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06.16.08, 16:05 PM NY Schools
13 replies
How helpful can a consultant such as Robin Aronow be for someone who would like to get into a private school. We have a ds with a fall birthday, so trying to figure how to best get into a school that does not have a pre-k. Anyhow, once you decide to do private why wouldn't you hire a consultant. And who would be best? FWIW, we live downtown. Thank you [ Reply | Watch | Flag ]
NY Schools 06.16.08, 04:05 PM Flag
 

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have you spoken to your psd? there are some people on ub who think advisors are great-read essays, give advice, gossip that you can't get from your psd. we live downtown, have 2 dc's in private and never used a consultant-don't think you really need one as long as you are smart about process. we treated this like a job interview process (well, it is sort of like the recruiting process). what do schools have, what do our dc's have that matches school, etc. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:10 PM Flag
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thank you. i think our psd is not that well informed, so it will primarily be up to us. if it is like running an interview process, it should be fine but i just don't know how to juggle this whole public/private date cut-off. let's say i'd like to go to UNIS or Friends, my ds will have to do either a pre-K at a private or public K for one year and then we'll apply from there. PSD strongly encouraged not to stay in pre-school for another year... does that sound right? [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:15 PM Flag
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Robin will tell you the same thing -- stay in preschool, wait a year. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:19 PM Flag
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psd says the opposite. she thinks that if something goes wrong and you end up SO then you'll have to go straight into 1 grade in public. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:23 PM Flag
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PSD is right. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:25 PM Flag
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I think the private cutoffs for friends and unis are sep 1 (though I could be wrong), so if your dc turns 5 next fall, you would miss the deadline and would need to do k in public or look at schools with pre k programs (like lrei, st lukes, grace). you may also want to look at brooklyn schools (several of which have pre k's too). we set up a huge spreadsheet with deadlines, notes, comments, etc. to keep track of everything. my older dc has a summer bday, and our younger has a fall bday-both of our dc's are at one of the schools with a pre k-one dc just was 4 the whole year and turned 5 right before k, the other turned 5 right after starting pre k. also, ime, not a lot of the downtown schools do a 5's year-most kids move out to a school (unless things have changed). where is your dc now? [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:21 PM Flag
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would it be really bad to leave after one year if you get into a private school with pre-K for one year and then apply out to try to get into Friends or UNIS? if you don't get in, the current school will know that you wanted to leave and that's not good. I guess i should just wait and see how things pan out and decide then... Thanks again [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:25 PM Flag
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we know someone who did one year at older dc's pre k (but they left for Hunter, which I think is a different case). in general though, if you start at the pre k, I think you need to be committed to stay. people do leave but aside from the hunter, only one other person that comes to mind left for another private (went from coed to ss). it also depends on the school-some schools are friendlier about it than others. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:28 PM Flag
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we used and highly recommend Smart City Kids. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:25 PM Flag
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do they know downtown schools as well as the uptown schools? heard mixed things about the woman that runs it... [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:26 PM Flag
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she is not a type A personality like many on this board, but she knows her stuff and was a real asset to us. she is familiar with downtown schools. we had an unconnected psd and felt we would not have succeeded without her. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:33 PM Flag
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thank you. i am in a similar situation. believe that the psd will not be very helpful. don't know if i should just hire a consultant for the whole thing or maybe at least meet with a few and see what they say and find out if i like them. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:37 PM Flag
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that makes sense. after getting shut out of select publics, we are really glad we have a private to fall back on. gl. [ Reply | More
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General Topics 06.16.08, 04:41 PM Flag
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