Ivy League Admission
The Ivy Coach College Admissions Blog

Kindergarten admission. That’s not a typo! There’s a very amusing article out today in “The New York Times” about Elisabeth Krents (aka “Babby” Krents). If you don’t know who Elisabeth Krents is, it means you probably don’t live in Manhattan with a toddler. Because if you do live in Manhattan with a toddler, Elisabeth Krents is practically Santa Claus. The head of admission for the Dalton School, Krents holds quite a bit of power on the island of Manhattan. Some joke that you can even write “Babby, UES” on an envelope and the post office will know where to deliver the mail. She’s that powerful!

Kindergarten admission is a rat race in Manhattan and Elisabeth Krents of Dalton is queen bee!

We think this is absolutely ridiculous but it is quite humorous to say the least. In the article on kindergarten admission by Jenny Anderson, the joke is that parents wonder whether to call her Elisabeth or Babby…if Babby is too informal. Others wonder whether they should write Dr. Krents or Elisabeth Krents, PhD on the envelope. She is, after all, the queen bee of private school admissions czars in Manhattan.

The article goes on to mention how many alumni of Dalton are upset with their alma mater because, according to them, the school isn’t treating its legacy candidates right. Instead, they’re reaching out to a broader cross-section of Manhattan in order to create a more diverse student body. No longer is the Dalton School limited to the wealthy sons and daughters of the wealthy sons and daughters of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Dalton, after all, wants its graduates to get into highly selective colleges and the school knows that highly selective colleges yearn for diverse student bodies as well. Elisabeth Krents – we’ll call her Babs for short – feels for the alumni parents and wishes there wouldn’t be so much stress associated with the kindergarten admissions process. Uh huh. Yeah right. She eats it up. And then she takes a second helping.

Check out this post on Manhattan Kindergarten Prep.

There is an article in the “Brown Daily Herald” that discusses the relationships between top prep schools like the Harvard-Westlake School, Phillips Academy (Andover), Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter), Collegiate School,  Deerfield Academy, and Trinity School and Ivy League colleges. Back in the day, such prep schools as Exeter and Andover were what’s known as feeder schools into Ivy League colleges. Those were the students Ivy League admissions counselors went after. Has anything changed? Yes and no. Certainly more public school students receive admission to top colleges nowadays. But do a disproportionate amount of students receive Ivy League college admission from prep schools? Yes.

According to the “Brown Daily Herald,” “Both institutions [Harvard-Westlake and Andover] have sent more than 45 graduates each to Brown in the past five years, according to figures released by the schools’ college counseling departments. Top-tier private and magnet high schools boast high matriculation rates to the most prestigious colleges and universities. But these schools deny that the relationships between college counselors and college admission offices help boost their students’ chances of getting in. Harvard-Westlake, a college-preparatory day school in North Hollywood, Calif., and Phillips Academy, a Massachusetts boarding school usually referred to as Andover, are two of a handful of high schools across the country that send more than one-fourth of their students to Ivy League or highly reputable institutions.”

Jim Miller, Dean of Admission at Brown University, claims that Brown admits students, not schools and that the relationships that college counselors at the prep schools develop with college admissions counselors have no relevance. Wrote Miller, “Such preparatory schools possess a high level of talent, and the greater number of applicants from the schools is  ’inevitable.’ Brown receives more than 75 applications from many of these schools each year, adding that ‘it makes sense’ for schools with such a large number of applications to see a high number of acceptances.”

Is it true that often times prep school candidates are more qualified for admission to top colleges? Yes. Prep schools have their own competitive admissions process and thus weed out candidates who may not be as deserving of admission to top colleges. Prep schools recruit talented students from around the world and thus they’ve found many of the talented students colleges will want — only they did this four years earlier. But is it true that prep school counselors don’t typically have “on-the-phone relationships” with college admissions counselors (Jim Miller said he wasn’t sure about this)? That’s bogus — prep school college counselors do indeed often have on-the-phone relationships with college admissions counselors. Top colleges want to keep these prep schools happy — they are a major source of its annual matriculants. Sometimes, former college admissions counselors are working at the prep schools. You don’t think they can call in to their former co-workers? Of course they can! And they do.

Prep school college counselors deny special relationships they have with college admissions counselors. Of course they do. Why jeopardize what they have going for themselves?

The article goes on to write about a relationship that exists between water polo players at Harvard-Westlake and Brown University. Harvard-Westlake sends a number of its water polo players to compete for Brown University and yet, in the article, it is written that the coaches of Harvard-Westlake and the coaches of Brown University do not have an established relationship. What constitutes an established relationship? Of course they have a relationship! They send their graduates there year after year. You don’t think these coaches have ever spoken on the phone? You don’t think they’ve ever met? Of course they have.

