Manhattan Preschool Admissions More Competitive Than Harvard

The Post notes that the the preschool admissions process is more competitive than Harvard’s admissions process, with 15 applicants for each spot compared to Harvard’s 11:

Manhattan toddlers have a harder time winning acceptance to private preschools than students have trying to get into Harvard.

An average of 15 applicants vied for every spot in about 200 preschools in Manhattan, said consultant Amanda Uhry, founder of Manhattan Private School Advisors.

Harvard had 11 students competing for each of its approximately 2,030 slots.

Thousands of New York parents received notice last week that their children had been rejected or put on a waiting list for preschool.

“It is a very punitive process,” said Roxandra Antoniadis, admissions director at St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s, on the Upper West Side.

“Think of how educated New York City parents are, how sophisticated, how accomplished their children are,” she said. “When they don’t get in, it is horrible for them.”

. . .

Brick Church School, on the Upper East Side, had over 300 applicants for 53 spots, director Lydia Spinelli said. Next year, its annual tuition will range from $12,000 for half a day to $15,400 for 4- and 5-year-olds.

Uhry, the consultant, advises her clients to try 12 to 14 schools. Parents then may have to wait in lines for applications, take tours, write essays, have their toddlers tested and observed at play or even interviewed, and secure letters of recommendation from friends and family members.