Admissions

Well what a strange journey. I guess I should know that nothing is easy. ME will not commit until she knows all the variables, like Who is going where, will they be able to be together.

Whitney is huge in this equation. She is such a part of M-E's support system. I think she might just need her permission to go to Holy Names if Whitney was not accepted. While I know that this choice is not just about being happy, it is a huge element.

The problem with this process is that with kids that are waitlisted, there is still a possibility that each child will have more choices. There are a number of kids that have more than one choice. When they release one of the slots the choice goes to someone else. I was silly to think that February 18th would be decision day.

I just finished a book I found on Saturday. ADMISSIONS by Nancy Leiberman. I am going to give it to the school tomorrow. I think it should be mandatory reading for all 7th and 8th Grade parents. It is so funny but so telling. The following is the first paragraph.

The Tuesday after Labor Day marked the official start of admission season, the Manhattan parents' version of a blood sport. The ferocity with which Wall Street traders worked the floor, mergers-and-acquisition's lawyers closed their deals, magazine editors staked their claims on a hot new trend, the ladies who lunched jockeyed for positions at the fall shows couldn't hold a candle to the intense competition between familys to secure that most coveted of accessories: a space for their child in the school of their choice.

It is a funny book. The person who wrote it had to have had the experience. I realized that I really need to back off and let M-E take the lead. I was told that she had not made her decision yet and realized that this is her decision. I told her she had to at least let me tell her what I see as the strengths and the weaknesses of both. We shall see. Whitney comes home on Tuesday.