When Stanley Bosworth, the former headmaster of Saint Ann’s School in New York, retired, college admissions statistics were adversely affected. “According to matriculation statistics available on the school’s website, 50 students came to Brown and 152 enrolled at ‘Ivy Plus’ universities [Ivy League colleges as well as Stanford University and MIT] in the six years prior to Bosworth’s retirement. In the six years after his departure, 26 Saint Ann’s graduates have enrolled at Brown, and a total of 118 have entered ‘Ivy Plus’ institutions.” Stanley Bosworth’s stats say it all.

Check out the article in the “Brown Daily Herald” by David Chung on prep schools and college admissions.

And check out our related posts on Brown University Athletics and Brown University Athletic Recruitment.

There is an article in today’s “NY Daily News,” the ultimate source of news that is neither interesting nor noteworthy, that focuses on a Manhattan mom who is suing the preschool her daughter attended for hurting her 4 year-old’s chances of admission to an Ivy League school because they didn’t prepare her dc (darling child) for the ERBs (the SATs for kindergarten admission). Imagine that!

The suit brought by the mother, Nicole Imprescia, claims, “At age four, [York Avenue Preschool] was still teaching [Imprescia's] daughter about shapes and colors – a two year old’s learning environment…Like many parents living in Manhattan, [Imprescia] places a priority on her child’s preschool education.” Adds Jose Martinez of the “NY Daily News,” The suit quotes from an article that identifies elite preschools as the first step for getting children into the best elementary and high schools ‘and on to the Ivy League.’”

The mother not only wants her $19,000/year tuition refunded by York Avenue Preschool but she hopes that the suit becomes a class-action one so that other toddlers who are later denied admission to elite colleges can pinpoint where it all went so terribly wrong. Not being “properly prepped for the standardized test…can mean the difference between Dalton and – gasp! – public school.

In an interview with Steve Nelson, Head of the Calhoun School in Manhattan, “Nicole Imprescia’s daughter probably won’t apply to Calhoun for kindergarten, but we wouldn’t take her anyway. It’s not because of the lawsuit. We’re just not interested in families who think prepping for standardized tests is a good way to raise a child.” Who is he kidding – of course it’s about the lawsuit! The lawsuit that’s about to follow Imprescia’s daughter throughout her elementary and high school years…and maybe even to the attention of Ivy League admissions officers years down the road…

Jessica:

“Should I like write on the cover page of like the graded paper? You know, like Union College Supplement – Graded Paper?”

The Ivy Coach:

“You can write ‘Union College Supplement – Graded Paper,’ but please delete the word ‘like’ as this is not appropriate for oral or written speech except when you’re saying that you’re very fond of something or when you want to refer to something that is similar to something else.”

Jessica:

“Duh, I wasn’t going to like write ‘like’ on the cover page! It’s just how I like normally talk, you know, I guess it’s like a New York thing.”

The Ivy Coach:

“We know you weren’t going to do that Jessica, but you really do have to break yourself of the habit. You’re an intelligent girl, but when you speak using filler words such as, ‘like’ and ‘you know,’ people may make a negative judgment about your intellect and recognize a lack of self-confidence in you. Sometimes, when the speaker uses so many filler words or filler sounds, the listener has no idea what the person is actually saying and consequently stops listening. It’s a really bad habit but the good news is that if you actually pay attention to what you’re saying, you can correct it.”

“It’s a ‘New York thing.” We think not. According to Wikipedia, “Valspeak is a common name for an American sociolect, originally of Southern Californians, in particular valley girls. This stereotype originated in the 1970′s, but was at its peak in the 1980′s and lost popularity in the late 1990′s and 2000′s. Though for a brief period a national fad, many phrases and elements of Valspeak, along with surfer slang and skateboarding slang, are stable elements of the California English dialect lexicon, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of “like” as conversational filler). Elements of Valspeak can now be found virtually everywhere English is spoken, particularly among young native English speakers.’”

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Another speech pattern that is particularly distracting for the listener is when the speaker finishes a sentence with a rising inflection that would normally indicate a question but the statement is clearly declarative. From this pattern of speech, it appears as if the speaker is insecure and is looking for assurance from the listener, such as a “yes” before he or she continues talking.

When hearing students speak with filler words and sounds or rising inflections, there’s always the concern that admissions counselors or alumni interviewers will be distracted as to what the student is trying to convey. But aside from that, the interviewer can become easily frustrated and even annoyed. Since the college interview is a chance for the applicant to make the interviewer aware of all that the student can contribute to the campus community, this becomes an opportunity lost.

All is not lost if students are made aware of their speech habits as only then can they correct them. All they need to do is to think before they speak. In the college admissions process and in life, people judge your character on how well you express yourself. When you take the second and think before you speak, you can not only improve your speech habits but you can also gain the respect and admiration of others.