No connections, not from NCRC or other "feeder schools"...

[Anonymous]

Are we fooling ourselves that our wonderful Dc who is a great kid with very high WPPSI, great school readiness and good recommendations but not at a feeder school but rather a small no name school would be considered to have any chance of gettng into a Top 3 Pre-K? No financial aid needed, no siblings, no almuni wha are friends, etc. From reading these threads, it seems like we're wasting our time and money.

[Anonymous]

You might want to expand your list with a few prek-8 schools. If you want the truth then yes it will be a long shot but not impossible. You are not wasting your time because you won't know unless you apply. But just in case you don't get in to the coveted three, have a few other options. The "Top 3" is really not the end-all be-all. The only one who might be unhappy is you but your child might flourish and thrive whether at a Top 3 or other school. Your DC won't know the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might want to expand your list with a few prek-8 schools. If you want the truth then yes it will be a long shot but not impossible. You are not wasting your time because you won't know unless you apply. But just in case you don't get in to the coveted three, have a few other options. The "Top 3" is really not the end-all be-all. The only one who might be unhappy is you but your child might flourish and thrive whether at a Top 3 or other school. Your DC won't know the difference.

Thank you. What are the other 5 schools you would recommend?

[Anonymous]

Def not wasting time. We were in the same boat and our children were admitted.

[Anonymous]

The "top 3" are so different from each other. What are you looking for? What are your values?

[Anonymous]

If GDS/Sidwell appeals to you:

Green Acres
Lowell
Sheridan


If Beavoir appeals to you:

Capitol Hill Day
Concord Hill
NPS
Norwood
Potomac
St. Patricks
WES

[Anonymous]

Kids like yours get in every year, but it does seem that the odds are longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we fooling ourselves that our wonderful Dc who is a great kid with very high WPPSI, great school readiness and good recommendations but not at a feeder school but rather a small no name school would be considered to have any chance of gettng into a Top 3 Pre-K? No financial aid needed, no siblings, no almuni wha are friends, etc. From reading these threads, it seems like we're wasting our time and money.

How high is the WPPSI? And how are social skill? What adjectives would people use to describe your child when they meet him/her? If you tell me those things, I can give a more informed answer.

[Anonymous]

Really? Many kids with the highest WPPSI scores, great social skills, and glowing recommendations are rejected every year; a smaller number of similar kids are accepted every year. Do you have a formula for differentiating among them?

[Anonymous]

We were in the same boat and went public (MCPS) until middle school. Worked great for DS -- he had dedicated teachers, made n-hood friends, and got a good solid education -- maybe not as creative as some independent schools, but he was happy and well-prepared to move to a "top 3" school. Admissions at middle school are less stressful because you and the schools have so much more information about your child. It's so much easier to figure out which school is the right fit. So, even if you decide to apply and don't get in where you'd like, don't fret, you'll get another go-round if you want to take it.

[Anonymous]

NCRC parent here, and I can tell you from first hand experience that not everybody from NCRC gets in. The point is that they are not going to fill the whole class with kids from 1 or 2 preschools. I really think you have as good a shot as anybody else. I think where the "feeder" preschools help you is if your kid is right at the cusp - they take your kid or another and then the class is full. In that circumstance, the "feeder" preschools may carry the day in arguing that your kid should be one of the ones in those last couple of spots.

You should look at what other factors you have going for you, including diversity of any kind (LGBT, ethnic, job, etc.), the strength of your school rec, etc. And you bring preschool diversity, which I do think they look for.

Some of this other stuff other people obsess about - who can write a letter, am I fabulously wealthy, where is my kid at preschool, etc. - only helps if you have very little else going for you (which, frankly, is our boat - there is nothing interesting about us! )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are we fooling ourselves that our wonderful Dc who is a great kid with very high WPPSI, great school readiness and good recommendations but not at a feeder school but rather a small no name school would be considered to have any chance of gettng into a Top 3 Pre-K? No financial aid needed, no siblings, no almuni wha are friends, etc. From reading these threads, it seems like we're wasting our time and money.

I can only tell you our own experience: our kids went to a nursery school that you've never heard of, where 99 percent of the kids go on to the local public school. We are not rich, not famous, have no personal connections to any schools, and no friends who have connections to them. Our kids had very good WPPSI scores (I can't remember what they were, but they were good), but are not geniuses. They get along well with other kids, but their social skills at that time were probably not much different from those of most of the other kids who were applying.

We applied to Beauvoir, GDS and Sidwell for both kids, and both got into two of the three. Why? I have no idea, except that somebody has to, and why not them? I don't think their applications were dramatically stronger than most other kids', but they weren't weaker, either.

Bottom line: apply to any school you are interested in. The idea of casting a wide net is certainly valid, as the number of applicants at all of these schools exceeds the number they can accept, and it's important to have options. But don't rule out applying to any school just because you think admission is only offered to members of a certain "club." No matter what you read here, I can tell you from experience that it isn't so.

[Anonymous]

Join the club of unconnected people. MOST people are unconnected and applying to these schools, so you are in good company.

[Anonymous]

another ncrc parent here. while it is a wonderful school in all respects, i'm not so sure it's the "feeder school" that people on this forum often write about. in the past (prior to liz), you met with the head to discuss schools you were considering and get feedback on good matches for your child based on philosophy of school and your child's temperament. some families are very receptive to this kind of feedback. others less so (ie parents wanting a traditional school when the head feels like a progressive or more of a blend school might be a better fit). then you were *strongly* encouraged to let her (the head) know your very *first* choice, *not* several choices. we were encouraged to apply only to schools we were really really interested in. at that point, i'm not sure what happened. my guess is that she did the best she could to advocate for your child for the first choice school.

we did get in to our first choice school (it was not one of the so-called big three) and got wait listed to our second choice. my sense from other parents (by no means a statistical sampling) was that admissions were not at all necessarily predictable except for siblings at schools with known sibling policies. sometimes it seemed as if children got in to *one* school and were waitlisted or rejected from the others. all this is to say, that even at a so-called feeder school such as ncrc, there are plenty of families not accepted to schools they want.

what i found most helpful about the process at ncrc was the insight i received about the kind of schools that would be the best fit for my child. that is where i think ncrc is particularly strong. not necessarily for its connections, but for how well they know your child and how well they know the schools.

i know nothing about how other preschools guide you through the process.

[Anonymous]

This sounds so, so much like the process in New York:

you met with the head to discuss schools you were considering and get feedback on good matches for your child based on philosophy of school and your child's temperament. some families are very receptive to this kind of feedback. others less so (ie parents wanting a traditional school when the head feels like a progressive or more of a blend school might be a better fit). then you were *strongly* encouraged to let her (the head) know your very *first* choice, *not* several choices. we were encouraged to apply only to schools we were really really interested in. at that point, i'm not sure what happened. my guess is that she did the best she could to advocate for your child for the first choice school.

So OP, I'm with the poster who pointed out, correctly, that some regular-like people need to be admitted. Why not your child?