What is the most elite NYC preschool?
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Anonymous
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The K interviews are both very important for parents and children. But what does boring mean to you? Schools want level-headed, respectful, and “normal” parents that can prove to be easy partners to work with the school. They don’t want obnoxious, special snowflakes under any normal circumstances. They don’t choose you based on your profession. Now if you’re a Nobel laureate it will work to your benefit since you have achieved something remarkable, but otherwise not really their focus on what exactly it is you do. It’s NYC they expect the “boring” corporate jobs.
The fact that your child got waitlisted doesn’t always mean they didn’t like you or your interview failed. It’s simply supply and demand and this year it sounds like demand went up. I didn’t hire a consultant and you don’t need to do that unless you really need hand holding. |
Anonymous
Totally get it. Please let us know what you decide! |
Anonymous
| FWIW we opted out in the end. We had a solid daycare situation we didn’t want to mess up and our zoned PS is one of the best - saves us a little hassle and cash for a few more years so we took it! |
Anonymous
| If you’re planning on public school, there is really no need for an expensive preschool if you’re otherwise happy with your childcare situation. (IMO) |
Anonymous
| Agreed, no reason to be in such a process for a preschool that your child will be there for 3hours if you’re not planning private school from K. I endure the madness because we made it to K last year. Worth it for us but not for everyone. |
Anonymous
| Anecdotally - some Brooklyn private preschools that had seen declining enrollment saw a big uptick in interest this past cycle — so it may be a city wide trend with schools getting more competitive again. |
Anonymous
Which ones? |
Anonymous
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Need advice - WSMS vs Montclare vs PCDS
Which one has better chance to get into TT? Appreciate it! |
Anonymous
Is this for next year's applications, or did all these schools have openings currently? |
Anonymous
It’s for next year. We live in UWS so I’m curious about their reputation, TT offer rate, etc. Thanks! |
Anonymous
All excellent exmissions but there could be a lot of siblings with connections to TT in any given year and there’s no way to know if you’ll be in one of those years. I would add The Brownstone School to your list - UWS and has excellent exmissions. |
Anonymous
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WSMS big connections to Trinity
Park children's big connections to Spence , brearley, collegiate Montclare big connections to dalton But you will be competing with many siblings and legacies. The above poster is correct. It really depends on the class makeup. You are competing with the classmates. Might be better to be the only kid from a less known school applying to TT, as long as the preschool director is decent. For example, morningside Montessori sent kids to brearley, Spence, dalton in the last few years. You get all of the director’s attention and they can go hard for you, versus a place like PCDS. Park children’s had 29 children applying private this past year. WSMS is huge, they probably have even more applying private. |
Anonymous
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Also, I wanted to add, since you can’t control the makeup of the class, you should just pick a preschool based on the pedagogy and family fit (assuming you get in). All 3 schools are very different - Montessori (which is not right for every kid) versus play based at PCDS (super nurturing, loving) versus traditional at Montclare (teacher guided crafts, some light academics). Once you tour and interview, and also as you see your child develop, you will know what is a better fit.
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Anonymous
No matter how much research I did, at the end of the day it was my child who decided based on which preschool they liked the most during assessment. |
Anonymous
My kid was 18 months at her assessment for preschool (applying for 2s). It seems silly to base a decision on the opinion of a child that age. YMMV. To the poster asking about UWS schools, you really can’t go wrong with any of the three you listed. I would pick the one that is closest to your apartment, unless you feel strongly about a certain educational philosophy as they are all different. |