After calling the Private Ecole Consultant.
LaMai is convinced that PEC is certifiably crazy.
PEC: Ugh! You're the 52nd parent who has called me today. Nobody got in anywhere! [she asks a bunch of questions about A, then -- ] So where does your son want to go to college?
A: He seems to like Yale so far. And Princeton.
PEC: So why didn't you apply to Horace Mann?
A: Erm...because not all the students at Horace Mann go to Yale?
PEC: But you will get into Yale if you go to Horace Mann!!!
A: Hmmm....there are many paths to Yale. Horace Mann's is not the one we wanted to take. And anyway, he seems to like phs/ec. And it seems he is ranked well there.
PEC: BUT THAT'S COLLEGE! DO YOU WANT YOUR KID GOING TO COLLEGE SO YOUNG? No, I don't think so.
A: Erm, my son grew up on a university campus. He misses talking to professors. He'd love phs/ec.
PEC: BUT HE NEEDS A SOCIAL LIFE!
A: Hmmm....No, I think he'll be okay at that school. But I *am* curious as to why Bucolic didn't accept him.
PEC: Call Bucolic on Wednesday. They are very VERY open about their decision making on their admissions committee.
A: Okay.
I hit La Maison du Chocolat and asked for macaroons -- has anyone here had French macaroons? They're not those icky coconut things like you get from Walgreens. They're like little fluffy wafer sandwiches with a creme center.
A loved the macaroons. He asserted that he did not want to go to Bucolic or Wild Card. It's true -- since we visited BTBSA, he has said that he's not interested in local schools anymore.
I cried, privately.
3 comments:
I love those macarons. A French friend used to bring the nice ones in the tin from Le Notre for me.
Time and macarons heal all wounds :)
And maybe, as my grandmother used to say, these things happen for a reason...
I don't understand the comment about needing a social life. Does this woman even know what BHSEC is? Does she think the kids go to college with regular college students? Obviously, as you know, they don't. It's simply that the second two years of high school are college-level courses. The kids have the same social life as any other juniors and seniors in high school.
She doesn't seem to know much. also, is a 14-year-old supposed to know where he wants to go to college, and then work backwards??
That seems insane! Of course this whole sociocultural trip of NYC elite private schools seems insane.
I doubt that the private schools benefit from consultants like these in any material way; more likely, the consultants help maintain the status quo of the system. The consultants channel the "right" kids into the "right" schools.
This schooling saga you're on is amazing reading, as it proceeds from child-led to child-evaporated.
It's like an ad for homeschooling! You should submit it to AERO. (or NY Mag?)
Thanks, Becky, and yes, anonymous, I agree with you.
The good news is that A's friend (and fellow homeschooler) also got accepted to phs/ec -- and after sitting in on a class there, so far seems to like it better than Bronx Sci. Another h'schooler and colleague of A's (a girl) was accepted last year, and is doing exceedingly well at phs/ec.
If we get the nod from phs/ec, A will be in somewhat familiar territory. So, fingers crossed!
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