NYC Private Schools

NOW is the Time: NYC Private School Admissions Consulting... If your child will be going through the NYC private school application process for 2019 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Riverdale or Westchester private school admission, now is your time to get started getting help.

This is your family's chance to work with Emily Glickman, one of NYC's most experienced and respected private school consultants. Emily has been featured in every major New York publication as well as many from around the world. In her twenty years in practice, Emily has been trusted by thousands of educated, distinguished New Yorkers and countless relocating families from around the US and the globe.

For 2017-2018 admission more parents than ever wanted to book with Abacus Guide; we had to turn many families away. For 2018-2019, help your child get into NYC's best private schools by signing up early.  Now is the Time.

Call today 212-712-2228 or email best NYC private school consultant.

Many private NYC schools ask high school applicants to write an essay, choosing from five prompts. This year:

1.  How does the story you tell on social media compare to your real life story?
2. If you could live elsewhere for one semester, what would you hope to gain from the experience of living there and why?
3. You are an activist. What is your cause, why are you so passionate about it, and what are you doing about it?
4. "Honesty is the best policy." Is it problematic to shift the truth in one's favor, even if the lie is seemingly harmless to others?
5. Describe one of your favorite family traditions and why it is meaningful to you.

The ERB has replaced the WISC test, which supposedly measures intelligence, with the Primary Level ISEE, an achievement test, for admission for applicants to 2nd-4th grade.

The all online test (given on an ipad) is administered at the ERB New York Office in small groups. Registration opened online in mid August and testing began on November 1st.

According to Molly Phelan of Noodle Pros, there are some differences between each of the Primary Level exams. Both the Primary Level 2 and 3 exams (for students currently in 1st and 2nd grades) "contain a picture with the Writing Prompt, which offers students the opportunity to be creative and self-expressive with their individual writing styles. In Primary Level 2 Reading Comprehension, there is a short Auditory Comprehension section that tests how students listen to a passage, which contains no text. Students then answer questions that relate to the passage."

For all Primary Level tests, the Writing section is untimed, allowing all students to type at their own pace.

Does Harvard set a quota on how many Asian-American students are accepted and are acceptance standards for Asian-Americans higher than for other racial groups? A case seen as a referendum on affirmative action is taking place in Boston, with possible repercussions on admissions not only at Harvard but at all colleges. For an excellent discussion of the case, What's at Stake in the Harvard Lawsuit? Decades of Debate Over Race in Admissions

Meanwhile, armchair followers of the case are gleaning admissions hints. The Wall Street Journal helpfully summarizes them: Knowing the 13 Secret Steps into Harvard Doesn't Make Admission Any Easier

In brief,

Step 1: Move to Montana.

Step 2: Scrap that. Move to New York City or Boston.

Step 3: Persuade your parents to become chefs or car mechanics.

Step 4: Mark "classics" as your intended concentration.

Step 5: Show how much you love learning.

Step 6: Tell your teachers to call you the best student ever. Not just the best this year-the best ever.

Step 7: Tell a compelling story.

Step 8: Don't come off as arrogant, aggressive, unhappy or boring.

Step 9: Do come off as mature, effervescent, kind and focused.

Step 10: Be an all-star ice hockey player.

Step 11: Schedule your alumni interview at a coffee shop and instruct friends to casually stop by.

Step 12: Be very rich. Or very poor. Or the child of an alum.

Step 13: Hurry up.

Abacus Mom received this note today from The British International School of New York. We are delighted that for the first time, a NYC school offers the IGCSEs and A-levels!

Time flies when you're having fun!

September 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of The British International School of New York (BIS-NY), the first and only school in the New York City area to offer the high standards of excellence of the English National Curriculum delivered through the portable, global and inquiry-based framework of the International Baccalaureate (I.B.) in the Primary and Middle Years for children from the age of three.

Over the past decade the school has grown in both size and reputation, proudly placing students in the top schools locally in New York, as well as back in the United Kingdom and further afield across the globe. Its placement record is testimony not only to the quality of teaching, but also the preparedness with which students leave the school, and the portability of the curriculum.

Alongside a thriving nursery, early years and middle school, this coming September the school is delighted to announce the expansion to an Upper School, with applications now open for ninth grade. The school will extend each year thereafter to offer a full program through 12th grade to enable students to pursue a program of study at BIS-NY for university entrance.

Recent authorization by the prestigious Cambridge International Examinations (the non-teaching arm of Cambridge University) will enable the school to deliver an Upper program built around the respected and rigorous International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) at 16, and Advanced Level Examinations (A Level) at 18. These courses are taken by over a million students in more than 160 countries around the world and are extremely highly regarded by the leading universities and colleges in the USA, UK and internationally.

Headmaster Jason Morrow expressed the school's enthusiasm for the expansion: “We are excited and proud to be the first school in the city to offer this exceptional academic program to New York families as we know it will equip our students with the knowledge, skills and intellectual enthusiasm to thrive at university and beyond."

For more information on Upper please email upper@bis-ny.org or visit www.bis-ny.org. To explore the difference that a BIS-NY education could make for your children please contact the school directly on (212) 481-2700 for a private tour at your convenience.

New York City's Leading Private School Consultant for 20 Years

We are proud to announce that in 2019 Abacus Guide Educational Consulting will celebrate our 20th year helping students find and get into top New York City and Westchester schools. It's a been a very satisfying journey for everyone involved.

As NYC's leading private school consultant for 20 years--one of the first in practice--we have helped thousands of New York City and Westchester families through the stressful private school admissions process, guiding them into all the best Manhattan, Brooklyn, Riverdale and Westchester schools. Some of our earliest clients have now graduated from college. All this experience, as well as our steady commitment to caring service, means we can help everyone who works with us do their best and feel their best.

How have we helped families get into top private schools for 20 years? Our secret is truly doing the best job we can for our families. Most of our clients are recommended to us by former clients. For your child's chance to work with us, call 212-712-2228 or email New York City's Leading Private School Consultant for 20 Years      

As a Hunter College High School alum, I was very interested to read Monica Disare's article in Chalkbeat about Hunter College High School's admissions procedures: Prestigious and public, the Hunter College schools charge hefty fees and admit few poor students

Disare writes:

<Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School> look very little like the city its students live in, though, a fact that has been true for many years. And as New York City engages in a lively debate about the lack of diversity at eight elite city high schools — with Mayor Bill de Blasio calling the lack of black and Hispanic students there “a monumental injustice” — Hunter’s disparities in some cases are far starker.

At the specialized high schools, 10 percent of admissions offers went to black and Hispanic students last year, and nearly half of the students attending are poor. But just 7 percent of Hunter high school students are black and Hispanic, and only 9 percent come from low-income families. At Hunter’s elementary school, less than 3 percent of students come from low-income families.

Still, Hunter has flown under the radar.

Hunter alums I know have divided opinions about whether and how the school's admissions policies should change.