, it wasn't stressful.</p>