Getting into Private School

Recommendations from your child's current head of school or principal, or guidance counselor are an important component in your child's private school admissions portfolio. Why? Because they give the admissions staff an assessment of both your child's abilities and her accomplishments by someone who has actually taught her. Strong recommendations from professionals who know your child can make a difference. So can weak recommendations. Professional recommendations made by a private school employee are confidential. You will probably never see what the head of school wrote about your child. Neither will the admissions staff reveal that information.

On the other hand, professional recommendations made by a public school employee are a different matter which I shall explain below.

While this video approaches recommendations from a college applications perspective, much of it applies to the private school admissions process.

Are there special forms to be used?

Recommendation forms are typically completed and submitted by your child's current principal or head or guidance counselor directly to the admissions departments of the schools to which your child is applying. As noted at the beginning of this article, they are an important part of the application process.

These recommendations should be handled according to each school's very specific instructions. They are the evidence the school needs to substantiate all oral or written statements about your child. These documents are not hearsay or anecdotal. They are professional opinions and records the

The private school search process is complicated enough without making it more complicated. Use these five tips to keep you focused and on track. Most of these suggestions are common sense and you are probably following them anyway. But take time to review them well in advance of visiting schools and doing the actual applications. You will save valuable time.

1. Write a good essay.

"Essay?" " Write?" I can just imagine what you are thinking about how your child will do on this part of the application. However, why not do what you always do? Plan ahead. Download the Candidate Statement portion of the school's application. Print out a couple of copies. Then, starting in July or August or any other time which works best for you, have your child work the questions and think about the answers. That way, when it comes time in December and January to complete those important parts of the application, she will be able to write confidently, clearly and concisely.

This brief video will explain how to write an essay in terms she will understand.

"But her spelling is atrocious. She texts all the time and doesn't spell or capitalize according to the rules." These days that is a very real concern that you should have. And it's another reason why she needs to do a couple of dry runs before the real thing. While I don't suggest that you

Why should they admit your child? Admissions to a private school is not a beauty contest. Neither is it a foregone conclusion that just because she offers most if not all of the things the school is looking for that your child will get in. With that in mind let's examine some of the things a private school admissions director will be reviewing and considering when he reviews your child's admissions folder.

1. Your child's file is complete.

While you would think this is simply common sense, there are many parents who leave things to the very last minute. If we have a deadline posted for the submission of applications, we have it posted for a reason. Yes, we are aware that some of the schools to which you are applying do not have admissions deadlines. They have rolling admissions. Each private school sets its own admissions requirements and deadlines. It is your responsibility to keep track of those requirements and deadlines.

Failure to meet the application deadlines without a really good, compelling reason will generally mean that we will put your child's file in the incomplete category. In other words, we cannot make any decision until we have everything in the file. Test scores. Teacher recommendations. Academic transcripts. The complete application. The works. All applicants are treated in the same way.

2. We met you and your child.

Whenever it is practical, we expect you and your child to visit the school. We want to meet you.

When our daughters went to preschool back in the '70s in Garden City, New York, we took them in for an interview, and that was about it. The children were toilet-trained and pretty well socialized. To the best of my knowledge, there were no formal assessments of their cognitive skills and so on. As far as their mother and I were concerned, our daughters were gifted children. We never had any formal assessment of our suspicions until the girls were much older, at which point testing confirmed that they were indeed gifted.

Is your child gifted or bright? There is a difference. For a detailed explanation of the differences, read Gifted vs. Bright: Understanding the Difference

Preschool admissions assessments have changed in the 21st century. Preschools want to know what your child knows and what she is capable of at age two. So, against that backdrop, let's look at some of the more common ways preschools assess their very young applicants. And, perhaps even more important, from our point of view as parents, let's try to understand why such testing is necessary.

Common Assessment Tools

The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test is commonly known as Olsat. This test is popular in New York City, where it is a requirement for admission into programs for gifted children. The OLSAT traces its roots back to a test developed by Dr. Arthur Sinton Otis, known as Army Alpha, administered to U.S. Army recruits in World War I.

Another test that

There are tons of forms to fill out when you apply to a private school. Whether you do it online or by hand, you still have to give lots of thought to what you and your child are writing. This is especially important when it comes to The Candidate Statement. Let's look at a couple of schools' forms and see what they require.

Chatham Hall

Chatham Hall calls its Candidate Statement an Applicant Response and specifies up front that the form is "To be completed by the Applicant without assistance." That's true of just about every school to which you will apply. The school wants to get to know each applicant. It wants to understand what makes her tick. Absolutely resist the temptation to guide or correct your child's answers on this form. The admissions staff will know if you fix things anyway.

Chatham Hall wants to know about your child's activities. It asks whether she rides or not and if she plans to ride at the school. Most schools with equestrian programs will want to know if the applicant is a rider. There are several more questions which are fairly straightforward. Then comes the essay. Your child must choose from three questions or prompts. Her answer can be as long or short as she wishes. What are they looking for? They want to see if she can frame a thoughtful response to the