Share your results as you get them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-connected, nothing special, not wealthy (well, we can afford the school), not from a "feeder school" . Just a bright kid (99 percentile on the WPS test) and that's it.
Beauvoir parent.

feeder schools are considered having an in.

the OP said NOT from a feeder school......

OOPS - meant to say PP not OP........anywya, they said they were not from a feeder school. I know other families - same thing - it's just a matter of luck. There are more applicants than spots......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DO carefully consider your feeder nursery. Of course it should meet your criteria for being a warm, nurturing place where your child can thrive. And personally I think play-based ones are much more age appropriate, and in the end, academically helpful. BUT do not discount who will be writing your recommendations for the next school.

We sent our child to a very nice preschool (I will not name it for reasons you will see in a moment!), but my DC's preschool teacher felt that private schools are elitist and undemocratic and so on. She made a point of telling me that "my daughters went to public school and they turned out fine." at the moment I was asking politely and apologetically even if she would take the time to provide a rec. These recommendations are supposed to be private and not shared with the parents in the future, but because my child was reviewed for speech issues, I actually ended up seeing that recommendation and it was TERRIBLE. Thankfully, my DC's true personality was completely obvious at the school visit (play date), and he got into a very nice school here in Virginia. Sorry to be so lengthy, but please take note!!!

My DC child attended a wonderful, otherwise highly regarded preschool in the district that just happens to have a horse's ass for a director....when you are looking at preschools, and you don't get a good vibe from the management of a preschool, don't enroll if you plan on needing them to advocate for your child in the future....

Since this is anonymous, can you please tell us what school? This is my greatest fear!!

[Anonymous]

My son scored above the 99th percentile on the Weschler test, birthday in May. He was waitlisted at both Congressional and Langley kindergartens.

Before we even got the letters, we decided to apply at a montessori school in our town and have enrolled him there. I was impressed with the way the teachers right away recognized he was gifted and after a visit or two, could readily identify his stregnths and weaknesses. When we took him to Langley and Congressional, they basically sat him down to see how well he would follow directions , cut this, draw and color that. I frankly was not impressed and felt my son would fall through the cracks. I have some hope that montessori will foster a love of learning that he otherwise might not develop. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My son scored above the 99th percentile on the Weschler test, birthday in May. He was waitlisted at both Congressional and Langley kindergartens.

Before we even got the letters, we decided to apply at a montessori school in our town and have enrolled him there. I was impressed with the way the teachers right away recognized he was gifted and after a visit or two, could readily identify his stregnths and weaknesses. When we took him to Langley and Congressional, they basically sat him down to see how well he would follow directions , cut this, draw and color that. I frankly was not impressed and felt my son would fall through the cracks. I have some hope that montessori will foster a love of learning that he otherwise might not develop. We'll see.

to pp, i am so happy to hear this story. glad it worked out for you and your son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, we are very happy about WES so we feel very fortunate to have that as an option. As for Beauvoir, we were applying for K. Nothing in the mail again today - I'll call or email tomorrow. Thanks!

did hartigan tell you if you got in?

[Anonymous]

I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a conversation about college admissions...

[Anonymous]

As a Harvard graduate from a public high school, I can tell you college admissions are much easier!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, we are very happy about WES so we feel very fortunate to have that as an option. As for Beauvoir, we were applying for K. Nothing in the mail again today - I'll call or email tomorrow. Thanks!

did hartigan tell you if you got in?

Yes, we got a call back and were accepted at Beauvoir. I was surprised and very excited. We don't have any connections and our son doesn't attend one of the "feeder" pre-schools mentioned on this post. In fact, he has been at a local daycare since he was about 6 months old. I will say, though, that the director of our daycare is fabulous and she went out of her way to help us throughout the process. I honestly feel that there is a strong element of randomness to this whole process.

[Anonymous]

A PP mentioned seeing a bad recommendation from their preschool teacher. This is truly unprofessional behavior. As a university professor, I have had students who did not do well in my class request recommendations for graduate school. In these cases, I was honest with them that I would write a recommendation including their strengths and weaknesses. I had to have a few conversations about how it would be unethical to write or expect a glowing recommendation when their performance did not support it. This gave them the opportunity to decide whether to choose another prof in a course that they may have done better in or go with a recommendation reflecting a less than stellar performance. A few were upset and I suspect it would have been easier to just write a poor recommendation but that would be unfair.

A preschool teacher may be in hard situation if she feels the child is not ready or not as ready as other classmates but this is still no reason to pretend to give a good reference and then do a bad one.

I have a few friends who teach in a high school and have many hilarious stories about teachers and staff who seem to devolve into immature and passive aggressive behaviors. Based on my obversations of our preschool teachers, the bickering and gossiping amongst them as one example, this seem to be even stronger here. I would be very cautious about the recommendations and try to build a good relationship with the teacher. to understand his/her level of professionalism first.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we got a call back and were accepted at Beauvoir. I was surprised and very excited. We don't have any connections and our son doesn't attend one of the "feeder" pre-schools mentioned on this post. In fact, he has been at a local daycare since he was about 6 months old. I will say, though, that the director of our daycare is fabulous and she went out of her way to help us throughout the process. I honestly feel that there is a strong element of randomness to this whole process.

Congratulations! It's SO nice to see a positive post about great parents and caregivers like your daycare director working together. (The "bad" teacher recommendation letter posts were kind of scary and depressing for this first-time parent...)

Randomness - or not - your post helps put things into perspective. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

9:59 - Could you share which daycare your son was in? We're at BCDC - I'm trying to decide whether to stay at through pre-K or move to a true "preschool" at some point.

[Anonymous]

to 9:59 It depends on then options. The PK room at BCDC is fantastic, but with only 9 kids, it may be that your DD would want to spread their wings more in a larger setting. If you are already at BCDC, then it is a great fall back option, in case you are exploring other possibilities.

[Anonymous]

oops...I meant to 10:25.

[Anonymous]

Oh, this is just breaking my heart.....Your kids can't even read yet and you're letting preK and K admissions get you. It's wonderful what you are doing, but if the pressure is on at this young age - oh, what's it gonna be like in high school? We sent our kids to public school in Fairfax County, and the first two went Ivy, but my third got accepted to Yale and wouldn't go. She is waitressing at a nice restaurant and says she can't stand the pressure. I'm beside myself, but I'd probably be in a rubber room drooling if I had started worrying about it kindergarten. My sincerest best wishes for you all, but remember, it's just preK and K.

[Anonymous]

I am the poster who's friends' child had great everything else but bad teacher recs and someone asked how they knew the teacher recs were bad if they are supposed to be confidential. The preschool told the family that the child was NOT ready and they should not apply her out this year. Based on a lengthy conversation with the head of the preschool, and the child's teachers, and this year's PT conferences, they are sure the recs weren't good. The school warned them and they decided to proceed anyway.