For Private School Admission, Bring in Outside Admission Consultant

Choosing a private school for your child is very challenging and it’s incredibly important to find the right fit. A qualified Admission Consultant will be able to guide you and your family to finding the best possible school for your child’s specific needs and expectations. As the following article states, taking the burden off yourself and allowing an Admission Consultant to guide the way will provide a lasting sense of satisfaction that you are providing your child with the best possible education.

4 Things to Know Before You Choose a Private School

For most of us the idea of sending your child to private school begins with that nagging feeling that she’s very bright and needs the very best kind of schooling possible.

As you explore schools on the web, you quickly realize that there is no way to rank schools. It’s perfectly normal to want to send your child to the ‘best’ school. But how can you identify that school if there is no ranking system? You can compare programs, course offerings and a host of other factors using our checklists. Once you identify what your requirements are, then matching a school with those requirements is the next step in the process of choosing a school.

At this point you will realize that ranks are not important. Finding the best fit is. Get the fit right and you will achieve one of your most important goals: making your child happy. If the fit is wrong and she is unhappy, that’s not the result you want.

There’s a private school for virtually every need. Since there are private schools for virtually every need, you need to make a list of your requirements very early on in the process. What should be on your list of requirements? Academics trumps everything else as far as I am concerned. What’s offered, how it’s taught, the educational philosophy and so on.

You should use a consultant. I have done it both ways. Yes, we thought we could choose the right school for our eldest daughter. All by ourselves. And this was before the Internet existed. So that meant lots of letters and visits. Of the three schools to which we applied, she was accepted at only one. Fortunately for us, it was indeed the right school. Daughter did well and was happy. So were we.

The second time round we hired a consultant. The late Hugh Silk had taught at Collegiate in Manhattan and at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry. He knew schools. And people. And so much more. He gently nudged us away from schools which were an impossible stretch and advised a mix of schools which included a ‘safe’ school – one we knew our child would get into. The other two schools were slightly tougher by degrees. But she ended up getting two acceptances and a waitlist.

Consultants know what they are doing. For the amount of money you are about to spend on your child’s education, doesn’t seeking professional advice just make good sense?