We worked with two different consultants and different times who gave us bad advice. Be careful who you pay. Lots of people are happy to make money off of desperate parents and they do not have real insight into the admissions process. We now have two kids at GDS (did not use consultants) and one kid has since gotten into another independent school but all the advice I heard from consultants proved to be wrong.

Thank you to everyone who shared recommendations

Anonymous wrote:Another thumbs up for Lindsey White. Demystified the process for this public school family and results were great.

She was incredible, we are so thankful for her!

Another thumbs up for Lindsey White. Demystified the process for this public school family and results were great.

Anonymous wrote:DD was waitlisted at GDS for pre-K but got in everywhere else and is happily at a top school. We worked with Lindsey White. Two friends who worked with her also got in everywhere but GDS for K yesterday. GDS seems hard to crack but we all appreciated working with Lindsey, she’s very knowledgeable and helpful.

We also worked with her and were happy with the result.

Amazing how much money people have to throw away

Most of the schools don’t ask a ton of questions or have a ton of time with applicants. Are these consultants helping with recommendations and group etc?

If you're ever going to spend money on admissions consultants, the time to do it is when applying for college. Not for PK-9 when the stakes are lower (and I would argue that the stakes aren't even that high for college).

Merrell Cherouny helped my daughters

We worked with Peter Braverman and he is great.

DD was waitlisted at GDS for pre-K but got in everywhere else and is happily at a top school. We worked with Lindsey White. Two friends who worked with her also got in everywhere but GDS for K yesterday. GDS seems hard to crack but we all appreciated working with Lindsey, she’s very knowledgeable and helpful.

For schools like the ones mentioned in this thread, no consultant is going to make enough of a difference in my opinion. The factors determining lower school admission (especially PK and K) are more or less baked in already.

I am interested in the same but not for GDS specifically

https://www.schoolfirstnyc.com/wendy/

Wendy Wilkinson at School First. She is former head of admissions at Sidwell and at NCS.

Does anyone have recommendations for a private school admissions consultant with prior experience working at or who was instrumental to helping your child get in to GDS? We are seeking input on how to strengthen lower school application