Spring is a funny time in the life cycle of New York City independent school admissions (nursery school or ongoing school—K and up). The weather is getting nicer, so admissions is, understandably, the last thing you’d like to think about. But if you have a young child and you’re interested in independent school admissions, it’s a good time to start acquainting yourself with the process.
Nursery School
Many, but not all, nursery schools now have 2’s programs, and for many, but not all of them, that makes the 2’s class their biggest point of entry. Nursery admissions begins in the fall of the prior year you are applying for. So if you’re interested in 2’s you have to apply when your child is 1. (Yikes–I agree.) And here’s the big date you should write in your calendar right now: the Tuesday after Labor Day, which is when many, but not all, nursery schools, give out their applications. (And some of them only do it on that day.) Read more about “Black Tuesday” here.
Got it? If you think you might apply in the fall, then, ideally, you should be ready with a list of potential schools that you’re interested in, or at least interested in getting the application from, by the beginning of September.
A number of ongoing schools now have nursery divisions, something to factor in as you’re doing your research.
Ongoing School
If you are planning to apply to private ongoing school (K and up) in the fall, one of the most time-consuming aspects of the process is all the school tours. But a number of schools start offering tours now, in the spring, even before you’ve applied. You may be able to get a list of them from the Parent’s League or Isaagny. And whether or not you go on tours, spring is still a good time to start formulating the list of schools you want applications from (and most schools have them online). If you’re a procrastinator, for your child’s sake, change that habit for this process. Here’s why: You want to get your applications in by September. The earlier the better. Thus, you want to use the spring and summer to do your initial research and take care of the applications. Here’s the rub: A number of schools say that their deadline is the end of November, but if they receive a whole mess of applications in September, they’ll simply stop accepting them.
So those are the reasons why you should pay attention to local independent school admissions now.
Of course there’s a lot more to say about navigating the process. For now, I’ll refer you to a few resources.
The Parent’s League: If you’re lost, join them. Here’s our recent profile, “The Public Face Of Private Education.”
Victoria Goldman’s two guide books: one for nursery school and one for private school (and elite public schools).
Clara Hemphill’s guide books to public school.
Inside Schools (public school)
